Jun 19, 2004
Our Elective Monarchy
Ronald Reagan’s state funeral got me thinking about the American presidency. That effort yielded these possibly interesting thoughts.
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Oscar Chamberlain - 6/22/2004
I second the compliment.
However I disagree with the suggestion that this was unintended. The Constitution was not libertarian in its origins. Many of the framers wanted a semi-monarchical president. This is clear in the Philadelphia debates, the use of the Electoral college, and in the way that Washington and the first Congress worked together.
None of Washington's early succesors, not even Jeferson (though he came closest) wanted to dismiss the aura that surrounded the office. The President's mansion as the "people's house" and the ideal of the president as a "man of the people" awaited Andrew Jackson; yet in many ways his active use of the powers of the presidency advanced the powers of the office.
Keith Halderman - 6/20/2004
I cannot help but wonder what Reagan himself would have thought about all of the attention. I think some of it came about just because the three people who followed him into the office were just so horrible each in their own special way. Nevertheless, I believe your point about the President as monarch is way too valid. It is another manifestation of the growing collectivist mindset of the American people.