The outcome of the election last week underscores exactly how poorly George W. Bush understands his role as President. His political opponents mocked him, and rightly so, for proclaiming that he was “the Decider” (and the capitalization could be heard in his statement) and it was up to him to “decide what was right for ‘Merica.” There is one catch in that, however, which is our Constitution proclaims the People are soveriegn and the government exists to serve those people.

Unlike other nations which have a single person as head of state and different individual as head of government such as in the United Kingdom where Queen Elizabeth II is the head of state and Prime Minister Tony Blair is the head of her government, in the United States the People are the head of state, hence the opening words, “We the People…” The President is the head of government. Many assume, wrongly, that the President is both head of state and head of government, but the President merely represents the People on occasions where a head of state is required. The original government of the United States, outlined in the Articles of Confederation, showed how the founders did not want a true head of state, but they recognized the need for a central representative and therefore called the Constitutional Convention that resulted in our current form of government.

George W. Bush apparently forgot he is merely representing the true origin of power in the United States, the People, and instead has chosen to behave like a CEO operating a company in a top-down management style. We can only hope that he learned the error of his ways on Wednesday morning when the scope of the “thumpin” administered by the real “deciders” was apparent.