The Character of American Democracy: Preserving Our Past, Protecting Our Future by Jill Long Thompson

Author:Jill Long Thompson [Thompson, Jill Long]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: Democracy, National, Political Ideologies, Civics & Citizenship, Political Science, American Government
ISBN: 9780253052704
Google: ffv5DwAAQBAJ
Goodreads: 57410035
Publisher: Indiana University Press
Published: 2020-09-15T00:00:00+00:00

These principles apply to all executive branch employees, except the president and vice president. Additionally, “in 18 U.S.C. Section 208, it is a crime for any United States government official in the Executive Branch to participate in a government matter that has a direct or indirect effect on that government official’s financial interest. It is a crime. That statute applies to every single employee in the Executive Branch, except for two: the President and the Vice President.”11

The reasons for these two exclusions are complex. The president is the head of the executive branch. This means that enforcement would be difficult, since employees at the Department of Justice are subordinate in rank to the president. Congress and the judiciary are also constitutionally limited in enforcement actions pertaining to the president. Additionally, regarding the gift restrictions, the Office of Government Ethics determined that the “President and Vice President may accept gifts from the public, as long as such gifts are not solicited or coerced, nor accepted in return for an official act.”12

It is reasonable for us to expect, however, that the individuals elected to the highest office in the land would follow these principles. Presidents William J. Clinton, and George W. Bush all put their holdings into blind trusts. When Hillary Clinton began her own campaign for the presidency in 2007, she liquidated her blind trust and put the money into bank accounts, treasury notes, and mutual funds so that there would not even be the appearance of any potential conflicts of interest. President Obama’s holdings of bank accounts, treasury notes, index funds, and college savings were not likely to pose a direct conflict of interest with the authorities he had as president, and it was felt that a blind trust was not necessary.13 There are also times when protocol or etiquette make it appropriate for the president and vice president to accept gifts in their official capacities.

They all understood that the president of the United States has more power than any other executive branch employee, and they recognized the importance of the nation’s highest public official complying with ethics standards that safeguard transparency and prohibit conflicts of interest to ensure that his or her actions will not undermine the democratic process. These presidents understood the importance of ethics to our national character. They honorably and appropriately put the public interest and our nation above their own self interests. We should expect no less from our president or vice president.

They may also have remembered the controversy when President Gerald Ford selected Nelson Rockefeller to be his vice president. Mr. Rockefeller was a successful businessman who had accumulated considerable wealth, and there was concern that his holdings would present a conflict with his official duties. The Senate held two sets of hearings in the fall of 1974, and the Joint Committee on Internal Revenue Taxation audited his 1963–1973 federal income tax returns. In addition to disclosing his holdings and tax returns, Mr. Rockefeller offered to put his holdings in a blind trust.14 The committee determined that Mr.

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