Last week we discussed the issues of whether or not we liked our political system. We discussed term limits, and the overall operation of how our government works. One argument made from last week was whether or not we should keep the two term limit for the president. Several issues developed from this debate and I thought it was very interesting to hear about different political systems and governments around the world.
One thing that I thought was very interesting, was this idea of only allowing the president to serve one six-year term. I discovered that in Mexico, the president can only serve one term and that the term last six years. This entire notion of one term limits got me to thinking, would it be such a bad idea if the president could only serve one term? The more I thought about the issue, the more I became intrigued with the idea of what could happen if the president could only serve one term. I think if the president could only serve one term, he or she would be less concerned about their approval ratings and more concerned about getting things done. There would be less of an emphasis to seek the public’s attention and approval.
Another issue that I thought was very interesting, was the parliamentary type of government. I think the U.K has a very interesting style of governing, because when elections come around, you’re not necessarily voting for a candidate, instead you’re voting for a certain party. I thought this was so interesting because once a party gains control in their parliamentary style of government they try to get as much done as possible because of their control in the parliament.
The reason I thought this was so interesting was because of how I view our own form of government and just how long it takes our government to pass legislation. Our form of government has a very slow process of passing legislative bills and a lot of the time most bills don’t even make it to the president’s desk. Looking at other political system made me think of whether or not I thought it was good that it takes our government such a long time to pass legislative bills in our country. I think that after analyzing the different systems my opinion of our government is fairly good. Our process may not be the fastest but I believe it is the safest. I think that the founding fathers meant for our government to be that way. I think they wanted the legislative process to take some time, so that bills that only had the highest importance could be passed. I don’t think our founding fathers would have been pleased with the notion of trying to pass as much legislation as possible just because one party is in control.
As far as the president’s role goes, I also think it is good that we have the two term limit in place. I don’t think I would want a president that only serves one six-year term. The president must rely on the public’s consensus and approval, because ultimately it’s what we want as a nation to get done. It is important to take into consideration what we expect of our president, and how good of a job we feel they are doing.
I definitely see the appeal of the six year term limit with no reelection, but like you I also see that this could severely limit the accountability in our presidential system. Without the chance reelection the president is more likely to make more rash decisions because he is not held so responsible.