George W. Bush will not survive one Wednesday as a British Prime Minister.

In fact, he would have resigned if told he would be subjected to the rigorous question and answer session that Prime Ministers undergo every Wednesday in the House of Commons.

Not even Bush’s alter ego, Dick Cheney, would have survived it. Cheney’s disdain for openness and opposing viewpoints would not let him stand up in front of parliament and take questions. He would rather prefer to have a heart attack than do anything that accountable to the people.

The presidency, especially of the United States, is such a shielded position that anybody can be placed in that office and the country will continue unscratched. (Not far from what movie goers saw in the motion picture Dave)

The reason why George W. damaged the United States was because the Republican Congress in 1998 destroyed an important leash used to hold the president in place – they misused the impeachment clause on Bill Clinton. (Sorry Dennis Kucinich)

What it set in motion was the outrageous reign of Bush Jr. It was a reign full of arrogance and it was dangerous to the proportion that the United States has never seen since the days of Richard Nixon. There will be no good grasp of what really happened in the last seven years (sorry Scot McClellan) until thirty years from now when the secret papers of Bush-Cheney are revealed.

The Bush-Cheney presidency was able to fool the people for so long because the other arms of government, the judiciary and the legislature all gave in to the environment of fear and intimidation created and fostered by Bush and Cheney. The last group, the Fourth Estate, who were supposed to be the final protector of we, the people, also succumbed.

Yet, the Republic survived because inherent in the American system is that inbuilt sieve of freedom that guarantees the survival of the nation. Abraham Lincoln described it this way: “You can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can not fool all of the people all of the time.”

Men with non-existing mental curiosity (wink, wink, George W. Bush, Ronald Reagan) have managed to preside over these United States without the ship sinking. The current president, G. W., is still carrying on even though he comes across as a man who hasn’t finished learning his alphabets.

Reagan proved a man could be President for life. Clinton proved anybody could be President; and G.W. Bush proved we don’t need a President.

While it is good to have a president who exhumes intelligence, comes into office with a vision, and enough experience to understand his country and the world around, it has been proven time and time again that the president is “like a man appointed in a family to buy the meat.” In these days of coli and salmonella, it is important to have a president alert to the dangers of today.

The institutions of the United States as well as the people are the only safeguard to America’s potential abuse in the hands of its president. Such abuses have come from experienced as well as inexperienced presidents. The only solution to such abuse is the continuing straightening of these institutions, the vigilance of its people and insistence that the three arms of government retain their independents.

Judging by the 2004 reelection of George W., I wonder if the people have learnt their lesson. But I am sure that the institutions of these United States will see the Republic through to another day irrespective of what happens on November 4, 2008.