“Lack of Presidential Leadership”
Have you ever wondered what it would
be like if we lived in a utopian world? What if the president were to be in
more control? What if he could do things and not have to have the permission to
do them? If he could have more freedom would he be able to get more done? Would
he be more involved with us as a country and our problems over here? Would he
be more aware of what is going on over here?
The president is limited to very few
legal positions in which he actually has control over. One position he has is the
being the Commander and Chief of the Army and Navy. “It was thought that this
would provide the president with an independent source of authority. However,
in reality the president had no more power than the first General of the Army
or the first Admiral of the Navy would’ve had as professional military men.
This basically means that he simply had the power to give orders to the armed
forces within a given area of framework made by the congress.” (Schlesinger,
Arthur Meier (6)) Congress are really the only ones that can declare us to
actually be at war with another country. They have only done so five times. The
War of 1812, The Spanish American War, War with Mexico in 1846, World War I,
and World War II. All the other wars we were sent out to without their
permission by the president.
In addition to this he can also make
foreign envoys, appoint ambassadors and make treaties. “However, in order to
appoint the ambassadors and make treaties, he needs the advice and approval
from the Senate or they can’t be taken into consideration let alone be allowed.
Other than those mentioned there is nothing specific mentioned about foreign
affairs.” (Schlesinger, Arthur Meier (7)) This means that other than the
guidelines given he is not held to any specific rules or boundaries regarding
what he can or cannot do when it comes to dealing with foreign affairs and how
to go about with solving them. He can do whatever he feels is necessary to
solve foreign problems or to make them more manageable at best.
The president is also given veto
power. This means that when a bill is going through the steps to be passed, he
has the power to get rid of it. These are the steps to how a bill gets passed
is this, first the House of Representatives goes over it. If they agree with
what they read then they will pass it on to the congress, however, if they
don’t then it gets vetoed. Then congress has to read it and if they agree with
it then they will pass it on to the president. After that it gets passed back
to the House of Reps so they can review it again. If they agree it gets passed
back to congress and if they pass it, then it gets turned into a bill. However,
if any one of them vetoes the bill then it is revised and sent back through the
whole process from beginning to end until it is either thrown out or passed and
made into a bill.
Have you ever noticed that we often
see the president on the news declaring what he is going to do to help other
countries? We rarely ever see him talking about helping our country out. He’s always talking about the vast amounts of
money to other countries to get them out of their debt crises or to help them
out if a natural disaster strikes. For example, when the earthquake hit Port Au
Prince, Haiti back in 2010 we were the country that sent them the most amount
of charity and money to help them out. There was a total of $1.3 billion
dollars that the U.S relief organizations had raised. Part of that was from
Wyclef Jean, an American singer, who had raised a total of $9 million to be
given to their relief aid. Lastly, the American Red Cross had raised a total of
$468 million that they used to provide food, energy sources, and shelter for
the people of Haiti. (Smith, Aaron)
On the other hand, we have people
living here in the U.S that are homeless and going without food every day. If
you were to go to the big cities, such as, New York City, Detroit, even
Washington D.C. you would see people in parks sleeping on benches or out on the
street corner begging for change. Some of them even live in boxes so that they
have some form of shelter from the weather.
If the president were to be more involved then he would have the means
to step in and help these people out. He could make houses more affordable for
them, such as, lower the prices of town houses or villas. This would be so that
they would have enough money to pay the rent and still buy food.
If we were to limit what we hand out to
other countries, then we could use that money to give to our people so that
they aren’t going without shelter or food to eat. The billions of dollars we
gave to Haiti could have been used to buy enough food for many families that
are going without. If the president were to be more involved with us then he
would understand this more. He would be aware of the struggles that some of our
people face every day in this country. He might not be able to relate to it
being that he isn’t the one in that given position. Also, he’d still be aware
that it is happening all the time, and all over the US.
We are not in the position to be lending
out all this money. As you can see from what I had mentioned previously, we try
to take on too many responsibilities. We are not the only developed country in
the world. There is also the UK, Netherlands, Ireland, Iceland, Germany,
Canada, and France. (Wikipedia: Developed Countries) Yet, we don’t see them
making any big efforts to help the developing countries in times of need. As
being one of the top countries, it seems that many of the countries that are
developing look to us when they need help. On the one hand it is nice that we
are willing to help in the times of need. On the other hand there should be a
limit on how much we give out at a given time. That or we should give it to
them in payments and no all at once. This will give us time to build our economy
up and still help them out.
There
is also the health care dilemma. Many people go without some form of health
care. This makes it hard for them to be able to afford to go to the hospital
when they are sick. This is another reason why families can’t afford to pay
their bills or buy food. Their hospital bills or medicinal payments take most
of the money they make. They should be able to obtain affordable health care so
that they can get the medicine they need and medical help when they need it.
They could be given assistance when paying their bills, such as their
utilities, so that they can afford the doctor visits and/or medicinal
requirements. Even with today’s Obama Care many people are going without health
care. It’s either because they don’t agree with it or because they still can’t
seem to afford it. Not many people agree with it because it is hurting more
than it is helping. It makes the fact that you have to have health care as a
law. This doesn’t really help those who still can’t afford it. Also, it’s
hurting the ones that are barely making it by without having it.
We
are struggling as a nation to keep our head above water as it is. Our annual debt
is constantly rising. In 1949 our annual debt was only $252,770,359,860.33, but in 2012 our debt has rose to
$16,066,241,407,385.89. It has more than tripled in amount in the last 65
years. The money we are giving out to other countries we could be using to pay
our debt off instead of it increasing as much as it does. With us giving out as
much money as we do we are limiting our annual resources we have and the
amounts we can pay back to the countries that we owe to. By us limiting what we
lend we would be bringing major improvements to our economy. That and we could
be collecting the money that is owed to us from other countries. With both of
these measures being taken then we could easily get ourselves out of the
economic crisis we are in. (Treasury Direct)
He
could also hold activities where he interacts with kids to get their point of
view on things. He could talk to them about what it’s like to do his job, and
engage in conversations about how they are doing in school. He could tell them
about how important it is for them to stay in school so they can get a job.
Also, how difficult it would be if they were to drop out of school, and not get
their diploma. He could also go out alongside his wife if he doesn’t want to go
out alone. He could even take his kids with him. They would be able to engage
with the kids and understand them better than their parents would. They would
be able to relate to them and help their parents understand the kids on a
different level. Kids from the age of 5, can bring some important insight on
how home life is, whether it be that they are struggling or doing well.
If he were to actually take the time out of his schedule,
and spend some of it with our poorest neighborhoods that do need help, he would
more likely gain the motivation he needs to help them. It seems that most of
the House and Senate members don’t understand what it’s like to be battling the
need to put food on their tables, or take their sick children to the hospital.
They don’t understand that people go through this on a daily basis. They can’t
seem to relate to them because they have a job, and the benefits from their
job, that allows them to not have to worry about these kinds of problems. If
they were to go out and experience the severity of the situations that some
live in, than they would be able to find it easier to understand. They would
get the motivation to take it seriously and actually do something about the
problem at hand. They seem to shrug it off like they don’t care that people
have nowhere to live or that they are dying of starvation on every day, or that
some people end up going days without getting the medicine that they need. If
they were to all come together then the country would probably be a lot more
stable than it is now.
