Ideas 2012 July/August 2012

Speakers of the House Shouldn’t Be President

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The jobs demand opposite skills: to run their party, speakers must be hyper-partisan; to run the country, presidents must be broadly appealing. Plus, they’re often from opposing parties. It’s crazy that the speaker is second in line for the White House; the party that wins the presidency should hold it for four years.

Next idea: Make Cars Super Light

Akhil Reed Amar is professor of constitutional law at Yale Law School.
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