The President and Me
(A pre or post-election rant)
Presidential campaigns are truly a strange beast. Supposedly, the president is a person that should represent the American people. That’s somewhere around 300 million people. Can you think of one person who is representative of 300 million people?
This is supposed to be a person that shares the same morals and values as the American public. But do you even share the same morals and values with your neighbors? Do you share anything at all with your neighbor?
There’s been a lot of talk and a lot of mudslinging in recent elections.
There was Jr.’s sordid past. He’s done drugs … maybe. William Jefferson Clinton smoked marijuana, but he didn’t inhale, so everything’s okay. Former candidate Steve Forbes probably spends more money in a day than most people will make in their entire lives. Al Gore, well, he was just boring. Kerry looked too much like Herman Munster. Obama had that citizenship thing. McClain had Palin and Romney left out the other 47%.
Are these guys representative of the other 299,999,999?
The definition of representative as defined by “Webster’s” is “standing or acting for another through delegated authority.” So what then, is an elected representative?
Perhaps (at least in theory) elected officials are supposed to be representative of their constituents. Who are your elected officials? More importantly, do you know what they represent?
Who is the mayor of ABC Town and what does he or she stand for? This would be an appropriate question for someone to ask themselves. Which councilmember is representative of the district in which a person lives could possibly be another question. Who is state assembly person for the district? Which district is it? Who
are the state senators? If the name of the governor is mentioned, do people respond, “Who?”
During a presidential race, ask yourself this, “Who represents me? Who believes what I believe? Who does the things that I like? Who stands for the things that are important to me?”
When a census takes place and statistical information is gathered about the American populace, hopefully the nation can find out who is truly representative of us as a society. Or, maybe a Gallup poll could give us the more pertinent information. But Gallups polls and the Census every 10 years beg the question, Are they asking
the right questions?
The real questions to ask are: How many Americans crack open a beer when they get home from work? How often do Americans eat fast food? Who are our heroes and where do they play on Sunday? How much TV do we watch?
I think the reality would be unsettling. Most likely, the average American is a heck of a lot more like Homer
Simpson than any recent presidential candidate.
Brian Barsuglia
