I want a more diverse president

[NobleSavage]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense. The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

6) Received food stamps.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

9) An atheist Arab.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

...and many many more

 

[Angry Floof]

In other words, Russell Brand for President?

 

[Axulus]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense. The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

6) Received food stamps.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

9) An atheist Arab.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

...and many many more

Would you only trust an oncologist who has personally had cancer?

 

[Angry Floof]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense. The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

6) Received food stamps.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

9) An atheist Arab.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

...and many many more

Would you only trust an oncologist who has personally had cancer?

Or a mentally ill psychotherapist?

 

[NobleSavage]

,,,,.

 

[NobleSavage]

Would you only trust an oncologist who has personally had cancer?

No

 

[NobleSavage]

Would you only trust an oncologist who has personally had cancer?

Or a mentally ill psychotherapist?

No, but I'd still like to see more diversity.

 

[Valjean]

Agreed. I'd like to see idealists in power, rather than our current authoritarians and sociopaths.

 

[bilby]

Under no circumstances should you vote for someone who wants to be President.

 

[Jayjay]

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

That one is easy. Just reduce the president's salary to match minimum wage.

 

[Metaphor]

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

That one is easy. Just reduce the president's salary to match minimum wage.

Wouldn't work. Minimum wage earners don't get to live rent-free in the White House.

 

[Derec]

Wouldn't work. Minimum wage earners don't get to live rent-free in the White House.

Why not? It's public housing.

 

[Derec]

1) Spent some time being homeless.

Why? That would make him mentally ill, having substance abuse problems or grossly irresponsible. I do not see why any of the three is desirable in a president.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

Why do we need to have an ex-con president exactly? What is gained by that?

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

Which would be a testament to personal irresponsibility. Why should we encourage that in a president?

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense.

Another grossly irresponsible think that we should not encourage in our elected leaders. Unless you are talking about their misspent youth, things like that should disqualify a potential candidate.

The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

What's wrong with having a paid-off car?

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

Why should we encourage that?

6) Received food stamps.

While a necessary public expenditure for many, I do not see anything positive in having to have used them.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

All three of the last three presidents have admitted to having had experimented with drugs in their youth. And sex is not even illegal in most cases.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

The rest of the list was just boilerplate bleeding heart, but now you are entering full on Poe territory.

9) An atheist Arab.

There must be at least one of him in the US.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

Does high school and college count or did he or she have to support themselves (and all the kids from #3) with that job?

How about
11) Is not a college graduate. Bonus points if he has GED.

 

[Davka]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense. The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

6) Received food stamps.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

9) An atheist Arab.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

...and many many more

All but the Arab part apply to me. Even Derec's no college grad/ GED addendum. Which is why I can never, ever run for office. The political circus in America is all about digging up juicy little "scandals" and plastering them all over the media for the public's tittilation.

 

[Derec]

All but the Arab part apply to me.

Including mental illness and felony conviction ones?

Even Derec's no college grad/ GED addendum.

Yet you'd fit right in with the PoMo "critical theory" social science faculties.

Which is why I can never, ever run for office. The political circus in America is all about digging up juicy little "scandals" and plastering them all over the media for the public's tittilation.

Irrelevant scandals, from the candidates private life, should not pose an impediment. The idiotic "personal is political" slogan is one of the more damaging legacies of 1960s radicalism.
However, a candidate's qualifications, criminal background or history of mental illness is relevant.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Under no circumstances should you vote for someone who wants to be President.

Or someone that is a millionaire, but says he needs my money to run for President.

 

[Keith&Co.]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

Are you really hoping he (or she) learned something from the direct experience, or simply hoping for sympathy towards , as Nixon called them, 'the doomed?' Personally, i'd vote AGAINST someone who'd been homeless and ended up a candidate for the White House. I can easily imagine if Romney'd been homeless for one year, he'd be the same, but with a sound bite of 'I was homeless, but i went and FOUND jobs, and here i am today.'
How about if he'd had a homeless relative at a time when he (the candidate) was unable to provide much help?

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

Similar to the above, i think we'd be better served if the candidate had a convicted felon relative. Better yet, a relative convicted of a crime they did not commit, but was railroaded by an overburdened system staffed witn incompetent and unsympathetic bureacrats.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

They all did. What we need is a political climate that encouraged people to admit to it

 

[Nice Squirrel]

On my list:

1) Spent some time being homeless.

2) Has been to jail or has a felony conviction.

3) Had kids and were unable to meet their needs.

4) Drove to work without insurance because of an unexpected expense. The still have payments on the car and without the car can't get to work.

5) Broke a federal law by jumping on a freight train and taking it cross-country.

6) Received food stamps.

7) At one point in their life they experimented with sex and drugs.

8) One with a mental illness. A mentally ill president would be wonderful as long as there is a doctor that can transfer power to the VP at any second.

9) An atheist Arab.

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

...and many many more

I like these.

 

[KeepTalking]

10) Had a shitty demeaning minimum wage job for at least a year.

That one is easy. Just reduce the president's salary to match minimum wage.

I think we should just seize the assets of the President when they are elected to office. Then, at the end of their term, the people should vote on how much of the President's money is returned to them for the job they did in office, as well as whether or not they should be provided with any additional salary. Anything they don't get back goes directly toward repairing the damage they did while in office. Come to think of it, we should probably do that with Congresscritters as well.

 

[Davka]

Including mental illness and felony conviction ones?

Diagnosed with clinical depresion, been taking meds for ~10 years.

The second was jail time -or- felony conviction. I've been in jail more than once, spent three months in a single cell.

Even Derec's no college grad/ GED addendum.

Yet you'd fit right in with the PoMo "critical theory" social science faculties.

That's because I am intelligent and well-read.

Which is why I can never, ever run for office. The political circus in America is all about digging up juicy little "scandals" and plastering them all over the media for the public's tittilation.

Irrelevant scandals, from the candidates private life, should not pose an impediment. The idiotic "personal is political" slogan is one of the more damaging legacies of 1960s radicalism.
However, a candidate's qualifications, criminal background or history of mental illness is relevant.

To a limited extent, a politician's personal life is relevant. If someone is preaching Good Christian Morality while doing lines of coke off a prostitute's ass, that tells you something about the politician. The problem is that the whole fucking nation has a moral stick up its butt, and pretends to morals they do not practice. So if a politician says "sexual morality is a personal choice, and should not affect legislative decision-making in any way," that person will be pilloried as a hedonist, while the hypocritical pious fuck in the first example gets a pass - so long as he's not caught.