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Enough is enough: after 5 decades of abuse it’s time for a change

This coming October we will mourn the 50th anniversary of the death of a level playing field for overseas Americans

By Andy Sundberg

October 16, 2012, will be the 50th Anniversary of the signing of legislation that brought to an end the right of Americans living and working abroad to compete in world markets under the same terms and conditions as everyone else.

As background text for the solemn jubilee mourning of this sad event, the attached 50 page document has been prepared to help you better understand the myriad arguments that have continued to be put forward to keep justifying not only this strange and uniquely self-destructive fiscal initiative, but also many other changes in US laws and regulations that have been introduced during the last 50 years that also have also contributed to the ever mounting difficulties overseas Americans face all over the world today.

The first steps of this sad story were taken only three months after John F Kennedy became president in January 1961. In a tax reform message addressed to the US Congress, President Kennedy stated on 29 April 1961:

“It is no more justifiable to provide tax exemptions for individuals living in the developed countries than it is to provide tax inducements for capital investment there. Nor should we permit totally unjustified tax benefits to be obtained by those Americans whose choice of residence is dictated primarily by their desire to minimize taxes.

“I, therefore, recommend that the total tax exemption now accorded the earned income of American citizens residing abroad be completely terminated for those residing in economically advanced countries; that this exemption for earned income be limited to $20,000 for those residing in the less developed countries; and that the exemption of $20,000 of earned income now accorded those citizens who stay (but do not reside) abroad for 17 out of 18 months also be completely terminated for those living or traveling in the economically advanced countries.”

Read this again very, very carefully because it will henceforth be set in stone as the subsequent conventional mindset which will be adhered to by both American political parties. There is no virtuous reason why a US citizen would want to live and work abroad. All such decisions are “dictated primarily by their desire to minimize taxes”! How does he know this? He doesn’t say, nor does he or any of his successors ever feel the need to do so.

And this being by definition the default nefarious motivation for living overseas, the US Government obviously should then apply the appropriate punishment and go after overseas Americans, harass them, and keep taxing them no matter where they live and no matter what they might actually be doing. Sadly this negative and retributive attitude will never thereafter change.

From Cathy Marston

Jack has been an apprentice dancer with the Bern:Ballett since August through our collaboration with the London Contemporary Dance School. He is on a post-Graduate course in performance.

Although he only started dancing a few years ago he has enormous talent.

His creativity and dedication are inspiring to all around him and he is very hungry to learn from the experienced dancers around him.

On Thursday 3 November he danced the role of Demetrius in our world premiere “Ein Winternachtstraum” (“A Mid-Winter’s Nights Dream”, after Shakespeare’s Midsummer Nights Dream) with my choreography.

He had jumped into this solo role from the corps de ballet after another one of the company’s dancers broke his arm three weeks beforehand. Jack was wonderful on stage and displayed a great ‘presence.’

As choreographer and director of the Bern:Ballett I am devastated that such a talent may not be able to develop.

The dancers of the company are shocked and upset; Jack is a much loved, funny and kind colleague.

We are hopeful though, that his determination to recover will bring him back to us in due course.’

Thank you for your work to find the person who did this to Jack.

Cathy Marston

Posted 8 Nov 2011 at 15:26

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A dreamed-of trip to Palestine

by Antonio Padron

Ed. note: Read Antonio Padron’s earlier guest blog on GenevaLunch, for background: an interview with Anouar Gharbi, president of Right for All

I had been wanting to report to people in Latin America and Switzerland about the plight of the Palestinian people. I decided to interview Anouar Gharbi and express my wish to him to join the boat, “Freedom Flotilla 2″.

It was late in the afternoon and I was anxious. I had heard that hundreds of people applied for the chance to show solidarity with the Palestinian people and I there would be no chance that I, a small freelance reporter from Cuba, would be selected. I decided to take my chances and call Anouar Gharbi to let him know of my worries. He said it was not looking good, but that he would try for my name to be selected.

I woke up the next day and my heart sank; I had not received a call from his secretary. I believed that now I would not be able to tell this story to the Cuban and Swiss people. I went to check my email and there was a message from Anouar Ghabi confirming that I had been selected to go onboard the Swiss and German boat as part of the flotilla to Gaza. I wanted to jump with excitement.

