Not having a prez.

Clinton is over in Vietnam, Gore is busy inspecting his hanging chads, and life goes on.

Do we really need a prez? I don't think so. From the looks of this forum over the last few weeks, it seems the only thing a president does is start arguments. He is just a symbol to remind one half of the country why they should hate the other half.

I say as long as Congress is somewhat balanced, conservative vs. liberal, they should be able to arrive at reasonable compromises. I feel better about the decisions made by a majority of several hundred representatives of the people than anything done by 1 single man.

Let's not elect any more presidents from now on. Screw 'em, who needs 'em.

-- (prez@=symbol.of.conflict), November 18, 2000

Answers

Makes sense..I second it. Motion carried.

-- k (k@k.k), November 18, 2000.

Think of all the support jobs the prez creates. There aren't enough burger-flipping jobs to keep all those folks busy. Think of all those secret service guys lining up for bit parts on X-Files.

-- john littmann (littmannj@aol.com), November 18, 2000.

Maybe all the money used to support the prez could be used to do things like fix roads and build better schools? What a novel idea!

-- (yeah@that's.the.ticket), November 18, 2000.

Yeah, it's fun to be cynical but we really DO need a president. Do you want to conduct foreign policy out of Congress?

-- Lars (lars@indy.net), November 18, 2000.

I thought we had an entire department that conducts foreign policy. Isn't it the State Department or something like that? We have that lady that goes around shaking hands and rapping with our enemies, do we need to have a president do it too?

-- (prez=all.show@no.go), November 18, 2000.

BTW, I didn't think I was being cynical, I thought I was being optimistic. Some people just can't handle change, even it is for the better. Go figure.

-- (make@positive.changes), November 18, 2000.

The issue of doing away with the electoral college is likely to be seriously considered in the near future. I suggest the people speak up at this time, and support the idea of eliminating the office of the president altogether. It is an obsolete concept, created by egotistical power maniacs, way back in the days when men were so ignorant they believed that one man could singlehandedly run the country.

These days we know that solutions are accomplished more effectively through committee, by the means of consensus. Control of government should be more directly from the people through their representatives. If we move in this direction, gradually shifting the control away from politicians and into the hands of the people, eventually each of us would become what amounts to a member of the committee. The entire population of the country could be allowed to vote on whatever matters they choose to, and our vote would have a direct effect in determining the solutions.

A smart government for the future should not include politicians or lobbying by special interest groups. The people should be the only influence on government, we should not be required to have our desires filtered and distorted by corrupted politicians. Government should be nothing more than a collection of organizations hired to follow our orders and serve a function, like businesses. The Postal Service is probably a good example of what government is supposed to do, because it is for the most part not corrupted by political influences, it just provides a service to the people.

The foundation of a pyramid is the most important part, not the peak. If the pyramid has grown too high, and it's peak serves no useful purpose, it makes more sense to deconstruct it working from the top down than to take away parts of the foundation.

-- (power@to.the.people), November 18, 2000.

However titular the office only the prez makes nominations for the supreme court. That's probably the last reason to pay attention to this stuff.

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), November 18, 2000.

make that "last remaining reason"

-- Carlos (riffraff@cybertime.net), November 18, 2000.

cool. I like the idea. At least we can wait until January.

-- JoseMiami (josenmiami@yahoo.com), November 19, 2000.