I should be studying but....meh

So today's entry will be on the presidency. First of all, there is that flaming ball of incompetence that is George W. Bush. I hate the man so much that its gotten to the point where I can no longer fairly evaluate policy if I know his stance on the matter. If you handed me Plan X for World Peace, I might look at it and I might think it was a generally good idea, but if you told me if it was George Bush's Plan For World Peace, I would instantly reject it out of hand.

Now, the question is, why do I hate this man so much? Sure, some of it comes from ideology, but that isn't all of it. I don't hate, say, George Will with the same fervor, even though he is MORE conservatiive than Bush is. It isn't really from his personality, either. I have the feeling that if George Bush were my neighbor, I would generally like the guy, even if he would never be my best friend. I think the real thing that makes me despise him is the fact that he is the symbol of the dumbing down of America. See, people in America used to admire politicians when they spoke intelligently, and when they acted in a way that made them seemed qualified. Today, Americans prize politicians who, like GWB, talk like an average person when going over the issues. They actually LIKE when politicians don't know the facts and kind of gloss over the issues with fluffly platitudes rather than hard plans of action. When people DO make intelligent arguments, people like Bill O'Reilly call them "elitists" and accuse them of not listening to "the folks." It is like Americans in general are becoming like those 8th graders who made fun of the smart kids because they were insecure of their sucesses. That is really a disturbing trend. It is like we have stopped aspiring to greatness and have confined ourselves to celebrating mediocrity.

It is this general attitude, amoung other things, that has convinced me that popular government doesn't work because "the folks" are actually a bunch of fuckin morons. They are like a baby deciding between two sets of waving keys thrown out there by the political parties. Things that shouldn't matter at all in the elections are the things which frequently decide them. Obviously there is the whole thing about how one line slogans and advertisments can swing elections when they shouldn't, but there's also the fact that many times people decide elections based on the economy at the time, with no regard given to the solvency of the economy in the long run based on the policy in place. For example, the current economy is improving mightily, but that is largely the result of huge deficit spending that will cause harms in the long run. The "folks" seeing jobs coming back will pull the lever of the incumbant without realizing that the very policies which are creating jobs now are fucking us over in the long run with inflation, higher interest rates, and a huge deficit that we'll have to deal with when the baby boomers retire.

Also, on the subject of the Presidency....it seems like we have gotten ourselves into a position where every "viable" candidate for President is someone who nobody can really imagine actually being a good president. To become president nowadays you have to pull together a thousand different types of people with wholly divergant veiws on things. Take the Democrats for example they now find themselves in a position where they have to unite the Northeast and West Coast (socially liberal, fiscally liberal) with the Midwest (socially conservative, fiscally liberal), with some of those southern swing states (socially very conservative, fiscally moderate). What candidate could possibly come out of this dilemma other than John Kerry who just changes what he thinks every other day?

It seems like we have become a nation that is far too divided to be able to support ANY leader with coherent policies who does what he says. I really think we ought to just split up into two countries with more ideologically homogeneous populations and call it a day. That would at least allow us to HAVE coherent plans rather than mix of plans that results in insanity...which is what we have now.