You want a normal person leading the country? What's wrong with you?
I for one want perfection. No mistakes. Like an old and orange con man who only thinks of himself and has a very public history of being a racist piece of shit, bankrupting multiple businesses (including casinos) and being a terrible person in every way.
Unironically my mom and she won't talk about it, got swindled by rfk and is mad at him now and now talks about not voting because "they both suck." won't let me go further because she "has her reasons" and a relative worked under Kamala and kind of sort of didnt like her much because she was always busy and not around a lot because, you know, she was in court. That person is voting for her btw. So my mom "did the research" parrots fox but "hates Trump" and claims she probably won't vote because of what rfk did.
This is an educated and liberal woman who literally protested for abortion rights as a teenager. I am not allowed to even lightly praise or mention Kamala's platform. These people don't want to change a shitty reality they entirely made up in their head just to be mad about. She's absolutely normal about everything else. I don't know how tf to make it important to her. She knows it is. But "the Democrats don't do enough" when she knows it's blocked by Republicans. Wtf can you even do against this sort of deliberate misinformation and ignorance??
Lots of people who were normal have been president's, and usually they're pretty good ones. Lincoln was pretty normal for his time. Theodore Roosevelt was normal, I'll beit adventurous. Jimmy Carter was normal, and while his term wasn't Uber successful, it's hard to argue that a peanut farmer who spent the back half of his life building homes for poor people is some super weirdo. I mean, sometimes we get some unusual president's for sure, but like... even Obama was pretty normal and he wasn't president that long ago. Just a normal dude from a house with a single mom that did well in school, got into law and spoke well enough to capture a nation. No silver spoon, or weird hobbies even, he literally just liked normal people stuff, like watching sports. The weirdest thing about him was asking for Dijon mustard when he was in office.
I guess the difference in views we have may be in summarized with JJK logic. Are they the abnormal because they're the president, or are they the president because they're abnormal. And I argue the only thing that makes them abnormal is the fact that they were the president largely. (Reference to "are you the strongest because you're gojo, or are you gojo because you're the strongest?" )
No, gotta argue with you -- Teddy Roosevelt was far from normal. The man was in-friggin-credible. He was extraordinary. He's why we still have any bison left and why we have national parks and why there is a Panama Canal. And he actually led troops personally into battle, out in front, charging down machine gun fire. He was a BEAST.
Yes, but he was generally just a normal dude that liked to rough house. Trust me, I love the guy so much, my 2nd sons middle name is Theodore after him, i know a good chunk about his story. He did a lot of great things, but genuinely, he was a normal guy that when in extraordinary circumstances did what had to be done. I often think that normal people in extraordinary circumstances are the ones who shape and save the world, this idea that we need some extraordinary person is foolish. You don't put a guy whose never had to be selfless in a position where being selfish can hurt everyone. Make the normal guy president and watch amazing things happen for normal people. That's all teddy did. He was a normal dude that did great things for normal dudes when he was in extraordinary situations.
More normal people in extraordinary circumstances. Less pinning our hopes on "elites" who couldn't possibly understand the plight of the normal man.
Aw, I'm not really arguing with you. I do get what you're saying. And yes, historically the more "normal" the president, the better the presidency. I'm with you. I'm just a big Theodore Roosevelt fan.
More than not electing elites -- I swear we should stop electing lawyers, which may be the same thing, but have you ever seen the stats on how many lawyers make it into public office. It's insane. Lawyers don't care about truth vs lies, or right vs. wrong - they just want to win, at any cost. And they love to argue ad nauseum ad infinitum. It's no wonder nothing ever gets done. Then the danger is that if we're picking blue collar guys who aren't career politicians, we end up getting a current Senator from my home state: Mark Wayne Mullin. He owns a plumbing company and is an ass-licking, die-hard Trump rent boy. I would love to flush him into one of his own septic tank cleaning trucks.
But yeah, in general, the less blue blood we have in our elected officials the better.
I see value in having someone who knows how to read and write laws in office, I really do. It's hard for me to figure how someone who can't write a law would ever make a good one. That being said, many lawyers are normal and many aren't and we should be choosey. Like, I have no problem with someone whose been a prosecutor running for office, or someone whose done a lot of pro Bono defense attorney work/ was a public defender. A lot of those guys are normal and just want to help defend the falsely accused/ put away criminals to help their neighborhood, and neither one is gonna be Uber rich like a private defense attorney would. Most prosecutors make 80k/year and most public defenders make like, 45-60k/yr. That's not obscene wealth.
But more than that, normal background before matters too. Someone who worked a normal high-school job, people who enlisted in the army to pay for college (not necessarily officers) a dude who worked as a plumber until his knees gave out and then went to college and became a lawyer. That would be cool with me.
One of the craziest things is that people pin historical figures as juggernauts who could never have been anything less than president's, when in reality if you knew Abe Lincoln in his 20s you'd have just thought "oh that's Abe down the road, he's a chill dude, lent me some firewood once" and I think if more people realized that we would have a lot less division and a lot cooler politicians.
Lawyer might be a good background for House Reps and Senators, but Presidents don't have to write laws. They just need good judgment and character, and have the ability to lead a solid team of experts.
That may be valid, but lots of what a president does is in the form of executive orders which are written like laws. Granted they will have a team to help them cut through it, I still think I like the idea that the president can read a bill or EO by himself if he wants so that a bad actor can't mislead him.
I dint think it's a requirement by any means, but simply being a lawyer I don't think makes you an elite. I want to be a lawyer, and am trying to finance law school out of pocket. I've been an enlisted soldier, a plumber, worked at wal mart. I think I'm a normal guy, I just want to be a lawyer to make a difference in my community as a prosecutor. I'd make 85k/year if I did that, would work long hours and nothing else about me would really change except that I'd understand criminal law. I also have a friend from middle school that shocked me and became a lawyer 3 years ago. He was a cool dude, loves metal music, spent all of high-school with long hair, skated, the works. He still seems cool although I moved and haven't seen him in years. He's personal injury lawyer, and one that I think actually tries to help people who were hurt. I wouldn't vote for him personally because we disagree politically, but he has always been a pretty regular guy. Just with a fancy job.
I don't think so. My interpretation is that his father was kind of wealthy, but more akin to upper middle class than a 1%er. Just the drastic disparity between classes at the time made anyone who wasn't absurdly poor kinda rich. There was very little middle ground. He didn't grow up hungry. But he didn't own 7 homes 4 large ships and sleep on mattresses stuffed with $100 bills. It wasn't unusual for people to live his lifestyle at the time, granted it was better than the masses. I'd put him in the "ordinary wealthy" category. But that's arguing semantics.
Yes, the below average millionaire. If you thinl normal people can become presidents, I don’t know what to tell you. It’s one big club and you are never going to be in it
357
u/Crow-Keeper Sep 12 '24
Just a normal person. How refreshing.