PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
The United States system of government has been set in place by systematic thought processes founded by statesman and free thinkers in the Age of Enlightenment. It is a unique system of Government that focuses its power directly in it's Executive. It is the ideal capitalist mechanism. It has less impediments to the progress of infrastructure. A thinner layer of bureaucracy in decision making in the passing of legislation and acts compared to the Westminster system of government. This type of government allows independent growth and competition and the patient use of market forces to determine best practice and policy. Thus the United States has grown to be the most influential culture on the planet. Its system and practices vary from country to country, but in the 20th Century all eyes watch the United States to formulate plans for tomorrow.
The power centralised in the United States Executive Government during the 19th Century, gave the decision makers of that time many issues to to confront and solve. These included, the exploration and exploitation of huge tracts of land. The gold rushes that occurred in the 1850's found remote new areas of country, this precipitated other unique systems of political control. The question of slavery was an opposing concept of the "American Dream"....the American ideal of "freedom for all".....the French ideal of "Libertie". The drafting of the "Bill of Rights" was to provide even those not "meant" be free with a voice and a conduit of appeal. Though, not the only issue, the conflict that became the Civil War would define and divide the country in a way that still has its rippling effects to this day. The leadership shown in the "social revolution", the victory of libertarians, began to consolidate the United States' position as the new world power. Another event was the migration of millions Europeans the United States in the latter 19th century and early 20th century. The ability to socially manage this and through trial and error (e.g. New York City) provide an environment to accommodate growth after this period made the United States the most productive nation on earth. This ability to produce and provide a high standard of living for those who work and live within its parameters is one the many reasons why the world looks to the United States for aid, advice and protection. The dominance of American culture around the world was secured by the massive output of production during WW2, a culmination of Henry Ford's "ideal" that first made America challenge European dominance earlier in this century. The effectiveness of the Lend Lease operation, Murmansk convoys and eventually the Berlin airlift turned the tide of the war and defied Russian aggression after armistice.
The shortcomings of a centralised Executive Government which has evolved executive powers especially in relation to foreign policy is exposed by the worlds demand on the United States' resources. Again, your greatest strength can become a weakness. In the past, at critical times the United States Executive has expended more capital and thought on international issues and less on domestic issues. Domestic infrastructure and socio-ergonomics are left to provincial and local governments. These authorities lack a national uniformity in law on trade, labor and criminal statutes. Another deficiency lies with a poorly defined cabinet and ministry structure for portfolio's of public management (e.g. Health or Education). In the U.S designated portfolio's have participants and members that have affiliated and vested interests and little public or independent consultancy or input that is significant. Some decision makers having bi lateral interests and with power over public utilities make it is possible to create a mini-executive based solely on profitable interests. Thus, full accountability and the auditing of Government revenue and expenditure is sometimes an illusion. An ability to "influence" the political mechanism for a specific purpose or "outcome" can create a major "gap" appearing between the "Executive" direction and its electors desires and more importantly it's needs. Another sinister aspect comes with mistakes through incompetence, negligence and cost cutting. On rare occasions, real disasters occur that point to incompetence and its important those involved "stick" together and hopefully disguise the incompetence in "red tape" or they themselves maybe manipulated or exposed. Naturally to protect the "interests" of all concerned an environment can occur where secrecy, conspiracy and media manipulation emerge as political weapons and diversions. Eventually an air of "disinformation" pervades to the point where nothing is directly believed. A general mood of acceptance of this leads to a degradation of "trust" in the Executive mechanism.
The attitude of leaving social woes to provincial, local or self funded community bodies, eventually leads to local factors such as minority groups and self interest groups gaining some authoritative legitimacy. People find more authority in relative "peer" groups, federal authority becomes diluted and confused. In other words the "cookie" begins to crumble. To exacerbate matters when the cookie does crumble the stakeholders, powerbrokers and the political opportunists of the day have self interests that prevent anything but final disintegration. Of course every other country on the planet would love to have this their problem. Any country who carried the United States present role would have the same obstacles and also may not have the political system or national government to cope. Easy to see, that its no mistake that the United States ended up with this function. A move to some Westminster System initiatives as in ministry control, audits done with integrity by those with no vested interests in the reviewed portfolio are some options. The present use of standing committees and other auditing committees is also riddled with Machiavellian tactics as to create even more machinations that create" sideshow politics" and prevents good decision making.
The United States Federal Government, the Executive Government and future Presidents have a challenge to maintain the unique position the United States has had in world affairs over the last 70 years. The role America has played has cost much time, energy and the lives of countrymen. The efforts of Americans to help and "influence" many all around the world and this unique system of government allows this grand overview to take place. Lets hope the lessons of the past and eternal vigilance allows ALL Americans to reap the rewards of their role in history for a long time to come.
PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES
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PRESIDENTS OF THE UNITED STATES1st George Washington, 1789-1797
2nd John Adams, 1797-1801
3rd Thomas Jefferson, 1801-1809
4th James Madison, 1809-1817
5th James Monroe, 1817-1825
6th John Quincy Adams, 1825-1829
7th Andrew Jackson, 1829-1837
8th Martin Van Buren, 1837-1841
9th William Henry Harrison, 1841
10th John Tyler, 1841-1845
11th James Knox Polk, 1845-1849
12th Zachary Taylor, 1849-1850
13th Millard Fillmore, 1850-1853
14th Franklin Pierce, 1853-1857
15th James Buchanan, 1857-1861
16th Abraham Lincoln, 1861-1865
17th Andrew Johnson, 1865-1869
18th Ulysses Simpson Grant, 1869-1877
19th Rutherford Birchard Hayes, 1877-1881
2oth James Abram Garfield, 1881
21st Chester Alan Arthur, 1881-1885
22nd Grover Cleveland, 1885-1889
23rd Benjamin Harrison, 1889-1893
24th Grover Cleveland, 1893-1897
25th William McKinley, 1897-1901
26th Theodore Roosevelt, 1901-1909
27th William Howard Taft, 1909-1913
28th Woodrow Wilson, 1913-1921
29th Warren Gamaliel Harding, 1921-1923
30th Calvin Coolidge, 1923-1929
31st Herbert Clark Hoover, 1929-1933
32nd Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 1933-1945
33rd Harry S. Truman, 1945-1953
34th Dwight David Eisenhower 1953-1961
35th John Fitzgerald Kennedy, 1961-1963
36th Lyndon Baines Johnson, 1963-1969
37th Richard Milhous Nixon, 1969-1974
38th Gerald Rudolph Ford, 1974-1977
39th James Earl Carter, Jr., 1977-1981
40th Ronald Wilson Reagan, 1981-1989
41st George Herbert Walker Bush, 1989-1993
42nd William Jefferson Clinton, 1993-
RELATED LINKS
The Declaration of Independence
Amendments to the Constitution
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