Simon Conway on WHO Radio was talking about this on Monday. I didn’t have an opportunity to call in or otherwise voice my thoughts on the subject since I was driving at the time.
Simon was comparing the United States to Great Britain. When there is an election for a Prime Minister, the head of government, the next day they get to pick their Cabinet ministers and the day after they get down to business of governing.
This is not the same in the United States. We elect our President, the head of state and government, and then the they get to pick their Cabinet secretaries. But these must be approved by the Senate. This can be a long process and made even longer if the Senate is controlled by an opposition party.
When the framers of our Constitution wrote these rules they had fled from Great Britain and other European monarchies. A problem at the time was the King was still very much involved in politics at the time. And thus could have yes-men picked for minsters of government.
Our founders wanted to have a check and balance on that power. So although the President is the head of the Executive branch, his appointments must be confirmed by the Senate.
Now of course at the time, the Senate was meant to represent the States in government. They were appointed by the state legislatures or governors and not elected by the people. That was for the House of Representatives.
We have since altered our Constitution and made the Senate also elected by the people. But I think this was a mistake for our Federal Republic. It should still be in control of the States.
This is just why the United States does it differently than Great Britain. Maybe we should have a new Amendment that removes the Senate approval for appointees of the President.
