GranolaBox

Bush and the Three Branches of Government

“You see, the Senate wants to take away some of the powers of the administrative branch.”
George W. Bush

If one of my students wrote this statement on an essay, a barrage of red ink wouldn’t be nearly enough chastisement. Most of my eleventh grade students come into my class already knowing that there are three branches of government. The legislative branch, which makes laws; the judicial branch which interprets laws and the executive branch which enforces the laws. There’s no administrative branch, much less one that the Senate wants to take powers from.

As a teacher, one thing I hate to hear is news shows that ask “people on the street” some basic facts about US History and Government, and they give horrifically incorrect, vague answers, if they can answer them at all. It’s the collection of such things that supposedly leads us to being a nation at risk.

I agree that we’re a nation at risk, but not because ordinary people on the street can’t answer simple questions about government when there’s a TV camera in their face and they’re concentrating on getting wherever it is they’re going. We’re a nation at risk because our President makes statements all the time that indicate, on the surface, a fundamental lack of understanding of how our government works.

I had a student teacher from Canada who loved the way Bush butchered the English language and consistently undercut everything she was trying to teach my students. She loved it because he wasn’t her leader, and it made her glad inside every time she heard him open his mouth.

When she finished student teaching, she bought me a calendar of “Bushisms”, which kept me amused and terrified day by day for an entire year. My wife and I constantly debate whether Bush is a smart man, and whether the stupidity he displays on the surface is an act designed to cultivate popular appeal.

I know what my conclusion would be if I were his US History and Government teacher. It reminds me of a quote from a bumper sticker: “My kid is an honor student, but my President is a moron.”

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