Introduction
This essay analyses role of congress and role of American presidency with the aim of establishing which institution represents voters most. For an individual to answer the question of whom between the president of the United States and the country’s congress best represents the American voters, one needs to understand US politics and how the system of governance in the US is structured. Moreover, one has to understand the milestones, if any, which are attributable to the US presidency and the US congress as independent institutions.
A president, who is the head of state and government, governs the US. The president of the US is the commander in chief of the Armed forces and thus is chief security officer of the nation. Congress is the bicameral legislature that comprises of the senate and the House of Representatives (Fein, 26). Fein (28) further observes that elections for the members of the house of representative are conducted after every two years. On the other hand, Senators are elected for a six-year term.
Congress
The issue of voter representation is a relatively tricky question, because level of representation is dependent on individual elected official. To the extend an elected officer listens to his or her people or is in touch with the people’s interests, to that extent he or she represents them. Representative politics assumes that the person who has been elected by the voters actively fights for their rights, interests and needs.
Congress as an institution is supposed to be the most representative of Americans’ interests. Given there are many members from diverse backgrounds and representing different interests in congress, one can argue that it is more representative of Americans than the president.
Comparing the two houses, one can validly argue that the members of the House of Representatives are more pressed to actively fight for the rights of voters than the senate given their term is shorter compared to that of the Senators. The fact that they have to go back to the electorate and seek a new mandate after every two years coerces them to focus more on the interests of their people.
Consequently, one would expect them to work like bees in order to proof to the electorates that they are still pushing for or are keen on helping them realize their rights thus being given another chance in congress. Senators have a relatively more stable term in office. However, the length of the term does not translate into complacency. The senators just like the members of the House of Representatives are always on toes to represent the electorate.
President
Unlike members of the House of Representatives and the Senators, who often tend to represent particular interest groups, the president is a symbol of national unity. Although different parties with different philosophies and ideologies sponsor presidential candidates, once sworn in, the president is expected to be representative of all well meaning Americans’ interests. Being the head of state and government, the American president is a very powerful individual.
Unlike the members of House of Representatives and the Senate, the president is elected by a much bigger number of voters and has to appeal to cross cutting interests of the Americans. This implies that the president represents a bigger number of voters compared to senators and members of the House of Representatives. However, in terms of determining national interests, both congress and the presidency have to work together to attain favorable results.
Public Good/ National Interests
To understand how Congress and the presidency work together for the good of American, it is important to consider the legislation process in America. When it comes to passing bills, collaboration and collective action is of necessity. Recently, the president managed get a bill passed on medical policy.
Healthcare is an issue at the heart of many Americans concerns. The bill did not pass without any opposition from Congress. Due to differing interests among Americans, there were those members of Congress who were against the bill and others who supported the bill. Consequently, the president had to persuade and use incentives to have the bill passed by congress.
The politics around the medical bill raises the question of who actually has the passion and interest of the American people at heart; is it the president or the congress? Even when a bill like the health care one may be expected to help the entire American citizenry regardless of race, sex, religion, and creed, it is interesting that some senators or members of the house of representative, due to ideological or merely political reasons, actually oppose such bills.
Although the president may not be seen time and again interacting with voters, it does not mean that, he or she does not have their interests at heart. Over time in the history of America, it is presidents who often come out urging members of the Congress to stop looking at individual needs and focus on national interest. Therefore, as discussed by Kernell et al (356) presidents in a nation are more concerned about the common good and proper use of public resources. Managing public resources is not a very easy affair.
In actual sense, politics is about who gets what share of the public resources. Public resources are open resources i.e. none is excluded from them.
However, due to competing interests one has to go beyond selfish interests and seek the common good or interests that bind all together. There are also those interests in which all Americans share e.g. need to secure America from its enemies. The president, being the commander in chief of the armed forces of the US, has the sole authority of assuring the public of their security through commanding the armed forces when necessary.
However, how to go about assuring public security is a very debatable issue. Therefore, congress comes in to check the measures of the executive aimed at ensuring security for all Americans. Through its debates, anchored on the interests of different interest groups that they represent, congress digests measures by the government and provides valuable suggestions for the good of the nation.
From the foregoing discussion, it is clear that representation of voters’ interests is largely dependent on the interests and disposition of respective president and members of congress. In some instances, there have been presidents who have been more pro-people than Congressmen have. In other cases, there have been presidents held hostages by certain interests and thus not championing the interests of all Americans.
Considering numbers, the congress is more likely to represent diverse voter interests than the president. However, the role of the president’s office makes him more of an national figure (Margulies, 162). In the president, the different competing interests that congressional representatives represent find harmonization or reconciliation. The presidency should thus represent more of compromised interests i.e. interests that every American can identify with.
Margulies (166) argues that the status of US as the world super power and economic giant equally prevents the president from having that adequate time to interact with the public as closely as the Senators and members of the House of Representatives are able to. The attention of the president is required both nationally and internationally, a factor that further distances the president from the American people in their day-to-day lives.
However, it has to be noted that even while engaging international issues, he or she performs these roles in order to represent the American people with the aim of safeguarding American interests internationally. Therefore, unlike congress representatives, the president’s representation of Americans goes beyond just national issues to espouse international interests. By doing so, he or she is still representing the voters that elected him or her but at a broader international level.
Conclusion
In conclusion, both the president and congress represent the American people. However, as a national figure, the president has to be representative of the interests of Americans as a whole. Congress is more representative when one considers the number of elected people in congress. However, congressional representatives tend towards partisan interests and in often cases, the president has had to come in to rally them towards common interests that are in national interest.
The American people believe in democracy and related values. However, the kind of democracy currently exercised in America is representative democracy. At the heart of democracy is the idea that the government is of the people by the people for the people. This, ideally, means that all elected members of the executive and the legislature executed their services on behalf of the people and for the people.
Works Cited
Fein, Eric. The US Congress. Washington DC: Capstone press 2008 print.
Kernell, Samuel, Jacobson, Gary & Kousser, Thad. The Logic of American Politic. New York: CQ press, 2008 print.
Margulies, Phillip. America Role in the World. Washington DC :InfoBase publishing, 2009 print