"Ruled"

[alexxkay]

My previously-mentioned letter to the editor:

In your 11/5/2008 issue, on page 06, there was a sidebar of "Facts and figures that make this race interesting". One of them was, and I quote: "216 Number of years the U.S. has been ruled by white males."

This is incorrect. 216 years ago, the newly-United States decided that they had had enough of rulers. That they would form a new government, that did not vest absolute power in any one body.

The President of the United States does not "rule" America. One could say that he "presides", or "governs" or even "leads" America. But he absolutely does not *rule* us.

This is more than a mere semantic issue. During the George W. Bush years, the power of the Administrative Branch of our government has experienced unprecedented growth. He has aggrandized more and more powers to himself and his office, with little justification and no significant opposition. When media outlets casually use words like "ruled", they help reinforce the opinion that the President is equivalent to a king, someone whose every whim must be obeyed. 216 years ago, we decided we'd had enough of that. Let's not encourage the kings to sneak back in via the Presidency.