American Presidency: Let’s Redefine It, Now! (Version 4)

Written by Frank Li

Another President, another disaster! Or for a Trump supporter: if being re-elected is a criterion for success, then he has clearly failed disastrously …

So disappointing; Yet, so predictable …

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Below is an image extracted from my last book (American Democracy – Why is it failing & how to fix it?, published in December 2016).

Yes, I bet on Donald Trump in 2016, but lost.

So, it’s time (again) to redefine the American Presidency, now!

1. Introduction

The American Presidency matters.

In a globalized world like ours, with enough nuclear weapons to blow up the Earth several times over, the American Presidency matters not only to America, but also to the world.

Unfortunately, over the past five decades, at least, there have been too few good American Presidents, but far too many bad ones.

While great American Presidents have often been the products of both persona and timing, it’s becoming increasingly obvious that “it’s the American Presidency, stupid!”

It’s obviously getting worse over time, with the worst example being the 2020 Presidential election: The Democratic Party came up with three very old men (i.e. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Michael Bloomberg) as the front runners to go against Donald Trump, the 74-year-old sitting President.

It was so much like the USSR in the 1970-1980s!

2. American Presidency: an overview

America was built as a republic, by heavily copying from the Roman Republic (America: What Did Our Founding Fathers Do, Actually?). One of the copied items is the 3-branch structure of the government to share power.

Until recently, this structure worked out well for America, although our political history is full of stories of power struggles among the three branches, especially between the Legislative and Executive branches. Generally speaking, a strong President has resulted in a weaker Congress, while a weak President has resulted in a stronger Congress.

To keep it simple, let’s divide our political history, with regard to the American Presidency, into two periods as follows:

1. 1789 – 1945.
2. 1946 – Present.

Let me elaborate on each …

2.1 1789 – 1945

The image below tells it all: the four most memorial American Presidents.

After the two famous Founding Fathers (i.e. George Washington and Thomas Jefferson), America had two great Presidents: Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt. Specifically,

1. Abraham Lincoln: He frequently marginalized Congress, using the war (i.e. American Civil War) as an excuse. For example, he issued the Emancipation Proclamation in the form of an executive order, without Congressional approval!
2. Theodore Roosevelt: The 26th President largely ruled by executive orders (List of United States federal executive orders), issuing 1,081 of them, which is almost as many as all his 25 predecessors did, combined (1,262)!

Overall, however, great Presidents were few and far between.

2.2 1946 – present

After WWII, America became a virtual economic monopoly. Since then, it has been such a smooth ride that America can afford anything and everything, including many mediocre Presidents. Specifically, here are my two arguments:

1. From 1950 to 1999, the American Presidency mattered little. Anybody reasonably intelligent could have been the President without making a big difference.
2. Since 2000, the American Presidency has mattered a lot more. Both Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama were proven disasters, making even Jimmy Carter, previously widely regarded the worst, look much better by comparison. Finally, President Trump has made even potted plants look better!

What happened in 2000?

The world had changed so much after the Cold War ended in 1991 that 2000 turned out to be a tipping point, with China becoming a formidable competitor to the West. For example, China has not only the size and strength to fully compete with America, but also a totally different political system, which is, IMHO, slightly better than America’s.

America, on the other hand, has failed to adapt adequately. Two examples:

1. America’s foreign and economic policies have not adequately changed since 1991.
2. America’s political system has stagnated for the past 200 years.

As a result, by 2000, America had not only more economic competitors than it did in the 1980s, but also more political enemies (e.g. Islamic extremists) than ever. No American Presidents, from 1950 to 1999, faced such dual challenges, especially on the economic front. Three examples:

1. Job losses due to economic downturns had been temporary before, but more and more permanent after 2000, thanks to automation and globalization.
2. Years of excessive spending (e.g. public-sector unions) have finally caught up with us. Our national debt just keeps piling up.
3. Covid-19: President Trump simply failed on this one, resulting in the deaths of tens of thousands of Americans, unnecessarily!

Consequently, the incompetence of the American political system in general, and the American Presidency specifically, has become much more apparent and ominous. As a result, today, America has not only even more economic competitors and political enemies than in 2000, but also much stronger duals than in 2000.

3. American Presidency: it’s a joke!

Currently, the American Presidency is a joke! Anybody can apply for the job – just be a U.S.-born citizen and older than 35 – No experience required!

Read: So you want to run for president? Just sign here. It asks “far fewer questions than a McDonald’s job application“!

For more, read: American Presidency: Is It a Joke (III)?

4. American Presidency: calling for a stronger one!

We need a stronger American President like Russia’s Putin or China’s Xi! For more, read: President Trump in the Real World of Three New Kingdoms.

5. American Presidency: what is a stronger one?

To ensure a stronger American Presidency, we must raise the statutory requirements for the President. Specifically, three major changes:

1. One term (e.g. six years).
2. Starting at Age 55-70.
3. Having served as a state governor for one full-term, at least.

Even with these major changes, the American Presidency is still inherently inferior to the Chinese Presidency. Two examples:

1. A Chinese President typically has served not only as a state governor but also as the Vice President, with a substantial amount of experiences, both domestic and international, under his belt before ascending to the top job in China. Can an American President possibly be prepared for the top job in America like that? No, not even close!
2. A Chinese President has at least 10 years (i.e. two five-year terms) to run the show without worrying about re-election. Can an American President match that? With a new one-term limit, the American President should serve for six years, making the job more competitive with the Chinese Presidency.

Bottom line: The changes I have proposed would be a good start to improving the competency of the American Presidency, thus improving America’s overall chance for success.

6. How to make it happen?

Constitutional changes!

We did it before, and we can do it again.

For example, with the Twenty-second Amendment, we have limited the American Presidency to two terms. But that’s not good enough anymore. We should further limit it to one term.

For more, read: American Presidency: Why is One-Term a Must (Version 4)?

America is desperately in need of a great peaceful transformational leader like China’s Deng Xiaoping to make this happen.

Will President Biden be that leader?

Highly unlikely!

For more, read: An Open Letter to President-Elect Joe Biden.

7. Discussion

An American President is not a king or dictator (e.g. China’s Mao Zedong), and is thus limited in greatness (e.g. China’s Deng Xiaoping) or destructiveness (e.g. Adolf Hitler).

In other words, no American President, past, present, or future, should be revered as a great figure in history, either in form or in substance.

Why not?

Because there has never been, and there will never be, an American President comparable in achievements with great historical figures like Alexander the Great, China’s First Emperor, and China’s Deng! It is simply not what the American Presidency was designed to be. More pointedly, the U.S. Constitution was specifically written to limit the power of the American President to prevent the tyranny of a king.

Bottom line: We may never have a great President in history, but we must strive to have many good Presidents, while minimizing bad ones.

8. Closing

America, reform our failing political system, as I have suggested (American Democracy – Why is it failing & how to fix it?), or become a fiddle, second to China!

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