Wave the flag Mr. President

Americans are not afraid to show how they feel, and when the feeling is patriotism, they get up and shout about it. They like to read and hear about the heroes of American history. They enjoy patriotic songs like America the Beautiful. And the sight of their flag on important national occasions can bring tears to their eyes.

Americans want to be proud of their President, as well as their country. They like him to be good-looking, religious, and a good family man. They want him to be strong, to be a good talker, and to be confident about the future. They expect him to keep the prices down at home and to keep the country looking powerful abroad. A President has to make his job look easy, and smile confidently when he speaks to the nation on TV. But in fact, his job is an impossible one. He cannot do as much as he would like, or as the country expects him to do. He can make decisions, but he cannot always persuade people to carry them out. President Truman once said that getting anything done from the White House was like 'pushing a damp noodle across a table.'

One of the President's biggest difficulties is that every decision he makes must also be approved by Congress. But Congress can, and quite often does, refuse to give its approval. A President who knows how to get Congress on his side is likely to be a successful President. The United States government is of course more than the President and the Congress. It employs over 18,000,000 people. Many Americans think there are far too many of them. 'Don't go by train,' they will tell you. 'The railroad's no good. It's run by the government.' It's not really sur­prising that so many people dislike government control. After all, many of their grandparents came to the States to get away from powerful governments, at home.

Dislike of government power doesn't stop peo­ple from feeling patriotic though. It certainly didn't stop the Californian who invented a flag-waving machine, so that people could show their feelings without getting tired.

From Faces of the USA by E. Laird