We have serious problems in this country, problems of equality, of quality of life. Of security and liberty, of infrastructure and education. Not every point of view is right and no one idea is necessarily best. All the ideas are flawed and there is nothing to be done about that. The biggest problem, though, is that no one is talking. If we were talking to each other we would all realize that the people opposing health care reform aren’t profit hungry or worried that the government will have them killed. They’re worried about people losing their jobs. And those in favor of health care reform aren’t socialists. They’re worried about the people who’ve already lost their jobs. [...]
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 Are we asking the wrong questions if what we want are good presidents? It’s a question we almost never ask. Pundits discuss who’s likely to run and who of those could likely win, but we usually devote no time to a serious discussion of what we should actually be looking for in our presidential candidates, regardless of what political ideology they might hold to. it’s what party bosses used to do before primaries, and that system gave us some pretty stellar presidents. Sure, some were dead on arrival, but, hey, this is America. We’ll take what we can get. By asking the wrong question, we limit our possibilities to those candidates narcissistic enough or slippery enough to believe that they can win regardless of what is actually in the country’s best interests. And since the only candidates that the press talks about are the ones likely to run regardless, those candidates monopolize early campaign coverage, making less-likely but perhaps more beneficial candidates hesitant to enter the race for fear of being humiliated. The public and the media have conspired to create a self-defeating cycle that has stretched over several decades. Continue reading… |
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