Hail to the Presidents of the United States

With the conclusion of the Nov. 15 Democratic Presidential Debate it has become painstakingly clear what must be done. No, it's not to vote for Clinton, Obama, or Edwards-the three frontrunners-but instead we must accept that the next 4 years will be more of the same. Whether troops get withdrawn from Iraq is a moot point now, but 4 years is certainly not enough time to clean up the mess left behind by Bush and company. Like a movie theater that has been occupied by children high on Sour Patch Kids and suffering from ADD, the country is in dire need of an intense cleansing. And that will happen by doing away with the flawed and worthless single president system.

Humanity has come a long way, and we have experimented with many different styles of government. Nevertheless, each system has exhibited various glitches and faults that have made the idea of efficient governing seem impossible. While a Democratic Republic has worked well enough for the USA, it is time to abandon tradition, and as the tech geek says, update. The problem with the single president system is that we are asking and expecting far too much from one person who might have a basic knowledge of everything, but is an expert in absolutely nothing.

In the case of the current figurehead...whoops, president-damn Freudian slips-we are learning that taking a failed businessman and giving him final say on matters regarding one of the world's largest economies is actually a bad thing! The same can be said for making an economic genius the president in a time of war. Due to his/her frugal nature as a result of trying to minimize debt, he/she would most likely under-fund the war, either by vetoing bills or by requesting a lower amount of money to be spent on the military. After all, when was the last time we had a president who was an expert on everything, let alone one specific field? I guess we could consider Bill Clinton an expert of gettin' some, but I don't see how that is relevant to the betterment of America.

Nevertheless, I have a solution to the problem. Yes, a 20 year old college kid with an idealistic mindset has all the answers to the country's problems-I bet you older folk are surprised, right? Joking aside, in order to create a government that is far more efficient and productive we must turn to specialization. Our society is a specialized one and it makes sense that our government should "get with it" already. There is a reason farmers don't make microchips. There is a reason why many of us go to college and major in a specific field of interest. Instead of expecting the president to be some miracle worker who can solve every problem properly, we need to spread out the work load across the 7 major areas involved in running a nation.

There should be a President of Defense and National Security, a President of the Economy, a President of the Environment and Agriculture, a President of Education, a President of Justice, a President of Health and Safety, and a President of Transportation. Sure, we have positions like the Secretary of Defense or the Secretary of the Interior, but those positions are decided by the president. As seen with the Bush Administration it is very easy for the president to appoint those who will be loyal to the administration's agenda. By dividing the presidency into 7 parts, we can ensure that the decisions being made in those respected areas are made by experts with the proper experience needed to come up with effective solutions.

Each president will have all the powers of the current president, but instead of having the final say over all policies affecting the nation they will be limited to the policies, which relate directly to their area of expertise. In fact, the only difference would be in the campaign. At first, it would seem overwhelming as there might be 8 different people running for each of the presidential positions, but this would allow debates that accurately assess a candidate's worth. After watching the recent debate it is clear that there is no way to gage the candidates properly-especially when you have CNN's Geraldo, Wolf Blitzer, asking yes or no questions that are far too complex to be answered with a simple yes or no. And just like some issues can't be resolved with such a simplistic approach, running a country is far too complex to be done by one person. It is time for progressive change; and that comes in the form of overhauling the way we think about government. Hail to the Presidents of the United States!