What Do You Want?

[tcepsa]

It seems like every election--especially recent ones--many if not most people feel they are being offered two bad options and their criteria for picking who they vote for are centered around which one of them they feel would be less awful as President.

This has aroused my curiosity.

What characteristics do you want the President to have? What skills do you think are necessary to do a good job in the White House? What experience do you think is necessary to qualify a person to lead this nation? What issues must the President be focused on, and what must their stance be on each? What are things that they must not have/say/do/believe?

Is it even possible for such a person to exist, or are we going to be stuck with making the best of bad choices from here on out? Has it ever been anything but that? Can it ever be anything but that?

[Edit: Fixed grammar, added "not" question]

Comments

[kiss-kass.livejournal.com]

Actually, if I could have my ideal candidate, it would be a Libertarian most likely. Philosophically, they are conservative fiscally, believe in as little federal government as practical and are very much opposed to the federal government inserting itself into social policy. Unfortunately, I have snowball's chance in Hell of ever getting a viable Libertarian candidate.

The the Christian zealots who've managed to dominate the media attention and overrun the Republican party the last many years nauseate me only slightly more than the extreme, extreme liberals who think that the government should tell me how to live and raise my child. A Democrat in Massachusetts seriously proposed making not teaching your child to recycle in the home child abuse. Child welfare agencies around the country are so overworked they can't keep up with cases of ACTUAL abuse as it is, so let's add something stupid to enforce on top of it.

I'd very much like to see a president who has NOT been a career politician. I'd settle for a state delegate who wasn't one. I'd like to see the qualities that make a person successful in the real world in a president. An astute businessman or woman who knows how to balance expenditures, income and debt. I'd like to see a real hardass in office--one who will tell Europe to piss off and countries who want our foreign aid budget that while they don't have to support our policies, they cannot actively support anyone who attacks us or the wallet closes. I want that president to destroy any group that attacks us, then brings our troops home. I'd like to see a president who doesn't advocate policies that tell us how to live our lives beyond what is reasonable. I want a president who realizes that often the solution to a problem is narrow in scope and needn't affect the entire population.

Unfortunately, I don't think we'll have anything but a choice between two evils for a very long time because we are forced to only have two choices and we don't really decide who gets to pick our choices. The number of people who decide who gets the most press, most support and the best shot at success can be counted in four digits or less. Party elite pick their golden child and parade them around with some palatable alternatives.

When parties started to form around Jefferson and Adams, George Washington steadfastly opposed both of them. He called a two-party system undemocratic and said that it put our fledgling democracy in jeopardy. He felt it did more to divide our leaders than unite them and took the power away from the electorate. I believe he was right.

Look at how vitriolic our election process has become. Rather than enumerate policies and agendas, candidates focus on deriding their opponents. I honestly don't care what the candidates think of their opponents or the opposite party. I want to know what the candidates want to do. It took me hours of research to find any information on what our two current candidates actually want to do and even then it is insanely vague. I found millions of hits on how horrible the other guy is.

The politically active find it perfectly acceptable to vilify anyone who doesn't think just like them. It seems increasingly rare to find anyone who thinks that it is okay to disagree and discuss an issue, without coming to an agreement, but perhaps just a little more understanding.
As long as people refuse to listen to opposite viewpoints and vilify any sort of disagreement, we'll never have a good candidate because good decisions require an open mind and free-flowing discussion. People talk at each other, not with each other. It's much easier to attack rather than understand. Nothing will change until enough people demand it and not enough demand that our leaders represent all of the country and not just the people who think like them.

I'm sorry that this sounds like it is a rant. It isn't really. It's more a summary of observations, research and political philosophy.

[janeoftrades.livejournal.com]

I find myself in the surprising position of saying:
"What kiss_kass said."

*looks a bit dumbfounded*

[kiss-kass.livejournal.com]

That's because people assume that because I am critical of both parties and often play devil's advocate and point out the shortcomings of all politicians, that I must be of the opposite political bent from them. Most of my office is convinced I'm a flaming liberal because they are so conservative fiscally (most of them don't give a damn about the social policies) that I'm constantly pointing out the flaws in their candidate. (Considering how flawed I think both candidates are on differing issues, it isn't hard. ;) ) Because most of my f-list is of a more liberal bent, they usually only see me pointing out things they've neglected to mention or what I see as causes for concern in their candidates.

Last election, someone on my f-list mentioned taking a picture of their ballot. I found that to be a very interesting idea. After the election from hell and all the dangling chads you cold stand, I could see why someone would want a record of their ballot. Unfortunately, for that to mean anything, I thought, we'd have to abandon the secret ballot. We'd have to have a way to tie our ballot to our name and that is just rife with ugly potential. I also thought people who might be easily intimidated could be put off voting if they thought someone was taking pictures of them, especially in the primary polling places where Democrats are on one side and Republicans on the other. Anyone who saw the picture would know to some degree how you voted.

