We Are the Mediocre Presidents!Sure, you might tell your 7-year old kid that one day he or she can be president to boost self-esteem. But hopefully that youngun will grow up and realize that it was a bit of white lie. Some people are best suited to lead the country through difficult times and others are best at repairing disc brakes. Both professions are honorable and essential to a properly functioning society. The principles of our country were founded by well-educated masons and colonial nobility, and they were able to lead a revolution that has worked out pretty well for all of mankind. So, it's odd that democracy, which Thomas Jefferson referred to as "mob rule", has been perverted so badly that everyone gets a seat at the White House in the 21st century. That's what Arianna Huffington is promoting in her new campaign. From HuffPo:
To illustrate this we are putting together a video that will symbolize that we are all stakeholders -- all being inaugurated on January 20th -- by having people from across America send us video of themselves taking the presidential oath of office: "I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States."Being in the military, I understand the need for patriotism and public service that Arianna sorta advocates, but the concept that Obama is here to elevate everyone to his level of leadership is frightening. Maybe it's my time in an institution with a very strict "chain-o'-command" hierarchy, but you don't want a multitude of leaders not educated for the job. Sometimes, when the shit hits the fan, you're pretty glad you aren't the guy in charge, and just hope that the guy (or gal) that is knows what the fuck they are doing based on their experience and competence. A virtual army of would-be Presidents with "great ideas" is not what a constitutional Republic is about, but it certainly does bring up images of an angry mob of power-hungry loons. The scary part is Obama, during his victory speech in November, sounded like he actually believed this crap.
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8 comments:
Just wanted to let everyone know that there's a Bacevich episode up at Bloggingheads.tv I know there's a lot of old school style conservatives who visit Nixon's blog, so I wanted to give a heads up.
The world needs ditch diggers too.
Just like the body - all parts are necessary. Someone is the little finger, someone is the brain, someone is the a-hole.
As a public school teacher, I often thought that it was odd that with my BS in Ed, the principal's Masters or doctorate, the school was run by a board of people with a 2nd grade education. Not all people were meant to lead, but it is nice to voice your opinion.
LT, have a little faith, man. he can't possibly be worse than the last guy.
no way, no how.
Arianna can be a nut case sometimes - hey, it's her money, her blog, lots of crazier ideas out there.
"The scary part is Obama, during his victory speech in November, sounded like he actually believed this crap."
That was a beautiful speech. Yeah, what a horrible thought, that we might actually have an open and responsive govt instead of the secretive, big govt-knows-best approach we've lived through.
During the victory speech, when Obama said the campaign "wasn't about me, it was about you" kinda paved the way to slouch on leadership in a time of crisis.
The problem with American Society today is that no one takes responsibility; I think that was the heart of Obama's speech. We shouldn't trust one man or woman as the mesiah that we help us out of the hole that Bush dug. Sure, you have wacko's like Huffington who take it too far but on the other side of the spectrum, not everyone is a Maverick. Don't forget about Goose, Slider, Iceman, Viper, Cougar, or Charlie.
On the inauguration side, it's going to be a mess here in the tristate area. The command "volun-told" an entire department into 16hrs of Inauguration Detail. Glad my civilian chain of command owned up and gave us the right to choose not to endure sub-freezing temps.
It's an improvement me thinks.
Inagruation detail? Well some people are paying thousand of bucks to attend, you get to go for free and only have to endure a few babykiller glares from the hippie contingent.
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