I agree that the economy runs years after a presidency.

Thats why Reagan set it up and Bush sr and Clinton where riding on its wave. Everyone likes to attribute the 90's as something Clinton did, but he really didnt do anything. He was just president during a good time. When Bush jr took office, that economic wave from Reagan was starting to go down and of course everyone blamed Bush but it really wasnt his fault.

I think trickle down economics works. The last place you want your money is in the governments hands.

Well, during Reagan's presidency there was a lot of prosperity, but his reagonomics were a good part of the reason why the US went into recession afterwards. Ultra-liberalization of the economy just doesn't work, it brings short-term success but in the longer run it's a surefire recipe for economic crisis. It's like a paper castle: it's easy on your purse and you're living in a castle, but don't expect it to stand after a year or two.

Erh...fuck that analogy. Basically, Reagan's economic views didn't work. That's why they were abandoned and why other Republican presidents stayed away from them. They still try to do things in that direction of course, but nothing that extreme...because it's probably suicide if you don't have Reagan's charisma/popularity. And eg Bush has neither atm.

But like Satis said, Reagan was/is very popular. I was just pointing out that, while being anything but a perfect president in terms of his deeds, he still easily kept office...so being a popular leader does have its merits over your deeds. I know quite a few politicians who are clearly incompetent all over the world and that could be replaced by ppl who're a 100x times as effective, but hey: being a 'leader' also involves being persuasive, loveable, firm. Whatever.

A cynic might add that politicians are best when they get money behind them. But Satis as for my government model you did point out the major weakness in Athenian democracy, it's small scale. Therefore it would be a good opportunity to see how it could be scaled up