Yet, most heads of state do not have to worry too much about the mandate. Why is this? Most heads of state will likely preside over the electorate when the “economy” is generally expanding and there is some prosperity. Those heads of state who are not so lucky will have to contend with the urgency of the mandate. What underpins the mandate? What energizes it? In my opinion it is the first of the 10 “Bill of Rights” of the United States Constitution. Obvious, no? The astonishing success of the United States is in no small measure a function of the First Amendment.



Robert Merry appears to have over the course of his career discovered the importance of the mandate and he has looked to history to get an idea what has worked and what has not. He looks at American presidents and evaluates their popularity with the voters. He speaks frankly of the presidential ratings game. Everyone should participate, he argues, not just historians and experts and pundits. The “wisdom of the masses” is underrated, he observes and argues. Merry's a judge of presidential ambitions and performance and it is certainly worthy of some of our time and energy to ask one basic question: “Does this head of state have a clue or are we going to be regretting they got the job?”

It's a fun question, but I suppose it also can be sort of a grim one. I thought it would be interesting as well as entertaining to call up Merry and see what he would say about the “getting a mandate business.” He's just published a fine history of American presidential politics titled Where They Stand: The American Presidents in the Eyes of Voters and Historians (Simon & Schuster, New York). You do not necessarily have to be living and working in Washington or a journalist covering the White House to appreciate what Merry is trying to explain: this is all about “the mandate” and the capacity of the head of state to pull off the delicate job of deciding what the mandate should be and to then get that mandate. We all need to participate and see how things turn out. Things can get dicey and the republic can become dangerously unstable. Merry thinks we are now entering such a period in American history. We have no real leaders and no real mandate – not yet. Merry's a funny guy, he's obviously extremely erudite and articulate, and he's a veteran journalist who is now the editor of The National Interest in Washington, DC. Click here or on the audio icon above to listen to the editor of World Affairs Monthly interview Robert W. Merry. The National Interest can be found on the net at www.nationalinterest.org.

The “national discussion” in the United States is obviously quite limited, and so the mandate business is weak – shockingly weak. The elite in Washington is probably unable to figure out just what is going on and if they do understand a little they will suppress the discussion. This is their modus operandi and of course it is the habit and practice of much of the world. No frank and real discussion, then no mandate, then failure. It is all so obvious, right? In the spirit of free and frank discussion, I publish below some important facts and information. Perhaps this will energize the business of achieving a mandate. There is not much “free press” left in the Zionist United States, unfortunately. And this is why the United States is suffering increasingly from problems and debt.











And there's one more fact to consider as Americans consider the mandate-making business. The United States is in the Western Hemisphere where only some 15% of the world's population is. Until the 16th century nothing much happened in the Western Hemisphere. The resources, the people, the history, the power – this is all in the Eastern Hemisphere.



WAM continues the practice of publishing for the public the previous month of content. The mandate-making business can perhaps be enhanced if this content is considered and that's why I make it freely available. Free speech and a free press anyone? Can we be allowed to speak freely or will we allow “leaders” to curtail our right to speak freely?





























































I'll soon call up Merry again and see if we can have an informal talk about the future of the United States. I am thinking and guessing that he sympathizes quite a lot with the WAM science. The realist mode of thinking about the world is not terribly popular or even understood in the United States. Richard Nixon represented the realist camp and I am not even sure we have had a president since who rested firmly in the realist camp. There is little doubt that the realist camp would be sympathetic to the WAM science and WAM commentary.

Nothing is easy in life, as I have said. We have an obligation to achieve a mandate, however. We have no choice, if we want to be successful. No one can really suppress the truth, and the mandate really must, in the end, reflect the truth. So lies and propaganda do make for a failed society and civilization. This is obvious, no? It is curious that the United States and Western Europe remain pretty much alone in a big world which is not at all committed to free speech and a free press. That the United States and Europe are retreating from this commitment is however not surprising.... continue