This is the working title of my new paper that will argue that our Constitution is flawed because the head of state and head of government roles are not distinct. I’ve been fascinated by this idea since I was a student, in part because I found Bagehot’s analysis of the English Constitution persuasive. But I’ve never been sure about how to write about this topic until now.
There are two points worth highlighting in this post. One is that the principle that the ceremonial and functional executive should be separate is not one that the Framers thought about. In this respect, it’s different from almost every other constitutional principle, at least stated at a fairly high level of generality. The second point is that our lack of a non-partisan head of state is especially tough in an era of party polarization. (King Charles III, whatever you think of him, is not a Tory or a Liberal Democrat, or a member of any other party.)
More on this in the coming days.