PRESIDENTIAL MARATHON

The starters have not yet gathered, although some runners, apparently including Sarah Palin are in prospect, for the presidential candidate marathon race.

Personally I think it would be wiser to spend less time and money selecting among the self appointed, and corporate financed candidates, than to pre-select candidates who have the attributes that fitted the position sought. One supposes in the United States with its over 300 million people, it ought to possible to identify the twenty or so persons who might realistically be considered for the position, or failing electoral success be nominated for senior positions in a future administration. One model, with Sarah Palin in mind, might be run a series of “beauty contests” or a “talent show” before a panel of  judges from across a wide demographic to evaluate candidates. Here it is, electioneering made for television.

Why is it that the political system is not consistently throwing up suitable candidates for the highest office? The US system of representation has inherent problems, and the question is whether popular pressure will reach a threshold point at which change will be demanded. One has to call into question the wisdom of the founders handiwork, designed for different circumstances, when observing that New England with a population equal to Florida has six or more time the representation in the Senate. The populations for districts, aside from the careful demographic manipulation that skews them into weird and wonderful geographic distributions have increased in size that money and media reach are crucial to electoral success, which usually favors the incumbents. There are some representatives are free of financial supported entanglements, more as the exception than the rule. So in the Washington game, the well financed and organized lobbyists tend to call the tune.

Electoral change is always a pivotal moment, and any change has to work within the political culture. Some observations might be made, subject of qualification. For example, a plurality of national parties might be more desirable than the two-party system, which on its face appears to be broken. As we can observe in other systems the multi-party system is not a panacea, but I suppose with that problem in mind institutional constraints can be put in place.

The replacement of the two-party system would presuppose the abandonment of the winner take all, simple plurality, first past the post, electoral system and introduce the notion of strategic voting and preferential voting. The supermarket principle system of product choice would be congenial to many, and the voting strategies, as has happened elsewhere, would be quickly adopted by the voting population. In my opinion the ideal is to end up with a plurality of views and interests that represent the voters, even to include marginal voices, however that might be judged.

The introduction of preferential voting for the office of president would encourage candidates to stay in the race, even if they might not have secured a major party nomination. No system is unproblematic, it is just a question whether the likely problems of an alternative system are more manageable than the existing system, and whether better outcomes can be obtained. The voters have to be judges of the outcomes.

John Byrne for The Raw Story reports on the possible candidature of Sarah Palin, which Steve Schmidt as “catastrophic”. The approach and thinking that is adopted is very much the manner of calculated political operative. The article notes:
The former campaign manager for the failed presidential bid of Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) told a crowd Friday that a presidential campaign of ex-Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be “catastrophic.”

“I think that she has talents, but my honest view is that she would not be a winning candidate for the Republican candidate in 2012, and in fact, were she to be the nominee, we would have a catastrophic election result,” GOP operative Steve Schmidt said.

“In the year since the election has ended, she has done nothing to expand her appeal beyond the base,” he added. “Th[e] independent vote is going to be up for grabs in 2012. That middle of the electorate is going to be determinative of the outcome of the elections. I just don’t see that if you look at the things she has done over the year… that she is going to expand that base in the middle”.

My problem with former Governor Palin is that she is too ignorant to be president, aside from anything else. It strikes be as ludicrous that grossly unqualified people even get considered, especially in the light that the presidency is an extraordinarily difficult and responsible job that requires disciplined intellectual ability, at the very least.

Still I do not expect changes. So in a year or so the marathon will commence. Many will fall along the way. It will be expensive and extravagant. So it goes. It will look like democracy for some, and if you can fool them the others don’t matter.

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