It’s Not the President’s Job to Unite the Country

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By Caleb Coggeshall

Will this president bring people together? Will this man, as president, divide the country? What will he do for blacks, Mexicans, whites or minorities? All of these questions should be answered with an eye roll and exasperated sigh. For whatever reason, American citizens have labored under the delusion that the president is elected to unite the nation. This is not the case and it never has been.

A look at the Constitution reveals that the head of the executive branch does not have the responsibility of making sure everyone in the U.S. gets along. It would appear that the American citizenry unofficially granted this task to the president sometime in the nation’s 240 year history. A good example of this is the lofty, dull State of the Union Address. Year after year, and decade after decade the commander in chief has told us about how he, with the help of lawmakers, is going to fix the economy (not his job) and fix the country. And then at some point he usually tells us that we need to work together and work with him to make everything work. Originally, the State of the Union was nothing more than the president going in front of Congress from time to time with ideas, updates and concerns. Nowadays it’s akin to the Red Carpet Ceremony, with every news station, talking head and political pundit giving a meaningless prediction beforehand and a meaningless summary afterwards.

A lot of the problem seems to also stem from the fact that U.S. citizens now believe that the president actually runs the country instead of the people. With this kind of mindset it’s little wonder that everyone thinks President Trump, Obama or whoever has to sing “Kumbaya” to us. The issue is that our president (no matter who it is) doesn’t really know we, the people. He knows we exist, but he doesn’t know me personally, my family, friends or neighbors. Yet we are to believe this one man can bring a nation of 350 million humans together because he says words that are supposed to make us feel good?

A cynical naysayer may claim that one should just go along with it: “George Bush is in command now, just shut up, deal with it and try to do as he asks. Do your civic duty and watch the State of the Union.” But why? What if I don’t like the president? What if everything he’s doing is against my code of ethics? What if I don’t want anything from the president? Republicans had no problem being suspicious of President Obama and now democrats are scoffing at the Trump presidency. And the thing is, they should both be allowed to do so, even though both parties are being immensely hypocritical. The past fifteen years prove that no matter who is elected to the executive branch, a large swath of the country still will not listen to a word the commander in chief says. And that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

It is high time we get over this whole fantasy of electing men to unite the country. The president’s job is to run the executive branch and leave the American people alone. That may be a radical thought in our twenty-first century (radical, not crazy), but it’s something worth considering. Besides, if our dear leaders are so great at bringing us together, why are voters always screaming for a new president every four to eight years?

EDITOR’s NOTE: The views expressed are those of the author, they are not representative of The Libertarian Republic or its sponsors.

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