USA as a Semi-Presidential Republic?

[Manthor]

Just a note from a non-American observer but wouldn't the US benefit by having a semi-presidential system like France rather than the current system where the President is both head of government, head of state and chief executive officer as well as commander in chief? That's investing a lot of power in one man and most other states tend to have a division of power between head of government and head of state to provide a check and balance on power. Would it make more sense to split it or preserve it as it is? How would it affect foreign policy of the US?

Note this is just an intellectual exercise and we all know this shit isn't going to happen in real life anytime soon.

[Formless]

This may be a nitpick, but the president isn't the head of government around here, at least in theory. He is all those other things you attribute to him, but the other two branches of government (the legislative branch and the Supreme Court) are autonomous of his (and each other's) authority save for very specific, almost rock-paper-scissors style powers outlined in the constitution. If he goes down, whether politically or due to assassination or what have you, the government keeps on running. Its not like a parliamentary system that way.

Granted, I can see where the perception can exist especially when you have presidents who have huge support from the other branches or who make themselves out to be bigshots everyone has to agree with (i.e. Bush Jr.).

[Simon_Jester]

The problem is that the legislative and judiciary functions of government are in large part divorced from policy responsibility.

In a parliamentary system, members of the legislature take on the executive responsibilities, and the role of "head of government" is associated with the person who has the highest level of executive responsibility- the prime minister.

In the US system, the legislature has no executive responsibilities aside from nominal oversight duties, and the chain of executive command exists entirely outside the legislature. As a result, it's reasonable to say that the president is the "head of government;" he's certainly the head of the administrative government, and today has de facto policy-making authority on many issues due to shifts in our unwritten constitution.

Granted that Congress and the judiciary could do a lot to rein him in, but the same is true in a parliamentary system where the prime minister is definitely the head of government.