Changing the Presidency

Contrary to popular belief in this country, I do not believe our governmental system is flawless. Yes, it has withstood a huge test of time and generally works and is accepted by a large portion of America, but I believe that our system that serves us well does not necessarily serve us the best. The Presidency, as laid out in Article II of the Constitution is terribly flawed. In some areas, our executive has too much power such as his ability to wage war as he or she needs no initial congressional approval. In the area of legislation however, I believe the President doesn't have enough power in the creation and approval of legislation and that the signing/veto principle is useless and serves nothing except to make the passing of each and every bill a partisan issue

First, overall I would prefer to do away with the Presidential system we have now and create a parliamentary system not unlike that of the United Kingdom where the head of our government would be elected by the legislature, be a member of that body, and have the same legislation rights as any other member of the legislature. I don't believe that a nearly powerless "Head of State" figure like the Queen is necessary but I suppose it wouldn't matter if we elected a figurehead "President" just for fun. I think a parliamentary system is easier to work with as there are less hurdles for a bill to go through to become law, allowing more things to get done with an exact agenda created by the Prime Minister instead of our current system where our President has to use multiple different people to introduce his agenda into congress, before it inevitably gets changed nearly beyond recognition.

An important power I would take away from our executive is the power to pardon anyone he or she sees fit. It is outrageous that we would invest so much power in one person to undermine the justice system of our country. This power allows the president to have people commit crimes for him, and have them feel safe because if they are caught, the President just has the power to pardon them. This practice is no longer necessary or relevant and must be stopped.

I suggest we also remove the powers given to the President under the War Powers Act. This takes waging war from being an issue of the state, to being an issue of the Administration. Due to the effect a war has on the entire nation, I believe the waging of that war should be approved immediately by representatives of the entire nation.