§ Useful; not so much; irrelevant

§ ≡ A section of Preserve, Protect, and Defend: Faithfully Executing the Office of the President
{Section 2.3 « Section 2.4 » Section 2.5}

 pic: h/t Theo Spark

It is not the job of the President of the United States to lower gas prices. Nor does the President have the power to do so, even if it was part of his job description. Anyone who bases his choice for President on what that Candidate promised to do about the price of a gallon of gas is voting for a panderer, not for a President.

The preceding posts in this series have discussed in broad strokes the powers, duties, and personal characteristics that contribute to an effective Presidential candidate. Now let's consider some specific examples. In subsequent posts we will consider how one might evaluate a Candidate's qualifications based on these and similar considerations.

"If the way to do good to my country were to render myself popular, I could easily do it. But extravagant popularity is not the road to public advantage." — John Adams

Extravagant popularity is not a characteristic that a good POTUS would or should cultivate. Popularity counts in grade-school elections, but has little relevant merit in National elections. I think it important to distinguish between what matters in winning an election (i.e., that which matters most to a Candidate) and what matters in preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution (i.e., that which should matter to all voters, including the Candidates themselves). In a democratic republic such as ours, we elect our national leaders because, as Alexander Hamilton argued so persuasively in his Federalist Papers, the plurality of the Legislature, not to mention the enormous plurality of the voting public, is incapable of acting decisively on the myriad issues confronting the POTUS on a daily, sometimes hourly, basis. We have no choice but to cede virtually all decision-making power to the Chief Executive, and trust that our collective votes devolve on the best qualified Candidate.

We must not hope to choose a POTUS who will act so as to best effect whatever our personal individual interests happen to be at the time. The POTUS must act in the best interest of preserving, protecting, and defending the Constitution, and not necessarily, for example, in the best interest of lowering gasoline prices. Nor should the POTUS focus his efforts on matters that are Constitutionally the provenance of the fifty State governments.

The POTUS is our Nation's highest elected official and as such has the power and duty to make treaties with other nations and, in general, conduct foreign affairs together with his appointed subordinate, the Secretary of State and other appointed advisers. Within the scope of Constitutionally derived powers and responsibilities, our Chief Executive's duties concern those responsibilities for which our Nation requires administration and which only a Chief Executive can conceivably attend to. The price of gasoline is not one of those responsibilities; it is too specific an issue and only one of a multiplicity of such issues that arise, from time to time, to the (possibly great) discomfort of ordinary citizens.

The POTUS is not your mother, your father, your rich uncle, or even your cousin who knows how to get things for you wholesale. The POTUS is that person who will do everything in his power to insure that your right to vote in the next Presidential election will be preserved on his watch.

Stop whining! Read a book. Think.