That's Change I can believe in

I am a big fan of our government. Why you ask? Because it works.

I am growing increasingly aggravated with people who assume that one person, i.e. the President, will make or break the country. In case you haven't been paying attention, the President is only one man.

You see our government has a system of Checks and Balances set up so that no one branch of government can become too powerful. The legislative branch creates the laws, the judicial branch interprets the laws and the executive branch enforces the laws.

In our country the President is more of a face than anything else. Yes, he is influential with this ideas and goals, however he has to get congress to agree. In fact, if anybody has ever been in a student organization in college or any other group, the president is the least powerful individual. In most cases, according to parliamentary procedure, the president can only vote to create or break a tie. In the case of the U.S. government, the President doesn't vote period.

The President does have the power to sign legislation, veto the legislation or let it die on his desk without a signature. Also, he appoints the supreme court justices. But back to the Check and Balances, congress has to approve the appointments.

I do believe that President-elect Barack Obama is a man out to change the country and I am okay with that. However, I also believe that whether Obama or McCain won, the change would not be immediate. I believe that change will happen, but not that quickly, it will be a while before things really begin to change.

During his campaign Obama said, "That's change we can believe in!" To me, slow change is change I can believe in.