Okay, so picture this: the President of the United States walks into Congress—not with a grand speech designed to make every news anchor swoon—but with a simple, no-nonsense message. No flourishes, no pageantry. Just a directive that could fit on a Post-it: Here’s what’s broken. Here’s how we’re fixing it. Get off your asses and make it happen.
The Constitution, by the way, doesn’t say anything about staging a spectacle. It doesn’t say, “Bring on the orchestra, call up the networks, and for God’s sake, make sure the president’s tie matches the drapes!” No. It says, and I quote, “He shall from time to time give to Congress information of the State of the Union.” That’s it! “From time to time.” The Founders were practically begging for brevity! And yet, here we are with this annual theater production of political kabuki. But the real power? It’s hiding right in plain sight: the president has the ability to call Congress out and demand action. Anytime. Not just once a year. From time to time.
But Here’s Where It Gets Good
Now, imagine—just for a second—if we had a president with the guts, the sheer nerve, to actually use that power. Someone who didn’t treat the presidency like a cross between a ceremonial job and a late-night talk show. No! I’m talking about a president who would go full-on drill sergeant. The kind of president who wouldn’t just send an email or quietly mention an issue in a press conference but would publicly rip Congress a new one every single time they dropped the ball.
Let’s take climate change. Oh yeah, I said it. Climate. Freaking. Change. Decades of “debates,” more paper wasted on proposals than trees burned in the Amazon, and we still haven’t done a damn thing about it. So here’s what a visionary leader would do: they get on national TV—hell, no, they take over all the networks—and say, “Alright, Congress, this isn’t a joke anymore. Your grandkids are going to have beachfront property in Kansas if you don’t get it together. Now, here’s the bill. Pass it, or I’ll be back here tomorrow—every day—until you do. And if you don’t, I’ll come stand outside your office, personally, and throw ice water on you until you understand the urgency of melting glaciers!”
Let’s Talk About Things Congress Keeps Forgetting
It’s not just climate change. Oh no, we’re just getting warmed up! Let’s talk about gun control, shall we? It’s like this: every time we have a mass shooting—and it’s so common now, it feels like we’ve all developed PTSD—there’s a brief moment of hope, right? A flutter of “thoughts and prayers” followed by “maybe we’ll do something this time.” And then… nothing. We wait, and wait, and Congress? Well, they’ve got the attention span of a goldfish on Ambien. What if the president, instead of offering another “we’ll see what we can do,” actually got angry? Like, really angry. Imagine the president standing there, pounding their fist on the podium: “You know what, Congress? I’m sick of this. I’m sick of being sick of it. Here’s the bill—universal background checks, red flag laws—sign it, or I’ll make sure every parent in America knows you’re the reason they’re sending their kids to bulletproof backpack fittings instead of school shopping!”
And what about healthcare? This one has been a “debate” since the dinosaurs roamed the Earth. Everyone agrees the system’s broken. People are going broke because they got sick. But instead of fixing it, Congress treats it like they’re arguing over what color to paint the shed. Meanwhile, people are dying. Now, imagine a president who stops being so polite about it. The kind of president who looks straight into the camera and says, “Hey Congress, why don’t you tell Americans why, in the wealthiest nation on Earth, we can’t figure out how to keep people from dying because they can’t afford insulin? Are you waiting for the zombies to start a GoFundMe?” That’s the president we need. That’s leadership.
An America Led By A President With Guts
Now let’s imagine—just imagine for a second—that this president actually stayed on top of Congress. Relentless. Like your mother when she’s waiting for you to call her back after two weeks of silence. Every day, the president would be in their face. “Where’s the bill? Where’s the action? What have you done for the American people today? Because this isn’t a game anymore—it’s not theater. The American people are watching, and I’m not going to let them forget it.”
Picture an America where the president is no longer a figurehead, but the spark that lights the fire under Congress’s chair. That’s the vision we’re talking about here. A president who turns to Congress and says, “Hey, I’m not here to sit around and watch you guys play Monopoly while the country burns. We’ve got work to do!” You want gun reform? Here’s the bill. You want universal healthcare? Here’s the solution. And you bet your ass, this president would hound them like a dog with a bone until something got done. No more excuses, no more delays, no more letting bills sit around like forgotten leftovers in the back of the fridge.
Dragging Congress Kicking and Screaming Into the Future
Now, you might be thinking, “Well, this sounds nice in theory, but would it actually work?” You bet it would. Because when the president speaks—really speaks—the American people listen. And when they start paying attention, Congress starts sweating. That’s the secret power of the presidency. It’s not in executive orders or fancy speeches—it’s in momentum. A president with guts and vision could drag Congress kicking and screaming into action, whether they liked it or not.
And here’s the thing: this isn’t just a pipe dream. We’ve seen glimmers of it before. Every once in a while, we get a president who shows a bit of fire. But then, just as quickly, they seem to cool off. Imagine if that fire never went out. Imagine if we had a leader who treated every day like the State of the Union address—who made sure Congress never got comfortable, never let an issue die quietly.
The Crescendo: An America Reborn
In this version of America, things get done. Climate change? Addressed. Gun violence? Reduced. Healthcare? Fixed. And not because Congress suddenly got smarter or less corrupt—but because the president refused to let them hide in the shadows. Every single day, this president would be the nation’s conscience, hammering home what’s right, what’s just, what’s necessary. They’d be the country’s moral North Star, guiding Congress through the storm and reminding them why they’re there in the first place: to serve the people, not their own reelection campaigns.
And you know what? This isn’t about hoping for a savior or some magical fix. It’s about electing a leader who understands the job isn’t just about shaking hands and waving from balconies. It’s about doing the hard work. It’s about staying angry enough to care, but hopeful enough to inspire. A leader like that could transform this country. And wouldn’t that be something?
So yeah, maybe it’s time we stop treating the presidency like a ceremonial title and start demanding that it be what it was always meant to be: the highest, hardest, most important job in the land. And the president? The leader who drags the rest of government—kicking and screaming if they have to—into the future.
Now imagine that.
