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Why did the Founding Fathers make the President of the United States both the head of state and the head of government? The two roles contradict each other; the head of government is ment to be a politician who governs the nation, and the head of state is ment to be a non-political symbolic figure who represents the unity of the nation. How can one person perform both roles at the same time? The President automatically alienates half the country just by being in office ... so much for a unifying symbol
Seriously? The lack of historical knowledge in this country is astounding
You are aware that our founding fathers fought a war for independence from a government you are describing, right??? The UK has a head of state (monarchy) and a head of government (Prime Minister).
Furthermore, most heads of state hail from extremely wealthy families and are mostly regarded as "useless" in modern times. They have no power and live in a disconected world from their "commoners" while sucking up federal funds to secure them and to fund their "head of state" entertaining and travels. See UK, Sweeden, Japan, etc. Don't you think OWS would want to lynch an American head of state right now for being out of touch with reality and flaunting their do-nothing riches?
Why did the Founding Fathers make the President of the United States both the head of state and the head of government? The two roles contradict each other; the head of government is ment to be a politician who governs the nation, and the head of state is ment to be a non-political symbolic figure who represents the unity of the nation. How can one person perform both roles at the same time? The President automatically alienates half the country just by being in office ... so much for a unifying symbol
You omitted an important Constitutional factor.
The "unification" comes about with an attack on American soil.
We don't even directly chose the President, he/she is chosen by the Electoral College.
The British system has worked for hundreds of years, ours dident even last 100 years without a civil war. So much for republics being more stable. Actually did you know that 7 out of the 10 most stable nations are all constitutional monarchies and 4 of them are British commonwealth realms.
The English have had a Civil War too. It's kind of unfair to judge a country's government that has been unbroken in continuity (except once) since 1066 to a country that has only been in existence since 1776. We have the oldest Constitution in the world, as in one that hasn't been entirely revised since it's founding.
Regarding the above posters of why the head of state and government are the same person, good points. I never thought of it that way
Seriously? The lack of historical knowledge in this country is astounding
You are aware that our founding fathers fought a war for independence from a government you are describing, right??? The UK has a head of state (monarchy) and a head of government (Prime Minister).
Furthermore, most heads of state hail from extremely wealthy families and are mostly regarded as "useless" in modern times. They have no power and live in a disconected world from their "commoners" while sucking up federal funds to secure them and to fund their "head of state" entertaining and travels. See UK, Sweeden, Japan, etc. Don't you think OWS would want to lynch an American head of state right now for being out of touch with reality and flaunting their do-nothing riches?
The President of the United States doesent exactly live the life of a "commoner" either. They have servants (though they are obviously not called such), Air Force One, motorcades, until the 1960s they also had a US Navy presidential yacht. The President is a monarch in all but name except he/she is elected rather than being born into the position.
The President of the United States doesent exactly live the life of a "commoner" either. They have servants (though they are obviously not called such), Air Force One, motorcades, until the 1960s they also had a US Navy presidential yacht. The President is a monarch in all but name except he/she is elected rather than being born into the position.
Any rich guy in America could do the same things - if they wanted to.
The President of the United States doesent exactly live the life of a "commoner" either. They have servants (though they are obviously not called such), Air Force One, motorcades, until the 1960s they also had a US Navy presidential yacht. The President is a monarch in all but name except he/she is elected rather than being born into the position.
The president isn't a "commoner" (neither is David Cameron, btw) but he is nowhere near the level of stature that a monarch has. Queen Elizabeth's personal wealth is around $600M USD, however the majority of the monarch's family assets are now in a trust for the nation, including an empire of real estate. She's not even the wealthiest monarch. Thailand's King is worth around $30B, ranking about 5th wealthiest in the world, right behind Larry Ellison. Many of the monarch's have assets that are virtually "priceless" as they could never be replicated or replaced (artwork, jewelry, land).
By comparisson, America's presidents have been merely "rich" and not "world-class monarch rich". George Bush is worth about $25M. John Kerry is the "richest lawmaker in the US", worth about $185M. There's a really big difference between $25M or $200M and $2B or $20B. BIG DIFFERENCE.
Any rich guy in America could do the same things - if they wanted to.
The non-rich need Government to make it happen.
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