Chapter 8 Post

     With Election Day only two days away, I think it would be appropriate to talk about the Presidency itself and all of the regulations, qualifications, and rules that could affect the President. Since Chapter 8 deals with the President and their role in the Oval Office, it is definitely the perfect time to cover the topic. There are a few rules that written in the Constitution that must be followed as well as a few qualifications not specified within the Constitution that are considered crucial towards becoming a President.

     As of today, there are millions of Americans throughout the country that do not even know some of the basic qualifications that a person must possess in order to be able to run for President. To be considered for the presidency, a candidate must be a natural-born American citizen, be at least 35 years old, and be a resident of the United States for at least 14 consecutive years. These specific rules are written in the Constitution. In addition to these rules, there are a few unwritten qualifications that have applied to most of the elected presidents. Examples of these qualifications are: being a male and having a college education. While it is not absolutely necessary to have these qualifications, over time, it has been proven to be a common, consistent characteristic amongst presidents.

     Once a candidate is elected, they must follow additional rules and guidelines that have been put in place. In the 18th century when the Constitution was being written, the Framers wanted to avoid the policies from country they just left (England). Because of this, the Framers decided to create "terms," which defined how long the president was to stay in office. The questionable part of this situation was the number of times a president could be reelected. Eventually, it was decided that the president would be elected to 4 year terms with the possibility to be reelected to an indefinite number of terms. However, this changed in 1951 with the passing of the 22nd Amendment after an uproar occurred due to Roosevelt being elected to four terms from 1933 to 1945. The Twenty-Second Amendment specifies that no president can serve more than two terms. In addition, a president can not serve more than 10 years, a specification that only applies to presidents who come into power during the middle of a term because of an impeachment or assassination.

     While some people may have their objections to these qualifications and regulations, I feel that, for the most part, are perfect. I think it is necessary that the person in charge of this country is someone who was born here and has lived his or her life in the United States. By fulfilling this specification, the candidates will overall be more exposed to the issues that are hurting this country so they will be able to fully develop ideas and policies to try and help the country. This can't be done if the candidate hasn't lived the majority of their life in the United States. In addition, I agree with the two term limit because if a president is in charge for too long, it may eventually feel like the country is ruled by a monarch. This wouldn't be too good considering that it would then feel like the US is transforming into the government that the Framers wanted to get away from back in the 18th century. I think if we keep going with the same rules and qualifications, the United States will continue on the right direction as long as the right candidates come along who will actually make the effort to make a difference.