I want a more diverse president

[Jarhyn]

I think it would be far better to make each of these things a condition of running for congress: first you have to spend a year homeless, then a year where everyone thinks you are a felon (perhaps at the same time), a year working at minimum wage, etc.in the same way trans persons are currently forced to live 'as a member of their perceived gender' for a time. And any lapses or cheating or special dispensation would mean they had to start over with that challenge

 

[Davka]

I think it would be far better to make each of these things a condition of running for congress: first you have to spend a year homeless, then a year where everyone thinks you are a felon (perhaps at the same time), a year working at minimum wage, etc.in the same way trans persons are currently forced to live 'as a member of their perceived gender' for a time. And any lapses or cheating or special dispensation would mean they had to start over with that challenge

I like it.

 

[Nice Squirrel]

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.

Not necessarily. There are many people who choose to be homeless or live out of a car for a while. Nothing like the wide open road and total freedom to refresh the soul. I've done it myself.

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?

Perspectives on the justice system. Like that you can make mistakes and overcome them. Or to stand up for your rights. Or simply admit that you did something wrong. Many reasons actually.

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?

I don't think it is encouragement so much as empathy for those who struggle to make ends meet.

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.

This is actually very common. You have to feed the kids, or let insurance lap for a few days. Tough decisions need to be made. Can the candidate make them? Can he empathize with the struggles of Americans, or does he look upon their plight with contempt?

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

Perfect!

 

[NobleSavage]

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.

A perfectly moral person with a savings account, job, and good credit could instantly find themselves in any number of these situations. Deric, I bet I could come up with a few chained contingencies that would have you on the street and begging. When you try to get out of your hole you find you that you keep getting in deeper.

Poverty acts like a ratchet, it keeps getting tighter and tighter and only only goes in one direction (with a few qualification).

A President who had a few of these experiences would have a visceral understanding of the problems. Davka would have some very keen insights on mental health, homelessness, and jail. Yeah, he could write a book. Maybe he could become an adviser, but if he were elected Pres watch him change some shit.

 

[NobleSavage]

Part of the reason I started this thread is because I've had a lot of friends who would be automatically disqualified. I can't help but think they would do a better job that what we have.

Hey, the US has the highest incarceration rate in the world. Maybe it would be a good idea to elect a felon.

 

[Jarhyn]

The biggest problems in our political structure is that the consequences that politicians have are essentially without meaning. There's no real risk that they have to face other than losing a bit of control over others; at nearly every step, the vast majority have never known what it's like to have a life where failure doesn't just mean losing favor or influence or power, but where it means choosing between homelessness and starvation, between health for self and health of one's family. They've never lived with visceral consequences, only social ones.

The problem is, such a person has no way of really grasping the depth of desperation and pain that the people who they govern see as an an everyday reality. I would far rather see someone who has lived a hard life and made bad decisions, be president. I would rather someone who has felt the weight of the world, someone who still feels it, be the one who determines what level of weight is 'too much' to expect of others to bear.

 

[Jayjay]

 

[Valjean]

Can adversity really be counted on to bend one's character toward nobility? Might it not, instead, instill an avaricious, self serving sense of insecurity? Maybe altruism and social idealism are more common to the secure, ivy league classes.

Politics seems to attract authoritarians and mountebanks, but we don't recognize them. Their RWA scores and Kohlberg levels aren't tattooed on their foreheads (maybe they should be...).
Sociopaths are superficially charming and very manipulative. Maybe we should pay more attention to our leader's psychological profiles than to their backgrounds.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

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?

"You oughta be shot. Or stabbed, lose a leg. To be a surgeon, you know? Know what kind of pain you're dealing with. They make psychiatrists get psychoanalyzed before they can get certified, but they don't make a surgeon get cut on. That seem right to you?"

 

[AthenaAwakened]

This guy was president. Quite possibly the most socially democratic president we ever had.



born to wealth and privilege, he worked for working people and against his class (or so his class thought). Was it the polio that made him the way he was? Probably had something to do with it, no doubt, but so did his choice of spouse, the times he lived in, and demands made upon him.

A person need not experience poverty to know it is a bad thing, that it is thing that needs to be eradicated, or to know how to deal with it. A person does need to know s/he will be held responsible for NOT doing something about.

 

[NobleSavage]

Athena, I keep hoping a presidential candidate will use his quote, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", WRT terrorism.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Athena, I keep hoping a presidential candidate will use his quote, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", WRT terrorism.

Provided that Fear Itself is the name of an Al Quaida/Taliban/ISIS offshoot organization that America needs to increase military funding by $100 billion dollars and suspend half of the constitution in order to fight, I'm good with that.

 

[ksen]

F'ear It'self

 

[NobleSavage]

Athena, I keep hoping a presidential candidate will use his quote, "The only thing we have to fear is fear itself", WRT terrorism.

Provided that Fear Itself is the name of an Al Quaida/Taliban/ISIS offshoot organization that America needs to increase military funding by $100 billion dollars and suspend half of the constitution in order to fight, I'm good with that.

We shouldn't ignore ISIS, but that last thing we need is to pump the US citizens full of fear and then go ape shit. ISIS is begging and goading us, with all their might, to do just that. We fell for it after 9/11. Are we gonna be stupid enough to do it again? Bush screwed the pooch; hopefully, Obama won't.

There is no need to suspend half of the Constitution or increase the military budget. We have all the tools we need.

 

[Toni]

I'm kind of hoping for diversity in the form of a pair of ovaries (not necessarily belonging to Hillary Clinton).

I prefer the lead of my country to be well educated, knowledgeable about world affairs, domestic affairs, the branches of government and how they work, the constitution of the country, with a decent understanding of economics, science, and the human condition.

 

[Bomb#20]

I'm kind of hoping for diversity in the form of a pair of ovaries (not necessarily belonging to Hillary Clinton).

I prefer the lead of my country to be well educated, knowledgeable about world affairs, domestic affairs, the branches of government and how they work, the constitution of the country, with a decent understanding of economics, science, and the human condition.

Now that would be some useful diversity from the monotony of our typical rulers.

The whole thread proceeds from a false premise. Ovaries are diversity. An atheist Arab is diversity; but the rest of NS's list does not qualify as diversity. The whole reason we can stand to celebrate diversity in the first place is because by "diversity" we only mean irrelevant crap. We don't want diversity in thinking; we want other people to think like us.

 

[NobleSavage]

I'm kind of hoping for diversity in the form of a pair of ovaries (not necessarily belonging to Hillary Clinton).

I prefer the lead of my country to be well educated, knowledgeable about world affairs, domestic affairs, the branches of government and how they work, the constitution of the country, with a decent understanding of economics, science, and the human condition.

Now that would be some useful diversity from the monotony of our typical rulers.

The whole thread proceeds from a false premise. Ovaries are diversity. An atheist Arab is diversity; but the rest of NS's list does not qualify as diversity. The whole reason we can stand to celebrate diversity in the first place is because by "diversity" we only mean irrelevant crap. We don't want diversity in thinking; we want other people to think like us.

I wouldn't mind some diversity in thinking.

 

[ksen]

I wouldn't mind a little human empathy.

 

[Angry Floof]

Now that we have three-parent in vitro, maybe we can make a hermaphrodite who is black, white, and brown to grow up to be president.

 

[Crazy Eddie]

I wouldn't mind a little human empathy.

Fuck empathy.