be afraid

[rm]

I ranted about why on earth do people have this desire for the president to be "a regular guy"

This being Gather, some people replied with what I considered pretty terrifying responses.

http://www.gather.com/viewArticle.jsp?articleId=281474977219392

Comments

[asa-dachi.livejournal.com]

I can't speak for the rest of the masses, but here's my take.

I want the President to be very intelligent. I want the President to be well-educated - in all manners of possible education, both academic and experiential.

In addition to not wanting a moron for President, I also don't want a President who is unable to be comfortable in 'my world' because it seems to me that a person who can't be comfortable in 'my world' also won't understand 'my circumstances' and the kinds of things that affect me when they are manipulated by and attended to in the halls of Washington, D.C.

To put it another way, if s/he can't have a beer with me s/he probably won't understand why I don't think we should put emissions and fuel efficiency requirements in place for collector cars and racecars. S/He probably won't understand why my lifestyle requires more space than a 10-person-per-acre population density will allow. The real issues that affect me on a daily basis may not be easily understood by someone who has never held a 'joe job', has never been 'down-sized', has never seen their father out of work for 10 months...

Monarchs were some of the most highly educated people in the world. And yet monarchy, as a system of government, seems to have pretty much demonstrated an inability to meet the needs of the people.

-asa