Election Schemes And The Race To The White House - Essay Example

Election Schemes And The Race To The White House Presidency is the executive power given to a president to govern a country under the check of a myriad of forces and positions. The American presidency has always been in a constant evolution over the past centuries, and that is what has converted it from monarchy to republicanism to democracy. Presidency and presidential elections are always in the news (Goodman). Everyone is interested in the nomination of presidential candidates, the running of presidential campaigns, the presidential elections, and finally the selection of a president, who has to play a wide variety of roles to come up to the expectations of the citizens. People are not concerned with the Constitution, nor do they see how the Constitution grants powers to the president. All they know is that they have elected a president, and that he has to take care of them by all means possible. A president is not only their commander in chief, but also is a leader for them who they look forward to in times of crisis and trouble. Around the presidential elections, the candidates announce their plans to run for the presidential office. This launches the presidential campaign, which runs with speeches, benefit announcements, debates, and a lot of baby-kissing. This is followed by candidate campaigns intended to win delegate support. These are also called the nomination campaigns. In these types of campaigns, the candidates are in a competition with other candidates of the same party. Delegates have to decide which candidate is the best, because they have to nominate the candidate at the national party convention. The candidates continue to convince general voters. This is the point when the caucuses and primary elections start in which the citizens are encouraged to participate in nominating the candidates. To explain the difference, a caucus is for local party members, who meet at a certain place, or at some event, to nominate their favorite candidate. Speeches are made in the favor of the candidate. On the other hand, a primary election enables the voters to cast their votes for their favorite candidate, which makes it similar to a presidential election. After this, delegates of each party gather at the national party convention in the support of their nominated candidates. The suitable candidate is nominated from each party, which makes them presidential candidates. After this step, the presidential campaign begins, in which the candidates compete to win the nation’s trust and votes. Then, the presidential elections are held. The citizens vote for their favorite candidate, after which the Electoral College casts votes. All presidential candidates need a certain number of electoral votes to become a president, which is finally decided by the House of Representatives. When a president is elected, his inauguration occurs in which he enters his presidential office to take the presidential oath (Halbert). It is important to discuss the roles of a president here. A president is the chief administrator of a government. He is the head of state, the commander in chief, the law maker, and the political chief for the country. He has to lead the government when he is the chief administrator. He is the crisis manager because he is the head of state. He commands the military, because he is the commander in chief. He handles all foreign affairs. He is the ceremonial leader of the country. He is the legislator. He sets an example of a role model in front of his people. He leads the workers in the Executive branch. He leads the members of his party to the presidential office, because he is the chief of his party. He holds the responsibility to guard his country’s economy and take steps to make his country flourish. Hence, when a president has so many responsibilities, it is must for him to have a vigorous and candid personality, who can deal with all internal and external affairs with efficiency. American government has been seeing a rise in conservatism in presidency. Tannsjo states in his book that the Concise Oxford Dictionary defines conservatism as that attitude which is possessed by the person who wants to “maintain existing institutions” (3) when he comes into the government. Conservatism focuses on the economic autonomy and the measures to maintain a small government with guaranteed protection against terrorism. The concept of conservatism has seen some modification after the postwar era or since some decades, and this new concept has affected the meaning of political and public verve in the United States. Ronald Reagan, the 40th American president from 1981-1989, was a Republican politician and a conservative leader. The history of America shows that most of the conservative politicians belonged to the Republican Party. Reagan’s domestic policies focused on lowering down the federal regulation. He emphasized upon the importance and establishment of private enterprises, and worked toward lowering the taxes. The aim behind tax cuts was to improve productivity with reduced government spending and investment in domestic field, so that more should be spent on national defense and protection against violence. Although his conservative policies did face some difficulties in the form of recession in the beginning of his career, yet the economical infrastructural strengthened its roots afterwards. This way, we can say that Reagan’s domestic policies were a reflection of rise of conservatism in the American politics. Historians suggest that Reagan’s first presidential nomination was the largest surge in conservatism in American politics and that modern conservatism is only the by-product of Reagan’s conservative theories (Cooper, Kornberg and Mishler 83). As for Clinton, he also worked upon establishing a smaller government, thus, focusing on the conservatism once again. Farber writes that Clinton announced in his 1996 State of the Union address that he had been successful in establishing a “smaller, less bureaucratic government…that lives within its means” (210). Clinton also thought of older conventional conservative structure of policies as preferable in enriching the common people so that fewer people received “food stamps and welfare checks” (Farber 210). The strength of the state government increased. This way, Clinton is said to have re-engineered the conservative presidential concept put forward by Reagan (Godwin). Moreover, a powerful conservative movement was waiting for George W. Bush when he became the 41st president of America in the late twentieth century, according to Farber (209). Bush himself proved to be an extraordinary conservative president. He had not studied in conservative institutions; instead, he had a long list of personal experiences that made him a conservative leader. He also promoted, like Reagan, the tax-cutting policies and focused on pro-business with pro-wealth policies. He emphasized upon loosening federal regulation and promoting monopolization. Bush’s “conservative ideological predispositions” were much like those of Reagan’s, and were a blend of “traditional conservatism and classic liberalism” (Farmer 387). The independent institutional life proposed by Bush was an end-product of his compassionate conservative domestic policies, according to Ceaser and Busch (45). Hence, it is evident that the domestic policies of presidents Reagan, Bush, and Clinton reflect the rise of conservatism in American politics. Barack Obama, however, is known as a centrist, that is, holding both liberal and conservatism views for the best benefit of the nation. To conclude, presidency gives the president the executive power to lead the country with the greatest sincerity and responsibility. A president has to play a myriad of roles while in presidency. There are a number of steps in the whole presidential campaign leading to the presidential elections. People elect their candidate, and hold expectations from him. American presidency has evolved through great changes in previous centuries. Conservatism and liberalism are the main presidential concepts in American politics. In short, presidency is a job of great responsibility and energy, because the president has to work at his best potential to win and maintain the public’s trust. Works Cited Ceaser, James W., and Andrew Busch. The Perfect Tie: The True Story of the 2000 Presidential Election. USA: Rowman & Littlefield, 2001. Cooper, Barry, Kornberg, Allan, and William Mishler. The Resurgence of Conservatism in Anglo-American Democracies. USA: Duke University Press, 1988. Farber, David R. The Rise and Fall of Modern American Conservatism: A Short History. USA: Princeton University Press, 2010. Farmer, Brian R. “Conservatism and George W. Bush.” American Conservatism: History, Theory and Practice. USA: Cambridge Scholars Press, 2005. Godwin, Jack. Clintonomics: How Bill Clinton Reengineered the Reagan Revolution. USA: AMACOM Div American Mgmt Assn, 2009. Goodman, Susan E. See How They Run (Revised Reissue): Campaign Dreams, Election Schemes, and the Race to the White House. USA: Bloomsbury, 2012. Halbert, Patricia (ed.). I Wish I Knew That: U.S. Presidents: Cool Stuff You Need To Know. USA: Reader's Digest, 2012. Tannsjo, Torbjorn. “What is Conservatism?” Conservatism for Our Time. USA: Taylor & Francis, 1990. Read More