I was told there was to be a meeting in Bern. The meeting would be an information session by a Swiss government department to inform us about the kind of things we could expect on this adventure. There was the possibility of encountering danger, as happened with a Turkish boat when it was boarded by Israeli forces last May.

I headed for Athens in order to get to Corfu were I was told by the organizers that the ship, the “Stephano Corini” would be docked. I had never been to Greece before and I was not disappointed: the country is beautiful, especially the land of Corfu where the beaches remind me of my own country.

I settled down in the modest but very comfortable hotel the organizers had recommended, then received a telephone call instructing me to fly from Corfu to Athens to meet the organizers and other activists for a briefing about the kind of things we might encounter during this adventure. I thought to myself after the meeting that maybe this is not a good idea. We went through all the possible scenarios and it was pretty scary to know that Israeli forces might react with violence. But in the end I thought that to tell the story it was worth embarking on this endeavor. I headed back to Corfu, where we expected to sail in the next three days.

For the next two days we were constantly briefed by the organizers about the progress of negotiations with the Greek government and the apparent pressure put on by the Israeli government to not allow the flotilla to sail from Greece. We were not discouraged by the news. We tried to relax on the beach, enjoy the sun and have a good time between information sessions and constant drills.

On the fifth day the Greek government told our organizers that they had decided the flotilla would not be allowed to sail. Spirits fell in the group. Some started to pack up and head home due to the frustration and economic strain of the endeavor.

But there were some who refused to give up, such as American ex-marine Brian Curdy, who went from the jungles of Vietnam to the American base in my country, Guantanamo Bay in Cuba. He told me his government had lied to him during the cold war and that he felt betrayed, and he felt it was his duty to show solidarity with the Palestinian people. He was wounded by a mortar in Vietnam and he felt that the Vietnamese had all the right in the world to fight against the American soldiers.

The thing that amazed me the most about the flotilla is that there are people who are willing to put their lives at risk and to spend their own limited personal resources for such a worthy cause.

The trip did not come through. But I am sure that it will not be the last time such an effort will be made and I believe that one day I will be able to take that trip to Palestine.

Posted 3 Nov 2011 at 14:49

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“Athlete’s Garden” was elusive: Ironman Switzerland 2011

by Devashish Paul (Republished with permission from xtri.com, triathlon news site)

In business we talk about taking the task to completion. Work in progress is just that…”in progress”. It is rare that we can take incomplete items and sell them to customers to generate revenue. The key is taking every discrete task to completion. Success is born out of this. The Ironman finish line comes after taking thousands of tasks for months or years to completion.On Sunday July 10th I started the Ironman Switzerland at 7 am. The waters in Lake Zurich were the nicest I have raced in outside of Kona and Nice, France. Finally at 5:14 PM, I sat down and ate my first real food for the day. The day before the race I pointed to the “athlete’s garden” to my family, explaining that this is where finishers get to go have a post race meal. In 20 Ironman starts, I was 20 for 20, passing through the entrance to the “athlete garden”, the keys for which we unlock by successfully passing through 140.6 miles on race day. On July 10th gate keepers do not care if you cover it like Andreas Ralaert was doing in a Roth record in 7:41, Ronnie Schindlicht covering the Zurich course in 8:19, doing it the fastest of all competitors for the 5th year in a row, or if you are a midnight finisher doing it in 16:59. The keys to unlocking the door to the garden are universal…cover the full 140.6 miles using your own power.

But instead of having a meal at 10:14 race time which was my private personal goal, I had the irony of commencing my first meal of the day in the hospital overlooking the city of Zurich, having gone through a CT scan, several X-rays, many stitches, a few broken bones including one in my face, bleeding inside my sinuses and strained muscles and ligaments in the legs and pelvic region and a pretty hard concussion. Up to that point I only consumed some Infinit and had been hooked to IV’s…no real food.

The nice thing about racing is that you can make the pain end faster by getting to the finish line quicker. Somewhere in the second half of the marathon the 800 lb gorilla jumps on your back and does not leave until the race is over. When you DNF, it seems you are carrying that gorilla forever, both physically and mentally…well past race day. Last year, while spectating Ironman Lake Placid, I had the pleasure of encouraging an athlete who was trying to make the bike cutoff, coming back from a broken pelvis. The determination was impressive. Although she did not make the cutoff, I am sure she will draw strength from that effort this year. Watching that made me appreciate every finish, to date, even more than usual. I never took any for granted and appreciated them even more.

