Fortune Favors The Bold

President of the United States of America

1. Who in their right might would want that job, for sincere purposes? I know that politics is quite appealing to those who manage to have a personal interest in it (and I would really like to ship all those people off to Alaska and then we can name it Corruptistan) but, if you were looking to be an effective public servant, wouldn’t you just join Big Brothers or something?
2. In that vein, Douglas Adams once wrote, regarding a satirical Galactic President position in his Hitchhikers’ Guide To The Galaxy series: ”Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job.” I, for the most part, believe this about almost every elected position. It’s really difficult for me to watch the process unfold, knowing that the promises and the platforms being thrown around are almost entirely detrimental to civil service and effective management. But people who get elected in this environment are mostly great at… getting elected.
3. I don’t think there should be a Republican president or a Republican party right now. There should be a new conservative party, and they need to weed out all the immoral Bible-beaters before reforming. I would usually make a joke formed around a bitter truth like this, but I don’t have time and it’s not even funny. It’s fine to dislike Obama or think that government should be smaller (and, particularly, have a reasonable plan for getting there) but we are no longer accepting the abuse of women/minorities/poor/non-heterosexuals as a matter of course. 
4. Romney, as an individual running for president, neither represents his party very well (oh, they know it) or looks to be a proper commander. I take that latter statement from a fair amount of experience working on teams and working for / being associated with armed forces veterans. There are many things I think he’d be good at. But he’s slowly sliding down the list of “People Who I’d Rather Have As President”. I think 8 months ago, he was somewhere between Hank Paulson and Jeb Bush. Now he’s hovering in the territory of Mark Sanchez and Dionne Warwick. Paul Ryan probably would be better, which is about the only vaguely positive thing I can say about their ticket.
5. I really don’t want the President to be the center of anything in American politics for the next four years. Yes, it would be nice if Obama would have a legislative mandate, I don’t mind his direct executive record, and it’ll be good to see liberal justices on the Supreme Court appropriately replaced with liberal justices. But I want reform and progress from Congress. That place is a mess. I think the Senate needs a reduction in powers, and I think the House of Representatives needs to be treated more like a jury panel than a reality show.
6. I’m not holding my breath for another FDR to appear, but we could kinda use one right now. 
7. Remember that we know almost NOTHING about the extent of governmental activities and services, and that very little will be affected by this election. It will be another day in your life, no matter what happens. If you need the world to be better than it is, it starts with you, and an hour of time offering to help someone take care of something basic in your community. We’ve got a lot of hours to fill out there.