The Face of Our Nation

The President is the most visible part of our government, mostly because he is our primary PR guy. He is the one who talks to the heads of government in other nations, gives speeches about various issues that he thinks we need to know about, and gives reports to Congress (the Senate and the House of Representatives) on the general state of our nation (the State of the Union Address). He also makes treaties with other countries, but he needs Senate approval for them.

Although he can make treaties, he cannot declare war. He is the head of all of the branches of the military: Army, Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force & Marines. This means he can:

1. Decide if we are under attack and what we need to do about it,

especially in a crisis.

2. Send soldiers away from the U.S. to fight our battles and protect us. He

gives orders to our military.

3. Honor our soldiers, including commissioning our officers.

The President grants pardons to people who have committed crimes. This means that although someone has committed a crime, they are let out of jail when he says so, regardless of the crime they committed.

He can also appoint ambassadors (people who represent the United States in other countries), nominate Cabinet members, federal judges and Supreme Court justices (but the Senate has to approve his choices), and make suggestions about laws he thinks should be passed. To be clear though, he does not make laws. The job of making laws is the job of Congress, and the President is not the boss of Congress. Although it may seem like it sometimes, the President is only one part of our three part system of government, and according to The Constitution, all three parts have separate jobs and equal amounts of power. He can call Congress together in extraordinary circumstances, and adjourn them if for some reason they cannot adjourn themselves, but otherwise he is supposed to MHOB (mind his own business.) If the President suggests a new law, but Congress isn’t interested in making it a law: end of discussion. The President does have the power to veto laws that are sent to him by Congress, but even then, his veto can be overridden if 2/3 of the Senate and 2/3 of the House of Representatives vote in favor of the law. Whether he wanted the law or not, he must enforce that law and all of the other laws of our nation.

Finally, the President is allowed to get advice and information from all of our executive officials.

That’s it! According to our Constitution, these are the only things our President is permitted to do. Everything to do with taxes and money and what the laws mean is left to the other branches of government. Those branches are as powerful as the President so that we are never ruled by just one person (a king, for example.) Although he is an important figure and representative for us, he is just one slice of the All Important American Government Apple Pie.