Ah, but gentlemen...monarchs have also had to deal with the judiciary and the legislature and have often been overruled by same. Study your English history. If the crown could not get Parliament onside for funding or policy, then the crown was stopped dead in its tracks. There were plenty of checks and balances in the British system long before the advent of the USA. The main problem with the colonies was that they were not given proportionate representation IN the British parliament...and that led to unresolved issues (mostly monetary ones, in fact) that culminated in the Revolutionary War.

The main difference is this: Your president is (usually) not placed through heredity and cannot serve for life. He or she is limited to 2 consecutive terms of 4 years each, providing he or she gets elected.

I am not saying your president is identical to a monarch. I'm saying that the position of chief executive in your country has taken on the psychological dimensions of a monarchy in the minds of the general public, that's all. It's gone a bit out of proportion, I think.

As for talking through my hat...(grin)...well, if you had as handsome a hat as I have here in my possession, you'd talk through it too. It's my folk festival hat, and it's a beauty.