In military athletics, we used to have a motto, “Friendship Through Sport”. That was back in the early 90′s and subsequently, I have taken those words to heart long after I left the armed forces. Even though we all come from different cultures, endurance athletes worldwide have more in common than we have differences. We are able to see past languages, cultures, upbringings, diverse religions and political values, which in many cases divide us apart. Underneath all those layers that society imposes on us, is the desire to push ourselves, be the best we can be, compete, and explore our environment through sport. Through triathlon, I have made friends throughout Europe, North America, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Israel and Japan. For that I am thankful. Add to that a new friendship from Sweden.

In an instant sometime after 9:20 am on July 10th, Daniel Ahl from Sweden and I were introduced to one another through the tangling of our bicycle handlebars during a pass as the road suddenly narrowed, passing through a picturesque Swiss village. This is not the normal means of establishing friendships. Both of our attempts at Ironman Switzerland ended dramatically as we lost control, went across the oncoming side of the road into a solid brick Swiss house. The only thing I remember is finally unlocking bars only to see by then, my head was going square into a brick wall which was orthogonal to my path of motion.

The next thing I remember is waking up to the sound of an ambulance, not knowing how long I had laid blacked out. At first I thought “where am I” and quickly remembered the brick wall. Then I moved my feet and hands and they worked…maybe a youth spent playing football and hockey had trained me into checking those. It seems like I was not paralyzed. I tried to sit up, but was immediately told to stay lying down by medical staff. Daniel later told me that he was awake for some time before I woke up. He did not know how long as he had also blacked out.

Fast forward to 5:14 pm. I felt a victory that I was still alive and had dodged death. Thank you to every crash test dummy who wore the Giro Advantage 2 aero helmet. Without them and the thorough job of the Giro engineers, I would not be writing today.

A friend of mine, Ben Caspi wrote me….”in the game of life we only get one finish. Everyone gets one. I am glad you DNF’d in this game today.” So after no DNF’s at racing since 1992, I DNF’d in an Ironman, but not in life. I am thankful to still be around for my wife and son who were very scared by the ordeal. I had only had one minor crash in all the years of racing triathlon since 1985.

The 800 lb gorilla did not leave like it normally does the moment I entered the athlete’s garden, because I never entered the garden. The garden is like a decompression zone where all the pain is momentarily replaced by elation. Many months or even years of work, by athlete and families come to a successful closure. This time the gorilla remains with me first physically as I get over various head and limb injuries, and I am glad he will be with me mentally until I get to the victory of the next start line and hopefully the 140.6 mile process of unlocking the keys to the exclusive “athlete’s garden”. In the mean time, I have all the athletes in my training group, who I have mentored to try to get to that athlete’s garden. As I was laying in the hospital in Zurich, a few were doing PB’s in Roth…there will be more at Ironman Lake Placid next weekend and at Ironman Canada in a month.

For the moment just writing this article with one hand, contorted on a flight from Frankfurt to Ottawa (without taking a break) is a small victory. Assuming all clears up, there will be other attempts to get a meal in that athlete’s garden. For the quality of food and the trouble we go to get there, there must be something more special about having a chicken broth and pizza slice in that garden with a bunch of sweaty athletes many who don’t even speak the same language, wearing a race bracelet and tri suit, rather than wearing a hospital gown and hospital bracelet and having a very equivalent meal at the very same moment in the day, in anonymity with no company.

Daniel Ahl did not get to achieve his dream of going to Kona this year via Zurich, but has already planned to race the xxxx Iron Distance race in Sweden in early August. The athlete garden meal will feel extra special.

To those reading, please do consider Ironman Switzerland. The organization is awesome, the course is brilliant and picturesque, there are marshals everywhere, clean racing by other racers (from my vantage point), fabulous medical facilities, and Zurich is very easy to get to/from anywhere in the world with an excellent airport and fabulous public transport when you get there. While hotel rates may appear a bit high, this is the going rate in Zurich….no jacking up rates for Ironman week, in fact, very similar to what we pay in Lake Placid on race week. Zurich is an excellent tourist destination for families and a perfect springboard for post race vacationing. To say I have unfinished work on this course is a big understatement! Taking every task to completion is not a given. They say we learn more from failure than from success because failure causes us to look more critically at weakness and improve. I guess this needs to be viewed as an opportunity.

