Too Popular?

Greetings good citizen,

Almost two years into a ‘WTF’ presidency we are all wondering what the hell went wrong.

An obviously bright guy with ‘impeccable’ credentials, just the sort of fellow you’d look for when you were up to your ass in alligators and couldn’t find the drain plug.

Take the package home & plug it in and all of a sudden Mr. Bright & Articulate is overwhelmed by the reality of the situation.

We’ve seen this before and there are a multitude of reasons for his sudden utter stupidity, the most obvious being that he has sold us out. He told us what we wanted to hear with no intention of doing any of it.

But, hey, whatcha gonna do?

It’s ‘too late’ to reverse the election and besides, our problems are much bigger than electing a coward.

It is my honest ‘opinion’ that an honest and brave individual would not make it onto the ballot. If they did, they would not win for the same reason some of the most popular people in our society do not seek public office.

Ask yourself why Bill Gates or Warren Buffet don’t throw their hats into the political arena.

They most certainly have the money to run…and neither draws a paycheck from their current position…so the ‘low pay’ would not be a dis-incentive.

Many of our past presidents were war heroes…but there haven’t been any of those since Eisenhower.

Nope, what troubles me good citizen is why the guys who have become ‘household names’ don’t run for public office?

This is nothing new. Why didn’t Rockefeller ever run? How about Neutron Jack? He would have made a far more suitable ‘Chief Executive’ than Bonzo’s co-star.

Why doesn’t Bill Gates or Warren Buffett run?

They are certainly well known and for the most part, well thought of.

Rich guys in politics…We have the billionaire Bloomberg…as the Mayor of NY City.

But wait a minute Slim…there are a LOT of ‘millionaire’ Congressmen and Senators.

We all know Jimmy Carter was a ‘peanut farmer’. What we don’t know is the name of that company/corporation.

(I’m sure if I dug hard enough I could ferret it out but chances are that unlike the former Vice President, it wouldn’t be a ‘household name’ (like Halliburton) except in the region it was principally located in.

If it had been Skippy or Peter Pan, we’d have known about it.

But I digress.

Why do you suppose it is that the ‘Captains of Industry’ (as a rule) don’t run for public office?

Ross Perot is an interesting character but neither he nor his company entered the spotlight BEFORE he became a public figure.

More interesting is how this holds true going back through our long and sordid history.

J.P. Morgan could most certainly have run for president…but he wasn’t noted as being a particularly, er, ‘fair-minded’ individual.

Which leaves us to wonder, is the ‘hard nosed executive type’ really a poor choice for, er, ‘Commander in Chief’?

Right about now someone with the backbone to make a few tough decisions would certainly be most welcome!

But don’t get me wrong good citizen, I am NOT advocating making some ruthless hard-ass president, even if half of the swinging dicks elected to the job like to act the part.

This is just something that occurred to me while discussing a different issue.

Why don’t the already highly visible CEO’s toss their hats into the political arena?

Could it be because their corporate competitors wouldn’t stand for it?

Imagine what you could do (for your business) with the power of the Oval Office behind you!

If this is indeed THE reason some of the best known figures in our society DO NOT enter public service…we got deeper problems than anyone thought.

IS the principle disincentive to holding high elected office that of trading command for the position of becoming one of the hired help?

That’s a pretty damning indictment good citizen but I tell you what, if they weren’t all as crooked as hell, it is precisely the talent pool we would want to draw from!

Perhaps it is the ‘servant’ part of public service that keeps the rich and shameless away from the ‘representative’ corridors of power…

Which is to ask if our corporate overlords don’t run because they already ‘own’ what passes for our government?

This, naturally, begs the question of what we are going to do about this untenable situation.

Sure, things are ‘fine’ now but how long do you expect that to last.

This has been building for the past forty years, they ain’t turning aside now.

It is almost time for the mid-terms…if the ‘certifiable crazy’ conservatives do well in the elections you will KNOW the ballot box is useless.

Thanks for letting me inside your head,

Gegner