So I mentioned I was curious about it and asked why he did it and he attacked me in a very hateful and personal way. He told me to take him off my friends list and called me all sorts of names, when all I wanted was to understand. Maybe he thought of something I hadn't. That is indicative of how a lot of people who have firm party beliefs treat people who refuse to commit to a party, but choose candidates on their individual merits instead. It shocks them to find out I've voted for Democrats, Republicans, Libertarians, and Independents. In looking back over the ballots I've cast, I can't say that one group has gotten significantly more votes than any other. However, I almost never disclose how I voted in a specific election.

[janeoftrades.livejournal.com]

*laugh*

Actually, I was simply surprised to have found someone I agreed with in regards to politics. ;)

[arashinomoui.livejournal.com]

Here I'll take a different stand. It used to be that I was of a more libertarian bent. However, you know what, I've determined that under most libertarian-esque systems too many people would get screwed. Congratulations Mr. Bush, you've pushed me from being a socially liberal, financially conservative person to a full fledged flaming progressive who wants socially liberal schemes along with financially responsible payment abilities.

I'd want someone who would actually lead the mob rather than follow, i.e., "Here I am my people, come to me" versus "There are my people, I must go to them." I want someone who is going to be able to stand up to unenlightened self-interest and institute the painful changes. Too much has happened for me to believe that what I would love to have happen to actually happen, but there's a lot of places that can change. (If you want an example, removal of the decision that makes corporations a person. GOD WHAT A STUPID USSC decision!)

But to quote from Bruce Baugh's post, but as long as "When it's the final election, you can either help the worst candidate win or the next-worst one, pretty much. That's how first-past-the-post balloting works, and it will continue to work that way until people promote alternative systems for actual use at lower levels - get folks used to proportional representation, ranked preferences, and the like for their towns, counties, and states, and then it'll be ripe for change nationally. Voting for someone who cannot win does not change the system, it only increases the chances that the worst candidate will win."

Okay rant from libertarian turned progressive over.

[kiss-kass.livejournal.com]

The government should not change society. Government should adapt to a changing society. Less than 1,000 people have neither the right nor the Constitutional authority to set social policy. If you want that small number of people to determine how millions should think and live their lives, make a good argument for that position, convince 2/3 the country and amend the Constitution. Until then, the government can but the hell out of my bedroom.

Without the vocal extreme minority of right-wing lunatic Christians in office, this country would have been well on the road to accepting and legalizing gay marriage because the vast majority of the country just doesn't care what others do in their own homes.

The problem with your scenario is that it only works for you if people who think like you win. What happens when the person who fits your general description of someone who leads the mob and imposes his social viewpoint on the country is exactly the opposite philosophical bent as you? Then where are we? We're in exactly the spot we are in now. We had one of those in Bill Clinton and look how the people just like him on the other end of the political spectrum reacted. They waged a political war and landed Dubya in office. Now we have the anti-Clinton version of what you want and the country is not sitting pretty.

Bill Clinton was no more respectful of viewpoints that clashed with his than Dubya. In fact, according to a VP in my office who came into contact with President Clinton on almost a daily basis, Clinton was positively hateful and vindictive to anyone who voiced disagreement with him and his wife was worse.

That kind of intolerance in the guise of liberalism or progressiveness is as unacceptable as the intolerance the extreme right displays. It is okay to disagree with someone and that doesn't make them wrong. The belief that it does is a fundamental cause of our current situation. I find it sadly ironic that people who argue for tolerance of their beliefs are so intolerant of others' beliefs.

Your leader only works if everyone in the country thinks just like you. As good as your beliefs are, that is a very frightening scenario... A nation without any individual thinkers.

[arashinomoui.livejournal.com]

I'd love to believe that people are fundamentally good, that if given the freedom to choose they will choose the right thing. Instead, I've seen that absence of regulation people will choose the short-term, selfish, most for me & screw you option.

Communism works, in theory. Libertarianism works, in theory. Both fail because the mass of humanity is greedy, short-sighted, and stupid/ignorant and as studies (who's unbiased nature one may question) have shown, the general populace has proven itself to prefer to remain low information.

So ideally, I agree with you. That being said with the world as it is? If it's a choice between my way or his way, I want my way.

[belushi81x.livejournal.com]

I want FDR again... maybe Clinton (Bill)...



also, I was sent this today and it made me think of you...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dp5wetCNUP8

[nminusone.livejournal.com]

My answers got so long I posted them here.