Finally thanks to everyone who has sent notes of support….I’m still behind on email and do plan to catch up. Good luck with your racing. Play safe and rubber side down for all!

About the author: Devashish Paul is a masters triathlete, husband and father based in Ottawa Canada, who writes for us on a variety of topics related to triathlon with a focus from the eyes of the age grouper trying to juggle life, work and sport. Dev is a multiple time Kona and 70.3 world’s finisher and is already qualified to be in Las Vegas for the Ironman 70.3 world Championships. If he cannot race, he’ll be writing for us. We hope he can do both. Its going to be easier replacing his destroyed Kestrel, lost Newtons and missing wetsuit than fixing the 45-49 body parts though!

Posted 19 Jul 2011 at 14:47

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Anouar Gharbi interview: the man behind the scenes at Droit pour Tous

By Antonio Padron in Geneva

Anouar Gharbi was born in Tunisia; he is the president of Right for all/Droit pour Tous, created in 2000. He and his family live in Geneva.

I first met Anouar Gharbi on a clear and beautiful day in April. He does not at first look like an activist involved in pro-Palestinian activities, but more like a lawyer representing angry wives and jealous husbands. When you speak with him, you notice that his soft-spoken voice disguises an iron determination to have his voice heard.

When he talks about the Middle-East, Gharbi is candid but frank. He thinks the “Arab Awakening” is a positive step in the right direction. But he quickly points out that the Arabs have a long way to go. It is not enough that the Egyptian and Tunisian people and many others have said “enough is enough”.

“Democracy is a process, not a quick militant action.” He notes that Israel can no longer call itself the only democracy in the Middle East. “Hope is alive,” Gharbi says, after seeing the millions who turned out to protest and demand change.

On Osama Bin Laden: Gharbi comments that Al-Qaida’s philosophy of violent jihad has become irrelevant, even completely outrageous. “The people want change. The men in power in the Middle East need to hear the voices of their populations. It is not enough to change faces; it is necessary to change policy. Many Arab leaders have supported the anti-Israeli resistance, but have not heard the cries from their people. In order for there to be progress, the people must be heard.”

On Syrian President Bashar Al Assad: Gharbi will tell you that his support for the many Arab resistance groups such as Hamas, PFLP and
Hezbollah, has been exemplary. “A strong Arab, but he has lost the support of his people by repressing them.”

Gharbi calls the situation in Gaza “catastrophic. The people in Gaza lack medical supplies and they live on donations. It does not help that the Israeli government has stopped all necessary aid from reaching the Palestinian population. That is the main idea of the flotilla to Gaza, to break the siege imposed by Israel. The international community must understand that in order to help the population in Gaza, the right amount of pressure must be put on Israel.”

When asked if Palestinians and Israelis can live side by side, he quickly points out that the Palestinian people must first be allowed to choose their own government without facing negative consequences from the international community. “They must be supported,” he says. “There are extremist forces on both sides. There are those who want peace and those who want confrontation. In order for both people to live side by side, both sides must be heard and their opinions and rights must be respected. In relation to the rocket attacks by Hamas, both sides have accused each other of starting the offensive.”

Gharbi’s decision to establish his organization, Droit pour Tout, followed the 2000 visit by then Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon to the Al Aqsa-mosque. “We are different peoples. This does not mean we can’t live together, it just means that we must each respect our differences.”

We turn our conversation to the September 11th terrorist attacks against the United States. When asked about conspiracy theories, he pauses and reflects. “While the attacks were most definitively perpetrated by Al Qaida, it would be a terrible mistake to think that the attacks did not help to serve long-held American interests to control and occupy the Middle East” for the region’s vast natural resources. “It was a shame that Osama Bin Laden could not be brought to trial. A lot of questions remain on this subject.”

The decision to form a no-fly zone over Libya is a controversial one for him. Western governments’ intentions might appear honest but their economic interests are ever-present and no one seems to pose the question, why Libya and why not Syria. “It is a dangerous game that Nato is playing,” Gharbi says.

Gharbi argues that “pressure must be put on the Israeli government to respect United Nations resolutions”, noting that the only resolution the Israelis seem to respect is the foundation of the Jewish state. “Why hasn’t Israel been bombarded yet?” The international community decided to bomb Iraq because it did not respect the international community’s decisions, he points out, and Arabs are still waiting for the international community to say to Israel that “enough is enough”.

