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We Need to Talk about the Senate
They are the 101 Most Powerful People in the World
Every four years during the Presidential elections, Americans go through the long and arduous process of demonstrating how little we understand our own democracy. The one fault with democracy is that it can be a bit complicated to orchestrate and conceptualize. But Presidents are easy. We all know what Presidents do, right? I mean, we don’t, and I’m working out a book on exactly that, but the point is, we think we understand Presidents. So, historically, Presidential elections drive turnout.
The problem with that conceptualization is, the way our democratic republic is set up, the Executive Branch is one of three theoretically equal Branches of government. So when we call the President the “leader of the free world,” or “the most powerful person in the world,” that’s not exactly accurate. Presidents do wield absurd amounts of power. There has been since about the 1970s or so increasing literature on how overly expansive the Presidency has become. But, theoretically, that executive power is checked by the Judicial and Legislative Branches.
So, really, Americans should be out there demonstrating our ignorance in civics at least every two years. Better yet, we shouldn’t be ignorant in civics, but hey: this is why I wrote a book. Senator-elect Tommy…
