Functioning Govt & Prez

When our nation's governmental officials don't perform their required duties and in sense, slack a little on the job, of course the functionality and effectiveness of the three branches is going to suffer because of it. However, the real question is, what is "as it should"? I think every American has a certain idealism and vision of how our governing body should be ran and the way in which it should perform, but everyone's picture is slightly different from the rest.  Although these differences often create conflict and controversy, there are also aspects of our democracy that the majority of citizens agree on. For example, almost all everyone expects the government to bring justice and equality to the nation. Also, most count on the government to be honest and open with the people and each other. If certain branches, committees or individuals don't do their duties, don't meet the expectations and standards that they're held accountable for, society is going to notice. Even though the government won't certainly be as effective as if everyone was working to their full potential, the "Boys" created a system of checks and balances and made the three branches independent of each other to help cope with this issue. The executive, judicial and legislative branches all have a sort of watch over the others so if a job isn't being done, the rest can compensate. For example, if a president is trying to wage war on some innocent country, and therefore is not doing their job of making decisions based on what's best for the people and nation as a whole, Congress doesn't have to declare it. Although this type of checking system doesn't always resolve all carelessness and poor choices, it helps monitor all officials. 

As for why the people letting the officials they elected not do their jobs, it's often because of laziness and ignorance. Most of the time, the majority of the American public don't know exactly what is going on in the government: what their representatives, senators and president is really doing. If they do know, many choose to turn the other cheek, hoping and wishing that everything will work itself out. The general optimism Americans have for their government isn't always ideal; if something is going wrong and jobs aren't being done, people will most likely believe that someone else will do them or it will eventually get done.

Finally, the leader of our nation first and foremost must be honest and open with his (or her!) people. Integrity, honesty, charisma, imagination, perseverance, responsibility, trust, and confidence are all important traits. For every president, or any type of leader for that matter, the characteristics that will help them lead to the best of their abilities vary. Although the said characteristics are all vital to run a country, the extent of each is different for different presidents. Some are mostly confident, sometimes too much so, relying on their faith in themselves to get them through. Others use their charisma and persuasion to get what they want done in government. Many times, however, presidents will lose these important qualities throughout their term(s). Their confidence will start lacking, and the public will notice - a passive, unconfident leader is rarely admired. Or it might be their honesty, in the case of Nixon, and it will sometimes be revealed to the nation, causing serious doubt in their leader. Overall, the leader of a nation must have certain characteristics to get their job done, and should retain them until they step down.