首页
外语
计算机
考研
公务员
职业资格
财经
工程
司法
医学
专升本
自考
实用职业技能
登录
外语
The proposal of a single six-year term for the President of the United States has been around for a long time. High-minded peopl
The proposal of a single six-year term for the President of the United States has been around for a long time. High-minded peopl
admin
2014-09-17
52
问题
The proposal of a single six-year term for the President of the United States has been around for a long time. High-minded people have urged it from the beginning of the Republic. The Constitutional Convention turned it down in 1787, and recurrent efforts to put it in the Constitution have regularly failed in the two centuries since. Quite right: it is a terrible idea for a number of reasons among them that it is at war with the philosophy of democracy.
The basic argument for the one-term, six-year presidency is that the quest for reelection is at the heart of our problems with self-government. The desire for reelection, it is claimed, drives Presidents to do things they would not otherwise do. It leads them to make easy promises and to postpone hard decisions. A single six-year term would liberate presidents from the pressures and temptations of politics. Instead of worrying about reelection, they would be free to do only what was best for the country.
The argument is superficially attractive. But when you think about it, it is profoundly antidemocratic in its implications. It assumes Presidents know better than anyone else what is best for the country and that the people are so wrongheaded and ignorant that Presidents should be encouraged to disregard their wishes. It assumes that the less responsive a President is to popular desires and needs, the better President he or she will be. It assumes that the democratic process is the obstacle to wise decisions.
The theory of American democracy is quite the opposite. It is that the give-and-take of the democratic process is the best source of wise decisions. It is that the President’s duty is not to ignore and override popular concerns but to acknowledge and heed them. It is "that the President’s accountability to the popular will is the best guarantee that he or she will do a good job.
The one-term limitation, as Gouverneur Morris, final draftsman of the Constitution, persuaded the convention, would "destroy the great motive to good behavior," which is the hope of reelection. A President, said Olive Ellsworth, another Founding Father, "should be reelected if his conduct prove worthy of it. And he will be more likely to render himself worthy of it if he be rewardable with it."
The ban on reelection has other perverse consequences. Forbidding a President to run again, Gouverneur Morris said, is "as much as to say that we should give him the benefit of experience, and then deprive ourselves of use of it." George Washington stoutly opposed the idea. "I can see no propriety," he wrote, "in precluding ourselves from the service of any man, who on some great emergency shall be deemed universally most capable of serving the public."
A single six-year term would release Presidents from the test of submitting their records to the voters. It would be an impeachment of the democratic process itself. The Founding Fathers were everlastingly right when they turned down this well-intentioned but ill-considered proposal 200 years ago.
What do the comments of Gouverneur Morris and George Washington (Pars.6) suggest?
选项
A、Presidents should be guaranteed two terms in office.
B、The behavior of a President can best be evaluated over two terms of office.
C、The experience gained in one presidential term is valuable for the next.
D、Experience is not a guarantee of continued excellence in office.
答案
C
解析
根据第六段Gouvemeur Moms和George Washington所说的话的意思,只有C项的意思与之吻合,说明第一任期经验对下一任期的重要性。
转载请注明原文地址:https://kaotiyun.com/show/KGdO777K
0
专业英语八级
相关试题推荐
TheCanterburyTaleswaswrittenby______.
Macrolinguisticsincludesthefollowingbranchesexcept______.
SchoolIsOutTooManyUsKidsFallTo"self-care"Thekidsarehangingout.Ipasssmallbandsofstudents,onmywaytowo
Overthepastdecade,significantresearchhasdemonstratedwhatmanyhaveknownforalongtime:womenarecriticaltoeconomic
IntroductoryLecturetoUniversityStudyInordertoadjustwelltouniversitylife,freshmenusuallyhavetounderstandthe
FiveMainLiteraryMovementsinAmericanHistoryI.Transcendentalism—bornin【B1】______:thenortheasternpartoftheUS【B1】_
A美国历史。题目考查1789年加入美国宪法的十条修正案叫什么,它们其实就是通常所说的BillofRights(权利和自由法案)。
Whichofthefollowingismentionedasthegovernment’smeasuretocontrolinflation?
C美国历史。题目询问美国宪法的哪条修正案禁止奴隶制。在美国内战结束后,1865年12月通过的美国宪法修正案第十三条宣布废除奴隶制。
1 Idon’tknowifgaymarriagewillhaveallthebadeffectspredictedbyconservatives,butit’salreadyhavingonetheydidn’
随机试题
A.10%葡萄糖酸钙B.50%葡萄糖C.氨茶碱D.维生素CE.10%氯化钾患者出现荨麻疹时可静脉推注的药物是
男,70岁。冬春季节咳嗽、咳白痰10年,胸闷、气急加重半天如果右下肺语颤减弱、叩诊呈鼓音、呼吸音减弱,最可能的并发症是
决策的基本要素包括()。
进口税设普通税率和()税率。
股票应由董事长签名,公司盖章。发起人的股票应当标明“发起人股票”的字样。()
根据《中华人民共和国物权法》的规定,抵押合同一般包括下列条款()。
公安机关及其人民警察在办理治安案件时,下列哪些情形应当予以保密?()
甲将装有一台笔记本电脑的密码箱有偿寄存,在寄存时没有向保管人声明箱内有电脑,后该密码箱丢失,则保管人应承担的责任是()。
下列哪些肿瘤是间叶组织来源的良性肿瘤
该书第二章对拜占庭帝国的兴起、发展和衰亡的历史进程进行了简要讨论。
最新回复
(
0
)