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Toxic Party Politics

by Bob Betzen

Of course we all know that the president does much more than simply fulfill his Constitutional obligations. The president also serves as the head of his political party and patronage is the fuel that keeps these machines running. Candidates present themselves as the choice of their side and that’s good enough for many voters. A personally delivered endorsement from the party’s presidential nominee helps to bring out the base on Election Day. The newly seated legislator is then expected to support the president, especially on critically important matters like military deployments. So invasion plans get drawn up in the oval office and Congress hears about it later. Party politics promotes dictatorial leadership.

The president’s voice in military matters will always be heard because the chief executive serves as our top diplomat. But with multiple deployments in a dangerous and complex world, we need a focused commander in chief. And we need to keep partisanship out of the national security equation. Blending hardball politics with military strategy poisons our democracy.

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Posted in The National Defense Council on August 13th, 2007

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About Radical Avenue

If you want to find criticism of our government here in America, you won’t need to look far. When it comes to politics, it seems that everyone has a grievance. Radical Avenue on the other hand, takes a solutions oriented approach to public policy. It’s radical because I’m proposing fundamental changes to the structure of our government, like transferring commander in chief responsibilities to a small elected group. My philosophy is: Everyone knows we’ve got problems, so what are we going to do about it?

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