Do we need an American President?

What does an addict need more than anything else?

“The biggest and most important job in America” is how a talk show host recently described the position of POTUS. While wondering how someone who is too mentally incompetent to be charged with violating federal law regarding classified documents can be allowed to hold that office.

He makes a valid point. But he also should trigger a whole lot of thoughts – worries and valid challenges to a system that 99% of Americans take for granted?

How did we get into this mess?

What mess? What does an addict need more than anything (at least in their own eyes)?

First, why do we have an elected president and a special organization to do that? (The Electoral College.)

We see, ironically, that it was the frequent incompetence of various British monarchs (to say nothing of many nations in Europe) that contributed strongly to the Founding Fathers’ decision to reject even a constitutional but hereditary monarchy. Even though even “republics” of the 15th to 18th Century often had hereditary leaders – such as the Dutch Republic and the Duchy of Venice.

But there were other problems with hereditary rulers. Even if they were figureheads.

Monarchs who could not even speak the major language of their subjects, “mad” kings who did crazy things, inbred cretins, and more. And generally, be “replaced” or have a power behind the throne who was not truly legitimate. Much less elected. And the older the monarch (consider George III or Victoria or Franz Joseph (Austria)), the more likely there was massive mischief.

There were other reasons, of course: these men and their wives were serious students of human society and life, of politics and diplomacy. An elected chief executive, especially one with a fixed term of office (though able to be reelected) was both a significant change from European standards and harked back to ancient Roman and Greek government. They believed it would work in the unique modern situation of the former colonies of North America.

They realized, of course, that all those ancient systems decayed and became massively corrupt and generally ineffective. So they hedged around it with all kinds of safeguards.

But their work was flawed. Politics, social pressures, changing local and world conditions, and even technology conspired against the safeguards. And although they understood the power of egotism and hunger for power and wealth, they did not realize its strength as American society changed.

This is one reason that the Founding Fathers rejected democracy: certainly direct democracy. It was supposed to protect us against demagogues and fads and popularity contests. And other aspects of mob rule. But they did not take into account radio and television and the internet. As a result, reason was replaced by the actions of advertisers and marketers, cults of personality, and the manipulation of public opinion. While at the same time, pressures and myths of “democracy” and “national unity” created the opportunity to use those skills to pervert the system.

But above all, the stakes were raised. Just as a lottery pot of $100 million attracts far more interest and participation (buying tickets) than a pot of $1,000, so more and more powerful government attracts more and more people and groups lusting after that power and its perks.

So we elect people like the two Bushes, Obummer, The Donald, and Uncle Joe. All demonstrating that “anyone capable of being elected POTUS is incapable of effectively serving.” And so the unelected (and often not even politically-appointed) bureaucracy gains and collects and exercises more and more power. And the cream (or something else) rises to the top.

And we get the circumstances that we face in 2024. The elected and senior (politically) appointed officials are figureheads. With significant power at times, but still, it is the 2nd and 3rd tier bosses that really control things. So the qualifications of the candidates and the victors in the elections – elections which become more and more “democratic” and less and less tied to real factors – became whitewash: a facade. At best, a symbol of stability and a mixture of circus performers (in the Roman sense) and celebrities. So we get The Donald and Uncle Joe.

The men of 1787 and 1776 never imagined that the States would elect such a piece of work, or that Congress and the States would surrender such power to a single man. And worse, to a cabal of parasitical powermongers using that man as a front.

Almost 250 years later, we know better. Or think we do: after all, we “the People” let this happen.

We gave them the power – and cheered them and rewarded them for using that power. For good or bad; for success or failure. And we submitted to them. And gladly accepted more and more control, while allowing ourselves to be brainwashed by the propaganda of the elections and the day-to-day activities.

So today, like an addict needs his fix, we need a president.

Consider, please, the tough love of Alcoholics Anonymous or Narcotics Anonymous, and apply to the Fifty States today.

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