- What is the proper role of the president?
R: The proper role of the president is to direct the U.S. military, conduct foreign policy, and oversee the execution of laws domestically. The president should not write laws, but rather enforce the laws that Congress has passed. The president of course may use his veto even liberally if he thinks Congress is acting inappropriately. However, I am opposed to the recent trend of presidents ruling through executive orders and agencies rather than passing laws with Congress. It seems that Congress has become so gridlocked that they are incapable of governing, which has allowed the presidency to continue to grow in power. The U.S. government ought to return to Madison’s idea of checks and balances and reinvigorate the proper role of the executive, the legislature, and the courts, which have become too conflated over the last several decades.
L: The President is the team captain of America, both our Cultural and Political. The President should be a driving force in American life, not only executing the laws aggressively and thoroughly, but also acting as the tone setter for the nation, a role model. How the president conduct’s his or her self is a signal of what the nation views as acceptable conduct. Their style will be modeled, and the tone of business and political discourse will follow from the model set in the White House. The President must work to consciously cultivate this image that will undoubtedly permeate the nation. They must also govern, and govern well. It is their imperative to be active, pushing all the agencies of the executive branch to better execute the policies they bare given, and to always try to improve those policies so they may better benefit all Americans.
- Is the electoral college a sensible system for choosing the president, why / why not?
R: The Electoral College is a sensible system for choosing a president because it adds another check to our republic system. I do not buy the typically conservative arguments that the Electoral College allows smaller states to have representation, because the election still comes down to a handful of populous swing states every time around. However, I think the Electoral College gives our republic another check on the powers of the president and the people. In the early days of the republic, few offices were popularly elected at the national level; only the House of Representatives had popular election. Thus, the Electoral College served as a way for the politically engaged to elect the president usually in accord with the people’s wishes, but ultimately by their own judgment. It is certainly an institution which represents a sort of colonial elitism, but that is all the more reason why we should retain it.
L: I think the electoral college gets a lot of undue hate these days. In fact, I dare say that it is the most brilliant political system ever devised to combat “the tyranny of the majority.” The Electoral College is important because it recognizes that each state in the union is unique, important and deserves a seat at the table in American politics. By giving each state a certain number of votes (Proportional to its number of residents), the college makes sure that the good people of Nebraska, with their corn dogs and rodeos, have as powerful a vote to make their voice heard as the denizen of New York City, with their hot dogs and Broadway theaters. The power of the electoral college is that it makes sure each PART of the country has its voice heard, especially rural areas that are overlooked enough already. This is a sensible consideration, as the President is supposed to represent the whole country, something that cannot be achieved without meaningful input from all corners of the nation.
- What are your thoughts on this election, broadly speaking?
R: I am very happy about the results of this election. I hope President-elect Trump delivers on his campaign promises and remembers that he is president not just for his supporters, but all Americans.
L: This election was one for the history books, that’s for sure. There was some cowardice from Republican leaders, who despite insisting they wanted to move on from the Trump era, sooner or later bent the knee. This cemented the true transformation of the Republican Party from the Party of Conservatism to the Party of Trump. It also saw the Democratic Party stumble over its own feet again and again, succumbing to our habitual tendency to be so caught up in feeling right that we forget that not everyone thinks, feels, or acts like a 20 something ivy league graduate living in a mid-sized costal city. Both parties dropped the ball campaigning, and I do think the Trump assassination attempts did more to help his campaign than anything else. Hopefully this cycle will be a wakeup call to democrats to get their head back in the game and start listening to the American people and offer a change. The Republicans, despite running the FORMER PRESIDENT, managed to be the party of change this cycle, and that’s what people want, CHANGE. Maybe the Democrats will remember that next time around.