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</o:shapelayout></xml><![endif]--></head><body lang=EN-US link=blue vlink=purple><div class=WordSection1><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>From:</span></b><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'> extropy-chat [mailto:extropy-chat-bounces@lists.extropy.org] <b>On Behalf Of </b>Dan TheBookMan<br><br></span><o:p></o:p></p><div><div><p class=MsoNormal>>…Why not simply advocate getting rid of the presidency, so that, if you succeed, there won't be a madman attaining that level of power?<o:p></o:p></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>Because that would require getting rid of the constitution which is a bad idea. I good idea would be to read it, pay attention to what is says, exactly what it says, think about why it was written that way, keep the presidency but reduce the level of power to that described in that astonishing and insightful document. Note that in a city government, the chief of police isn’t the very most powerful position. Think of the presidency as a national-level chief of police, who commands the military, selects supreme court justices, acts as influential cheerleader and such, but still must answer to congress. Make it so that the US will be OK with the occasional madman, criminal or Alzheimer’s patient in that office with little permanent damage.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>We have let the presidency evolve into a much more powerful position than it was carefully designed to be by those who really understood better than we do the bad things that power does to people. We are now paying the price for that.<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:16.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'>spike<o:p></o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p><p class=MsoNormal><span style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Calibri",sans-serif'><o:p> </o:p></span></p></div><div><div><div><p class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></p></div></div></div></div></div></body></html>