The Cult of the Presidency

The Cult of the Presidency

We rely on the President to do so much for us.
He is a father figure.
A caregiver.
A warlord.
A motivator.
How can a President be expected to do all of this and run an executive branch that has expanded beyond all capacity?
This is the question Gene Healy asks in his book “Cult of the Presidency.”
Healy notes that when he wrote it, President George W. Bush was in office and he was observing how despite Bush’s claims to reduce the size of government, no such action occurred.
Healy, a leader at the CATO institute, noticed even in the Barack Obama campaign that the president had to represent himself as many things and could no longer be so narrowly defined.
What does a country want most? As might say, we want options, but at the same time we want the free lunch.
We want it all, and that is what Healy said the president has become. A catch-all for ideals and the guiding force behind the people.
When the founding fathers envisioned this country, Healy notes that the Presidency was not supposed to be this huge figure. The founders were afraid of such government power in the hands of one man.
They established a strong legislative branch. They established a strong executive branch.
But now, where does that leave us?
And it begs us to ask the question, can we even reverse this monster that we have created. Healy admits to offering no answers to this problem of the growing presidency.
Do we cut him off at the knees and take back the admiration and awe that surrounds the office? Do we make a sharp turn and shun the executive office, from which monumental changes occurred like the Emancipation Proclamation and a Civil Rights agenda?
There seems to be no obvious answer as how to tackle this beast, but as Healy notes it is a cult following that has grown up around the office of the president and it has created this unhealthy need for the president to act as an answer for all the questions in our lives.