Posted 29 Jun 2011 at 17:40

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Obituary: Don Curtis, Geneva

By Andy Sundberg

It was with great sadness that I learned that Don Curtis, a wonderful American who had been living here in Geneva for many years, had passed away last week on the 16th of June.

There will be a memorial service for Don at 3pm on Thursday, the 23rd of June, at the Emmanuel Church (formerly the American Church), 3 Rue de Monthoux, across the street from the Kempinski Hotel.

His family has asked that instead of flowers, you might want to consider a donation to the foundation, “SOS Villages d’Enfants Suisse, Cp 30-31935-2.”

Don was the former head of the Vestry at the American Church when I served as one of his colleagues there a decade ago.

He was a most kind and gentle leader, with much creativity, enthusiasm and generosity.

As this story published by Forbes in 2009 also indicates, Don was an active participant in the overseas American tax arena, as chief executive of Curtis & Co., and he was a key provider of much needed advice for many Americans here in Geneva.

Ed. note: Andy Sundberg, founder of American Citizens Abroad, occasionally contributes to this guest blog.

Posted 20 Jun 2011 at 21:56

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Tracking smartphone users: the US and privacy vs. vested interests

By Martyn Warwick

Republished with permission from TelecomTV One . Martyn Warwick is board director, Telecom TV

Biased? FCC calls location-based tracking a “boon to the economy” even as it sets up forum to debate the issue

In the US, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) is to hold a day-long “public education forum” to “study the risks and benefits” of location-based services and the tracking of smartphone users. Yes, a whole day. We are not worthy – obviously.

Yes, there’s to be a full eight hours of waffle (minus coffee breaks and lunch of course) with half the day given over to Apple, Google and their ilk during which time they can bring their expensive heavy guns to bear and tell the world how great location tracking is and how misguided are those who oppose it.

“Consumer advocates” have also been invited to the June 28 event but critics say the day is likely to be hi-jacked by vested interests favouring tracking technologies and will be little more than a platform from which wireless carriers and technology companies will trumpet the benefits of location tracking whilst deriding the arguments of those who oppose such intrusions into personal liberty.

The FCC has finally be forced to do something – minimal though it may be – because of growing consumer concern and unrest following the revelation last month that iPhones routinely collect and transmit location data – even when a user turns off the tracking software. This secretly and illicitly collected data, Apple acknowledges, is then held for up to a year. It also transpires that Google’s Android-based mobile handsets also do something remarkably similar.

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) which is exhibiting rather more concern for the privacy rights of smartphones users than is the FCC, is also involved in the forum and has said that not only does it intent to write a report on location-bsed tracking and services but will also press the FCC Chairman, Julius Genachowski, to regulate on the issue – something which the FCC should be doing off its own bat in any case.

In a what might best be described as a reluctant and biased statement, the FCC says, “Over the last few years, location-based services have become an important part of the mobile market and a boon to the economy.” Says who – apart from Apple and Google that is?

The statement continues, “Commercial location-based services include applications that help consumers find the lowest-priced product nearby or the nearest restaurant… But recent reports have raised concerns about the location-based information that is gathered when consumers use mobile devices.”

The June event will be the third time Apple has been called to give testimony on the issue and, who knows, maybe this time will prove to be lucky for exploited iPhone users. I would’t bet on it though. After all there’s a ton of money to be made from selling location data to advertisers and consumer privacy comes way, way down the list after a consideration like that.

Topics to be (briefly) aired at the forum include: “How location-based services work, their benefits and risks and information parents should know about location tracking of children using mobile devices.”

Elsewhere, an anonymous FCC apparatchik says, “While the use of location data has spurred innovation, the FCC’s National Broadband Plan recognizes that consumer apprehension about privacy can also act as a barrier to the adoption and utilization of broadband and mobile devices”.

This has got “whitewash” written all over it.

Posted 23 May 2011 at 6:41

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A thank you to Geneva thieves-chasers

By Kerri Walker

I was standing at the bar at Clubhouse in Geneva one evening recently, passing some time drinking and talking with my boyfriend. The place was packed with runners and soccer fans that night. Two men I didn’t know, and who didn’t know me, grabbed my handbag from the bar, where it was sitting right next to me, and ran out of Clubhouse.

