The Presidential Crisis; Need For A Non-Partisan President

September 17, 2004.

By T.S.Khanna

The American politics is becoming increasingly divisive; much more so at the time of presidential election. At every election, deeper cleavage between the two major political parties is engraved in the minds of their respective supporters. There is no healing after the election. The fanaticism in both Republican and Democratic parties is almost at the level of religious fanaticism. Psychologically, the nation is being divided into two.

Democratic elections were designed to give citizens a chance to evaluate the merit of each candidate before voting. However, under the current practices of unbridled campaigning, truth is the first casualty; facts, the second. In the absence of truth and facts, logic and rationality, the backbone of democracy, have no reliable basis. Emotions replace logic and rationality. Debates become meaningless. The image of public interest is faulted and twisted by each party. To win over middle-of –the-road voters, both parties compete in creating a better facade of the middle-of-the-road position. The public fooling is rampant.

To find a handle on the widespread conditions, we must look for critical points to initiate an effective counter action. As I see it, the most critical point is the presidency of the nation. The presidents elected under the prevailing conditions cannot reflect the true choice and confidence of the voters. In addition, with nearly a 50/50 division in popular voting, and the opposition party constantly opposing the elected president, it becomes almost impossible for the president to have the nation’s full confidence. The President, even with the best of intentions, cannot perform well in a divided government with hostile environment.

The Founders never intended the President to be a powerful figure. However, with the passage of time, every president expanded his power according to his political talent and opportunities. Now the position provides vast powers but the system does not provide and assure commensurate public confidence. Under the prevailing conditions, emotional ties of the citizens to the president bind as well as divide the nation. Affection and hate become strong emotions right at the starting point.

Besides being the political chief of the nation, the importance of presidency is also reinforced by the modern times need as well as the public emotions and imagery of the position as a symbol of national unity. For national confidence and unity, the President’s effective power of influence has to be drawn from the people by identifying and extracting the interests of various segments of the population and integrating them with the whole.

A partisan President is not oriented to perform this most needed function required by the modern times. Even if he performs this function well, due to the partisan nature of his position, he is not likely to develop enough public confidence to be perceived as the nation’s unifier. That is why, in the times of war or emergency, when the national unity is most needed it is not forthcoming.

Besides the most needed campaign reform discussed elsewhere, the resolution of this crisis seems to lie in revising our system to make the position of the President non-partisan. A non-partisan President will a) serve better as a symbol of national unity, b) deal better with numerous power centers of the nation, and, c) be more apt in performance with full confidence of the legislature, the executive, and the public.