"ELECTED RING"

Auckland Star, Volume LXXV, Issue 181, 2 August 1944, Page 4

"ELECTED RING"

PRESIDENT OF U..S. HOW CHOiCE IS MADE (By GEORGE WARNECKE, Former Australian Journalist) NEW YORK, July 24. The Republican and Democratic parties have chosen their respective candidates for the highest elected post in the world.. President of the United States.

Because the President is given power under the Constitution for deciding foreign policy, a Presidential election in wartime actually amounts to a popular vote on the conduct of the war and on the peace aims of the nation. In the whole history of the world, this year's election stands out as the sole occasion on which the fate of every person on the earth is affected bj* the way in which the American people vote next November. It is the supreme illustration of the process of democracy.

Legal powers greater than those possessed by the Australian Commonwealth Government are exercised by the American Federal Government, and this fact_ alone places immense authority in _the hands of the President of the United States. But -the system of direct election of the nation's head, carried out quite separately from the polls for the Senate and House of Representatives, confers special prestige upon America's chief executive.

Cables in the daily papers have told and will tell the story of excited party conventions where the business" of nominating candidates is performed. A simple explanation may help in understanding these unique gatherings. They appear complicated mainly because of their size and owing to the frills surrounding them.

Kingly Powers Transferred The truth is that election of the President of a country so powerful as the United States compares fully in dignity and importance with the ceremonial of crowning a monarch in older countries. The original American Constitution marked the first step in modern times for the popular selection of a national leader. It did. not abolish kingly powers, but rather transferred them to the people with provision for exercising them through the three elected bodies— the President, Congress and the Supreme Court.

Thus to some extent the President is a kind of elected long, but the American people have always had such a fear of dictatorial government that they disapprove of any comparison between the Presidency and a monarchy. The Constitution was carefully drafted to prevent' the highest office of the republic being transformed into a dictatorship, as was done for instance by Adolf Hitler in Germany.

By the same token Americans are known as "citizens," not "subjects," as, for exam Die,' Australians and other Britishers. Quite recently the Supreme Court in giving judgment in a case involving electoral rights laid down that American people have the privilege to choose their "rulers." There was public outcry against the use of the word rulers, and it has been changed to "officials."

One issue in this year's election is whether President Roosevelt, who has already broken all precedent by having been elected three times, shall win a fourth term. Some political groups hold that 16 years in office savors too much of kingly reign. Early Peace Mentioned Supporters of President Roosevelt urge the nation not to change horses while crossing the stream, and it is in this mood that the various States are electing delegates to the Democratic convention. Republicans for their part are inclined to emphasise the possibility of an early peace, with an appeal that a new President might give the country a fresh start in "the post-war era.

The election is really decided in three stages. First of all, party conventions nominate their candidates. Each party convention consists of about 1000 delegates made up of representatives of the 4S States.

Then, in November, the public goes to the ballot box and decides between the two main candidates. Although Socialists and other small groups usually put up somebody, they never get anywhere. On a few I'are occasions, a "strong individual candidate has broken away from one of the main parties and piled up a large split vote. The most notable example was when Theodore Roosevelt split the Republican support in 1912 by forming a progressive "bullmoose" party, with the ' result that the Democratic party- and its leader Woodrow Wilson came to power. In the present situation there is no sign of any such radical event marking the November election, although in elections one does not rale out the unusuaL

There is a peculiar procedure in the Presidential system which may have a bearing on that- Balloting is not direct for the various candidates. The public vote for persons to take office" as electors in a body* known as the electoral college, which in turn exists solely for the purpose of choosing a President. The college meets in January, and this is the third stage in the Presidential election system-

Merely an Ornament For 112 years the electoral college has been merely an ornament, be cause those elected to it always have been part:-' men pledged to vote solidly as a caucus. Thus whichever Presidential candidate gamed a majority of college members in November, automatically received a majority in January. A new element has been introduced this year by some Democrats from the southern States, who oppose Roosevelt on domestic policies although in favour of his war programme. This group has only a small following, but it reckons on holding the balance of power if a close contest develops between the two chief rivals, who may be President Roosevelt and Governor Dewev.

In such an event the "rebels" would give their votes to an inde pendent or dark-horse candidate, preventing either Roosevelt or Dewey getting a majoritv vote in the college. That is not "a serious possibility at present. The biggest point of all to remember in connection with the elections is that the vast American air. land and sea forces in the Pacific and the massive American invasion armies in Europe prove that the United States has wholeheartedlv accepted responsibility for sending overseas the" mightiest global military force in history to insure the survival of democracy. Every outstanding American leader subscribes to that principle.