The Trump interregnum.

[Scooter]

Even in parliamentary systems, the transfer of executive power is not immediate, usually taking several weeks after an election. Two and a half months is lengthy by most standards, but given the indirect (and thus more time consuming) method of election, the possible need for the House and Senate to elect the president and VP if the electoral college is unable to do so, and the complexities inherent in transition, having a bit of a buffer probably isn't a bad idea. At least the inauguration was moved up to January from March, a schedule that proved disastrous in previous periods of national crisis (and which provided impetus for the change).

[Gob]

Bill, please remind me of the last time the Queen overrode our democracy, and took sole charge of executive orders?

[Big RR]

As I recall, it happened in Australia in the mid 70s. OK, the governor general, but the Queen's representative.

[Darren]

Bill, please remind me of the last time the Queen overrode our democracy, and took sole charge of executive orders?

I'm not sure civics is still a required course in high schools. Based on the confusion I'm seeing among younger generations about how the government works, I suspect not. The boomers got it and get it (how the federal government works).

I don't expect others with a lack of knowledge of "civics" to understand. The president is the CEO of the United States of America. As such he is the only one to issue executive orders.

FWIW,Trump is not the executive order issuer of record.

[Big RR]

FWIW,Trump is not the executive order issuer of record.

He is the current president and signs them; what do you mean he is not the issuer of record--who else is?

[Bicycle Bill]

Bill, please remind me of the last time the Queen overrode our democracy, and took sole charge of executive orders?

I'm not sure civics is still a required course in high schools. Based on the confusion I'm seeing among younger generations about how the government works, I suspect not. The boomers got it and get it (how the federal government works).

I don't expect others with a lack of knowledge of "civics" to understand. The president is the CEO of the United States of America. As such he is the only one to issue executive orders.

I guess I qualify as a 'boomer', born during the middle of the period in late 1954.  And yes, I did get a course in civics, or at least as much as the Catholic high school I went to felt we needed to know, so I do understand how the government is supposed to work — the principles of separation of powers, of checks and balances, and most importantly, a genuine desire to work together for the common good of the country.

I have also seen, over the years, how the government actually DOES work, and how certain branches of government have abdicated or neglected their responsibilities (Congress, I'm looking directly at YOU!!) with the end result that some other group or entity figures "finders, keepers" and assumes the duties for themselves.  Add to that the rise of party politics and the mantra that the party comes before the welfare of the country; the increase in the cost of running a campaign, even at a state-legislature level; and the need for a potential candidate to strictly toe the party line if they ever hope to receive the financial backing to win an election or re-election, and you can clearly see why we have come to the point at which we are.

-"BB"-

[Darren]

I guess I qualify as a 'boomer', born during the middle of the period in late 1954.  And yes, I did get a course in civics, or at least as much as the Catholic high school I went to felt we needed to know, so I do understand how the government is supposed to work — the principles of separation of powers, of checks and balances, and most importantly, a genuine desire to work together for the common good of the country.

I have also seen, over the years, how the government actually DOES work, and how certain branches of government have abdicated or neglected their responsibilities (Congress, I'm looking directly at YOU!!) with the end result that some other group or entity figures "finders, keepers" and assumes the duties for themselves.  Add to that the rise of party politics and the mantra that the party comes before the welfare of the country; the increase in the cost of running a campaign, even at a state-legislature level; and the need for a potential candidate to strictly toe the party line if they ever hope to receive the financial backing to win an election or re-election, and you can clearly see why we have come to the point at which we are.

-"BB"-
[/quote]

Yep!

[wesw]

gen x is rising

the millennials think that they are in charge tho…

...and that is pissing gen z off

(insert the appropriate sex pistols song here)

my favorite version is still..., My Country tis of Thee

[BoSoxGal]

I grew up in the 70s with Schoolhouse Rock civics videos, and a very strong civics education in junior high school in the early 80s - a year long class in how American government operates, with substantial historical context provided. I still remember my civics teacher in my mind’s eye, and the ‘ask not’ and ‘I ask not why, but why not’ quotes that hung on the classroom wall. It was a favorite class so no big surprise I ended up a political science major a decade later.

Civics education is no longer a widely available course in the American public schools. I was a bit shocked to learn this, as a major premise of a publicly funded school system as originally imagined by our founders - the first one just down the road from me in Rehobeth, Dedham or Boston Massachusetts, depending which version you buy - was to educate the citizenry with a foundation fit to engage productively in a civic life with shared civic values. (The other objective of the Puritans was that everyone be capable of reading the Bible.) Massachusetts later passed the first compulsory education laws in the mid 1800s for the same reasons. A free public education available to all citizens is the bulwark of democracy - so saith the public education advocates - and to remove a course in civics from that education seems like another example of eating your seed corn.

[Scooter]

I grew up in the 70s with Schoolhouse Rock civics videos

Those rank with the best educational television programming ever made. At age 11 I could recite the preamble to the U.S. Constitution from memory (well, ok, I had to sing it) just from watching that episode again and again during Saturday morning cartoons. Plus there was the U.S. of Archie series that taught me a lot of U.S. history. I'm guessing they were developed using some fund that was created for the Bicentennial, but it's a shame that nothing has ever been thought up to take its place.