I'm Not the United States
I Don't Have a President; The United States Does
[The life of a Republican professor is filled with low attention span people (bad listeners, poor observers) tryin a play “gotcha”. Never Trump “republicans” or “Christians” do the same thing].
The latest: will I say Biden is “my president” when he is ...
If, I corrected . If.
If he is the next president.
I asked, why are you asking me this?
Because you’re a Republican, right?
Yes.
And so you said Trump is your president.
No, I never said that.
[Awkward silence].
I have never once said that. In fact, I’ve never even thought it.
?, their face said.
I don’t have a president . I’m an individual.
[This is what professors call a teaching moment, in the literature].
[The look on their face].
I continued : The United States has a president , not me. I’m not mentioned in first clause of Article II of the US Constitution.
[Their eyes crossed, saliva collected and bubbled, several blinks occurred in rapid succession, as if blinks accomplished great things. They focused. They looked me in the eyes].
Welcome to a basic distinction in American Politics: Individuals aren’t the same as government.
But.
No buts, I said.
[Photo: Article 2, clause 1 of the US Consitution, establishing something called a presidency, the first of its kind in world history: https://constitution.congress.gov/constitution/article-2/#article-2-section-3]
Copyright Lucas J. Mather, 2020
All Rights Reserved
Originally published to Facebook on Monday 9 Nov 2020 at 9:38 pm
Dr. Lucas J. Mather, Ph.D., is producer and host of The Republican Professor podcast. Besides producing TRP podcast, Professor Mather teaches in the government department in Lost Angeles county at a university called Azusa Pacific.