I didn’t see it happen and I was oblivious to the fact that my bag was stolen.

My story ends well, though.

I turned around and suddenly saw my handbag being placed next to me at the bar. Two servers who were working at Clubhouse had seen my bag being stolen. These two men chased the thieves, and they must have done it without thinking twice because they caught up to them. They got my bag back and returned it, next to me.

Iain, one of the two servers explained what had happened and that the Geneva police were waiting outside for me to go to the station and file a complaint. It took about 30 minutes to do so, then I went home with all of my belongings: nothing was stolen. And the servers who caught the thieves were unharmed. Later, when I sent Iain an e-mail to thank him and say I was surprised, he told said it’s normal for them to help and protect customers.

Every time I tell my story to people, they are amazed. “You are so lucky,” I hear, because most such stories end badly.

I was very lucky to get my bag back. I only had three francs and change in my wallet, but my two credit cards (one French and one American), my US driver’s license, and finally some lip gloss, and receipts were among the miscellaneous things that were more important to me than the change. I’m working as an au pair, and it would have been a huge financial blow for me to have had to replace those things, especially my American cards.

Two weeks after the incident, I am still amazed that people I had never met would run after thieves to return a purse to a stranger. The thieves could have been carrying weapons. The two servers from Clubhouse are my heroes: although there is evil and criminal behavior in the world, human kindness also exists.

I hope that by sharing my story here, people who read it will do two things:

keep a close eye on your things when you are out, whether in Geneva or any other city, even if it does not seem like a crime city
think about the impact you can have on someone else’s life by helping them, no questions asked, just going out of your way—even a little bit, it doesn’t have to be chasing a crimina.

Posted 13 May 2011 at 7:43

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Regional efficiency – the Swiss model?

by Matthew Stevenson

Matthew Stevenson is a Swiss-based writer, author of Remembering the Twentieth Century Limited, a collection of historical essays. He is also editor of Rules of the Game: The Best Sports Writing from Harper’s Magazine.

(Reprinted with permission from New Geography)

Swiss President Micheline Calmy-Rey (photo, 2009, Ellen Wallace)

Given that no one likes Switzerland’s banks, coo-coo clocks, high prices, smugness, dull cities, cheesy foods, or yodeling, I realize that it is too early to speak politically about “the Swiss Model.”

But it needs to be pointed out that while the European Union evaporates and Homeland America goes for broke, the world’s second oldest democracy (1291) has trade and budget surpluses, a multi-lingual population, a green network of trains and buses to every village, excellent public schools, and a federal-style government that is closer to Thomas Jefferson’s America than the bureaucratic monarchy that gives the king’s speeches in Washington.

Yes, the Swiss recently voted against the construction of minarets (NIMCP or “not in my cow pasture”) and for the eviction of immigrants convicted of serious crimes. (Would you vote “for” protecting the immigration rights of the rapist next door?) But a quarter of the students in Geneva’s public schools are foreign, and—in the age of focus groups and slick pollsters—the democracy remains in the hands of its citizenry, for better or for worse, which every two months votes on the referendums of the critical issues. On this month’s ballot is gun control.

A mythical Swiss story involves a man on a morning bus, chatting with someone standing near him, exchanging pleasantries about work and the weather, and discovering that his commuting friend is also the president of the Swiss confederation.

I had a similar experience. I had arrived at the Geneva Press Club on my bike, and discovered that the woman sitting near me was also the president, Micheline Calmy-Rey. To be clear, she was at the front of the room, and I was in the audience. But her unassuming manner was that of a bus commuter, and had she walked into the room unescorted, I would not have marked her as the leader of the country.

In a way, she is not. To be president of Switzerland is to be the head of a seven person federal council, whose members are apportioned according to the political parties in the parliament. Real power in the country remains vested in the villages and in the twenty-six cantons. Think of the Swiss president as the unlucky committee person who has to keep the minutes.

After the European revolutions of 1848, Switzerland adopted a federal constitution, in part modeled on the American system, although instead of the imperial presidency (which Jefferson called “a bad edition” of the Polish king), the Swiss went for an executive council. Benjamin Franklin had the same idea earlier for the U.S., but lost out to the more presidential Adams and Madison.