Rush Limbaugh was lamenting the state of affairs today on his show, and part of his lament was something like "and we have a President whom people are laughing at." I tried to remember a President who wasn't laughted at - Reagan for his reported memory issues and moments of confusion, Bush for his supposed lack of intellect, Clinton for the endless stream of females with whom he was reported to have behaved badly, Bush the elder for not knowing what a gallon of milk costs, Carter for generally not seeming up to the job and for wearing sweaters, etc, etc, etc.
But to the point - what better should we be doing with Presidents? They are after all politicians, creatures which survive, by and large, by being comfortable with avoiding saying anything blatantly truthful - at all costs. These are people who ask to be given other people's money so that they can run for office and extract all of our money with the government's monopoly on coercive force, which they then spend to burnish their reputations and/or to be re-elected, and then they retire with benefits that will be paid irrespective of the quality of "service" they provided. I say keep laughing, but the jokes really on us.
What would cause me to give a politician, Presdient or otherwise, my respect? Aside from the legal compulsion that I do so in my present occupation, I would happily extend my respect to a President who is successful in doing what government should be doing - defending my rights and rights of my fellow citizens, all day and all night. Forget the pretty words and promises of great deeds to make the economy work better and make all of our lives a little better - those who still believe that kind of magic making is held in the hands of heads of state deserve what they get.
Just defend my rights, perhaps even undertake to roll back legislation which infringes on my rights; that's a noble, worthy pursuit of any politician which would earn the respect of many.
Until then, I say keep laughing as they flounder around trying to be all things to all people while demonstrating that they are, after all, just human and not equipped in any way to do the things they must promise to do in order to get themselves elected.
But to the point - what better should we be doing with Presidents? They are after all politicians, creatures which survive, by and large, by being comfortable with avoiding saying anything blatantly truthful - at all costs. These are people who ask to be given other people's money so that they can run for office and extract all of our money with the government's monopoly on coercive force, which they then spend to burnish their reputations and/or to be re-elected, and then they retire with benefits that will be paid irrespective of the quality of "service" they provided. I say keep laughing, but the jokes really on us.
What would cause me to give a politician, Presdient or otherwise, my respect? Aside from the legal compulsion that I do so in my present occupation, I would happily extend my respect to a President who is successful in doing what government should be doing - defending my rights and rights of my fellow citizens, all day and all night. Forget the pretty words and promises of great deeds to make the economy work better and make all of our lives a little better - those who still believe that kind of magic making is held in the hands of heads of state deserve what they get.
Just defend my rights, perhaps even undertake to roll back legislation which infringes on my rights; that's a noble, worthy pursuit of any politician which would earn the respect of many.
Until then, I say keep laughing as they flounder around trying to be all things to all people while demonstrating that they are, after all, just human and not equipped in any way to do the things they must promise to do in order to get themselves elected.
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