Why I Would Never Want to Be President

A lot of kids, especially young ones, have dreams of one day presiding over the highest office in the United States: the Presidency. I bet that if one were to go into a third grade class and take a straw poll of desired careers, "president" would be among the top, along with "astronaut," "fireman," "doctor," and "high school dropout." This isn't surprising, as the US educational system has inflated and pampered the holy image of the presidency as something sacred and integral to the very functions of the planet. I hate to burst that veritable bubble, but the seasons will continue to change, the years will continue to pass, and the circle of life will continue regardless of whether or not there is an American presidency. There will likely continue to be the high office, however, and it is one that I do not covet in the least. Why?

1. Public exposure: When one becomes president, the private life of the person ceases to be private. All affairs (both literal and sexual) become public knowledge, one's family becomes scrutinized and the unyielding eye of an ever-vigilant infotainment press will spread vitriol in order to produce whatever profit they can. Unfortunately, once one becomes a public figure in the US, suing for the right to privacy becomes an extraordinarily difficult process (as it was already). The privacy of one's home is forfeit.

2. Dealing with wingnuts: This is self-explanatory. As can be seen today, wingnuts with oddly large followings can spread falsehoods in order to create a disturbance in what could otherwise be called civilized debate. Especially in an age of increased partisanship where the leaders of opposition parties make it their duties to simply say "no" regardless of truth, a president would be unable to sway many with reasonable, rational arguments. Winguts also create a high degree of factionalism within the US, though not in the Madisonian sense; instead, the wingnut will seek to create strife and discord simply to promote his/her own political ambitions.

3. Influences: Money plays a very large role in US elections. Without money, one cannot promote oneself with sufficient exposure so as to garner votes. This is why the influence of money from others, especially outsider contributions, weighs so heavily on every candidate; if that candidate does not uphold his/her promise to his/her contributors, it is reasonable to assume that the person with the money can just as easily turn against the candidate. If you are going to run for public office of any kind, be sure to have plenty of funds to support yourself.

4. Stress: The overall level of stress for a president is extraordinary. Looking at any president over their terms, the amount of gray hair accrued and well-focused age lines become easily apparent.


5. Blame: Presidents take blame for things in and out of their control. The economy, bureaucratic failures, even the weather; the President is viewed as the arbiter of all. The President constantly has to defend himself and his party while at the same time deflecting blame onto those who rightly deserve it. Of course, perceptions of a president's culpability will never change for some, and constant scrutinizing and derision will always entail.

I'd rather be a wingnut.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Journey into the Mind, Part 2

(Mainly because I'm too lazy to write something)

David could only stare in horror as thousands upon thousands of himself marched in order towards him, all wearing the same blank expression upon their faces. The lack of emotion, the total unflinching facial features each and every version of him presented frightened him. He could only stagger back in fear as they continued marching in their synchronized steps, coming closer, and closer, and closer. David fell to the ground, struggling to regain his composure and find an escape. They all stared blankly ahead, as if completely ignorant of his presence, until they stopped. David, from the seat of his pants, could only stare in complete disbelief as all of his clones turned their heads slowly to look at him. The frozen, superficial smile he had seen in the mirror for years was now staring him down as if it had the force and imposition of a gun. The barrel was cocked. He swiveled his head, trying to capture the duplicitous smile on each of his clones’ faces. “NO!” he screamed as he began to crawl backwards. The clones walked with him. “NO!” he screamed again, though the clones would not listen. He felt their stares burrowing underneath his face, beyond his mind and into his soul where they tore at him in a torrential undulation of insanity.
“NO!” David screamed, sitting up in his bed. He was covered in sweat and had thrown his sheets to the floor.
“What the hell?” David got out of bed and walked to the bathroom. Looking in the mirror, he was unsure of who was staring back at him.


That's all for now,
DF

Journey into the Mind

My Psych professor gave us an interesting semester-long assignment: write 10 stories based on 10 pictures. Each story is approximately 150-200 words and should not be edited so that the original emotions and intent of the writer could be more transparent. At the end of the semester, we have to write a paper analyzing the stories and finding a commonality within them. Why don't you try?

Story 1:

The mannequins were placed delicately in the candelabra-lit room. Each one was placed where it was suspected that the suspects and victim were standing when the incident occurred. Each mannequin, though homogeneous, seemed to exert its own personality into its character, as if the inanimate were conscious of its purpose.
“All right; let’s go over this again.” The detective, a man known to be somewhat a curmudgeon, raised his fedora hat and fiddled with his toothpick. His long tan overcoat was only outdone by the indecency of his slouching.
“The victim, sitting here on the couch, was holding a glass of wine, facing away from the window. The man,” he walked over to the position, “was standing at the window, looking out with the curtains open. The other woman, “he trudged to her position, “was sitting here, at the piano, her back turned to the whole incident. The shot itself,” he pointed to the man’s position, “seems to have come from the outside, though there was no damage done to the window and the man recalled neither hearing nor seeing the window break. It has never been a simpler deduction in my life.”
“How is that so?” asked the officer, his curious face hung open in confusion. The detective returned to the window. “Come,” he said to the officer, motioning with his finger. “Look at this window pane. Does it not differ from the others?” The officer squinted at it, and after several seconds, resolved there to be no difference. The detective gave him a look of derision.
“Look at the lining of the pane itself. Though hard to see, each windowpane is glued to the window frame so that the window is more secure. This windowpane,” he took out a switchblade and jarred it out, “is not glued at all. Thus, it was removed before the shot was fired to allow for an almost-seamless crime. The culprit is, most certainly, the man.”
“So, what do we do from here?” asked the officer.
“Evidence, my friend, evidence. To the roof!” exclaimed the detective, and with a surprising amount of energy, he bounded out of the room to the staircase.


That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Taxes, Tea Party, and Totalitarianism

Midterms aren't over yet, but I have a week-long interlude between exams and I figured that I should be faithful to my only reader (you) and write something. I know that you've been dying to read what I have to think; sadly, so have I.

Firstly, you may or may not have heard that President Obama plans on letting the Bush Tax Cuts expire at the end of this year. You have probably also heard all the brouhaha on both sides, arguing whether or not to keep them. The gist of the whole thing is that taxes will be raised for those making over 250,000$ if the tax cuts expire. If they are allowed to continue, they will cost American taxpayers approximately 7 billion dollars. The rich can continue to whine about "class warfare" or "losing their money," but the fact of the matter is that at the end of the day, people making more than 250,000$ a year will still have enough money to send 4 kids to college and live well while doing so. Suck it up.

Secondly, the Tea Party. If you haven't noticed, they've presented some strange candidates in the last few months, the latest being Carl Paladino and Christine O'Donnell. In one sentence, Paladino hates gay people and Christine O'Donnell doesn't know anything about recent Supreme Court cases.

Finally, Kim Jong-il named his successor as his youngest son, further alienating his lazy, overweight middle son who enjoys rap. It almost sounds like a bad sitcom.



That's all for now,
Das Flüg

Bah

I'll put my blog on a temporary hiatus because I am in the middle of my midterms. Here are some things you should know:
1. Christine O'Donnell, Republican nominee for the Delaware senate seat is nutty.
2. There is growing ethnic strife among Serbs, Croats and Muslims again.
3. Pakistan shut down a main route that the American military used for re-supplying their forces in Afghanistan with fuel, and upon using an alternate route, the entire convoy was burned.
4. Rick Sanchez is dumb.
5. Youtube has some inane copyright laws.
6. I need more sleep.

That's all for now,
Das Flüg