This is longtime Cato Daily podcast host, Caleb Brown. I've hosted the Cater Daily podcast for nearly

18 years, but no more. But I wanted to leave loyal listeners with some favorite episodes that I

hope ring true and relevant to our current moment. This is one of them. Thank you for listening.

This is the Cato Daily podcast for Thursday, September 9th, 2010.

I'm Caleb Brown.

Leading a nation is not the job of the president.

At least that's how the founders saw it.

Gene Healy, vice president of the Cato Institute and author of The Cult of the Presidency,

recently discussed the original conception of what an American president is

supposed to do at Cato University on Capitol Hill.

Odd as it seems to us today, when we're used to this overbearing, domineering, omnipresent

figure in the presidency, the framers never thought of the president as America's quote-unquote national leader.

In fact, in their vision, the very notion of national leadership was threatening.

The Federalist papers literally begin and end, number one in 85 or 86,

with warnings about popular demagogues

and the dangers of popular leadership.

Federalist 1, there's a warning that throughout history,

those who have destroyed republics began by flattering the people.

And then in the final paper, Hamilton warned that should the Constitution not succeed,

we may end up with the military despotism of a victorious demagogue.

I think both quotes show somewhat how much the framers distrusted the idea of popular

leadership. The fact is they didn't believe in Teddy Roosevelt's bully pulpit. The

...