More thoughts on Presidential politics

Hello, again!

Inquisitive minds want to know - why do so many people seek the Presidency, why is there almost always such a nasty debate about who should or should not win the office, and why do people have the perceptions they do about this office?

The office of the President of the United States is the most powerful on earth. People do not seek it because of the pay. Most highly placed executives, or for that matter, JUNIOR executives in America, make more money than the President. People seek it because they want to be seen as "the guy in charge;" they want to be the one who hears "Hail to the Chief" when they enter a room; they want to be the one who fingers the nuclear football; they want to be "the man." Why do people care who becomes President? Well, there's another question, isn't there? The fact is, the President establishes the agenda and sets the pace for whatever legislation is pending before Congress. The President can veto whatever he dislikes, and it usually dies when he does. Perhaps more importantly, the President nominates SC justices, and THEY are the real power in Washington! If he gets his nominee through Congress, the political tone is set for a long, LONG time by whoever sits on that bench! More than any other reason, THIS is why people care about who gets to be President. So, the President has a lot of power, but the SC has more. Why do we care, then, if the SC is pretty much set for the time being? Well, people want Congress to DO things! They send people to Washington who they believe will represent their interests. If we have some dimwit President running a personal agenda that has little to do with anyone's interests other than their own, Congress gets bogged down and can't get anything done AT ALL. This is one of the reasons that Hillary would be such a bad choice. She wants to nationalize health care. Anyone tried to get surgery in Canada lately? It's a freakin' nightmare! We need LESS government in health care, not more! Reasons for the high cost of prescription drugs? It's because Medicare has the pricing structure for drugs so messed up everywhere they control it that prescription drug companies seek to make up their losses anywhere the prices are not controlled! If government would get out of the health care business altogether, pricing for the rest of us would normalize as market forces take over. Anyone remember Capitalism? You know...supply and demand, that sort of thing? It doesn't exist in health care, which is why it's so screwed up already! If government would get out of the health care business and let doctors, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies compete on even ground with one another, health care would once again be affordable and Hillary could stop worrying about it!

Has anyone ever noticed...anytime something goes wrong, it's the President's fault? If it goes well, he's not usually given credit! Poor old Herbert Hoover. The Great Depression was blamed on him, but he just happened to be the guy at the wheel when the tires blew out. It wasn't any more his fault that the man in the moon, but he got blamed. A lot of people have tried to blame 911 on Bush - his intelligence agencies were asleep at the wheel, not communicating with one another, not forwarding important stuff to the right people, forwarding unimportant stuff instead, etc. Uhh...when did Bush establish the hierarchy of intelligence agencies? When did HE decide that the FBI, CIA, NSA, etc., should not talk to one another? 911 wasn't his fault; he just happened to be the one driving when the wheels fell off. Now, has anyone noticed the fact that there hasn't been a terrorist attack on American soil SINCE 911? Well, there hasn't been! Thanks, Mr. Bush. Your folks got it right. Here's one voice who WILL thank you for your service to our country.

Who ought to be President? I don't know, and I don't think it really matters all that much, as long as it's not Hillary. Most of the other candidates I've heard speak have pretty much the same agenda; get out of Iraq; smooth out the bumps in health care; provide for the common defense; promote the general welfare. As far as I can tell, there all pretty much the same. They want to be the one who hears "Hail to the Chief" when they walk into a room. I think maybe it's time we elected a President who cannot hear. maybe then we'd get someone who would serve the best interest of the country first and foremost. - Dan