WI: American Presidents have "Cumul des mandats"?

ArKhan · Oct 13, 2011

What if the presidents of the United States where allowed to have Cumul_des_mandats (multiple offices)? So for example, a president who was governor of a certian state at the time of his election would have been president of the united states and governor of that state, a president who was senator would have kept his seat in the senate, holding all the power of both offices. How would this effect American politics?

ArKhan · Oct 13, 2011

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Plumber · Oct 13, 2011

This is very hard because it goes completely against the separation of powers. Shane Mullins does this for New England in Decades of Darkness, but he only gets away with it because he controls the legislature and the President at that time.

Lyly · Oct 13, 2011

This is an interesting thought, but I don't have an immediate answer. I'll think about it though!

mrmandias · Oct 13, 2011

If this happens, it will happen with the President also being a Senator. In fact, arguably that would fit the original 1789 design better, where the Senate was understood to be very different from the House. The House was thought of as a representative, domestic, purely legislative body, whereas the Senate was supposed to be consultative, elite, and intimately involved along with the President in the direction of foreign affairs.

The President probably largely appoints his cabinet from the Senate, the cabinet continuing to sit as Senators.

The position of the Vice President is going to be even more anomalous, given that he will now preside over the President in the Senate. Maybe you resolve this by having a Washington establish the precedent that the President would attend the Senate from time to time but refrains from voting or debating. Expect a TR figure to controversially end the precedent. At which point you maybe get an amendment that the VP is appointed by the President in consultation with the Senate.

Lyly · Oct 13, 2011

mrmandias said:
If this happens, it will happen with the President also being a Senator. In fact, arguably that would fit the original 1789 design better, where the Senate was understood to be very different from the House. The House was thought of as a representative, domestic, purely legislative body, whereas the Senate was supposed to be consultative, elite, and intimately involved along with the President in the direction of foreign affairs.

The President probably largely appoints his cabinet from the Senate, the cabinet continuing to sit as Senators.

The position of the Vice President is going to be even more anomalous, given that he will now preside over the President in the Senate. Maybe you resolve this by having a Washington establish the precedent that the President would attend the Senate from time to time but refrains from voting or debating. Expect a TR figure to controversially end the precedent. At which point you maybe get an amendment that the VP is appointed by the President in consultation with the Senate.

I dunno, I kind of like the Vice President chairing over the President. That ensures that, in addition to his executive duties outside the Senate and his legislative duties as a Senate, he's not also having to preside over the Senate. It gives him more time to do his own work in those other capacities and contributes to what you call the intimate consultative relationship the Senate has with the President.

ArKhan · Oct 14, 2011

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David S Poepoe · Oct 14, 2011

Plumber said:
This is very hard because it goes completely against the separation of powers. Shane Mullins does this for New England in Decades of Darkness, but he only gets away with it because he controls the legislature and the President at that time.

The separation of powers has nothing to do with this, that is strictly between the Executive, Legislative and Judiciary branches of the Federal Government.

The problem does stem from the warranted belief that one simply can't do the both jobs of President and Governor adequately at the same time. This is compounded by the distance and speed of communication that one would have to deal with in the late 18th and 19th century.