Mark Meckler
I hate Presidential political campaign seasons. I hate the around-the-clock news coverage, I hate the “can you believe s/he said THAT?” accusations, I hate the negative ads. Mostly, I hate what it does to people – reasonable, rational people – and how the race somehow becomes a filter for their lives.
You meet a new person at a party or church, and you ask, “What do you think about this political season? Crazy, huh?” But what you really want to know is “which side are you on?” Democrat or Republican? #NeverTrump or #NeverHillary? Good or bad? This or that?
I’ve always said that Washington DC now hands down options from “on high,” though we used to govern ourselves. When this nation was founded, the government acted only to protect life, liberty and property.
In fact, our Founders didn’t want the President to have an inordinate amount of power. George Washington didn’t really participate in the 1787 Constitutional Convention. Because he perceived that people held him in too much reverence, he didn’t want his true positions to affect the proceedings too much. Though he chaired the proceedings, he said almost nothing other than piping in a debate about district size.
He was worried that the President would have too much influence. Imagine what he’d say if he saw one day of cable news coverage in 2016.
He’d be shocked that politics have so encroached into every area of life that we endlessly debate the healthcare, education, and economic policies our so-called leaders hand down to us. He’d be even more shocked that we’re endlessly debating between the two choices that our political system has handed down to us.
Trump? Clinton?
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