QUALIFIED!

For the last several Presidential Election cycles a familiar refrain of doubt has been heaped upon certain candidates. As a matter of fact some verbal fisticuffs directed at some Presidential aspirants claim that “so and so is not qualified to be president!” Given the fact that we are not England, which adheres to strict bloodline requirements for the throne, there are really very few qualifications to be President. Those that say otherwise are actually trying to read into the Constitution their notion that the document “lives breathes and grows.” Such nonsense gets us into trouble because reading and interpreting every word for its intent that is shaded by one’s own ideas often leads to the abandonment of what the founding fathers actually penned on the paper. That is the situation beleaguering the Supreme Court, for example. They are drowning in legal minutia.

Barack Obama is the latest Presidential contender to be smeared with the question of “is he qualified?" He is in good company. The same doubt was cast upon Ross Perot, George W. Bush, and John F. Kennedy among other less than experienced politicians in the national archive.

It is nice to have lofty goals and desire our leaders to be geniuses, captains of industry, from scientific or moral sectors of American life, but that is not what the founding fathers required. Being a politician or a lawyer can be an asset in the Oval Office and has been for some time. Judging from the mood of the country however, and the electorate’s low opinion of folks from some of these walks of life it begs for someone to run who is more of the people than of the corruption. As a matter of fact delegates considering Presidential requirements at the Constitutional Convention let their desire to create a leader from "among the people" be known. It was an overriding concern. They didn’t want the American President to be a King. They had seen enough of that in England and fought a war to create leadership that was responsible to the people, not elected tyrants to rule over them.

The bright minds of their time decided that there only would be only three qualifications to be President. First, the person must be a natural born citizen of the United States. That means a person from any national heritage, Mexican, Israeli, Italian, African American, Irish, or Muslim can be President if they are born in this country. The second qualifier is that the person must have resided within the U.S for fourteen years. Of course such a person running for the office can also be from a family with roots dating back to the country’s founding.

The final qualification is that the person be at least 35 years of age. Apparently this is where the Constitutional Convention addressed the “experience” issue. They deemed the age 35 as the point in time when life would have taught a person enough to be an effective leader with the necessary ability to make sound decisions. When individuals start casting doubt on a candidate’s qualification we should take out a rolled up version of the constitution (with Article II showing) and slap them on the nose with it.

The wording and the document itself leaves open the opportunity for the people to change these requirements. To do so would require a Constitutional amendment of which three- fourths of the existing states would have to agree upon. To date no such amendment has been ratified.
Therefore the next time you hear the grumblings about qualifications for Presidential leadership you may snicker to yourself.

The office of President does have a decent salary, and comes with a housing allowance not to mention all the China you can steal when your term is up. There are helicopter rides, a summer place in the mountains, and the title looks good on a resume.

Hello is anybody listening? Under the Constitutional requirements most Americans qualify for the job. The next time you catch yourself asking the question “is he/she qualified” consider running for the office yourself. The country could use a fresh perspective; one that will come from the people. You just might be the one.

Conviction with a Caveat

I hereby resolve that I will not rape, pillage, conquer, devastate or murder anyone during the course of my lifetime. Now don’t get me wrong; my resolution is non-binding! If I slip up somewhere along the way we’ll make sure that all the newspapers say that hey I voted for it before I voted against it.

“We oppose the war but support the troops”, they say as responsible leaders. Yeah, and I have dogs as pets that stray into the neighbors yard. and eat the cats that terrorize my love birds! That’s when I put the dogs on a leash. Of course the leash is still long enough for dogs to stray in the neighbor’s yard, but since they’re on a leash I’m sure it sends a message to the neighbor that I am displeased with the decisions my dogs have been making; territorially speaking.

Seem familiar? This is the kind of wishy-washy action masked in doublespeak that the newly elected majority in our government is communicating. What’s more they are trying to sell this drivel to a salivating populace that is parched for relief for their squeamish “I don’t want to be at war anymore” temper tantrum.

The spectacle that has become our Congress is reflective of a culture that wants resolution on a time schedule, a little pill for any ache, and answers to all questions as soon as yesterday. Our great grandparents must be spinning in their graves! What a collection of wimpy whiney ne’er-do-wells their lineage has produced.

The strength that was once American has become a sniveling self aggrandizing collection of entitlement crazed nincompoops. We can agree on nothing, and as opposed to conduct ourselves respectfully in deference to one another, we resort to personal attacks of the most subtle yet insidious manner.

Then there are the representatives we keep choosing to speak for us. “Earmarks for everyone!” That was the political right’s answer to everything. “Give the folks back home exactly what I can steal for them and I’ll be reelected until I’m a hundred two.” Such is the attitude that relegated them to the minority; perhaps rightfully so. However, the political left who has vowed to clean up things in Washington "cause there’s a new sheriff in town”, has already shown that their hand is as much bent the wrong way as the posse that they came into replace.

What’s a Libertarian to do? Well since government is obviously the problem, and at the heart of that are political parties, I find little reason except to tear it all down and start again. We’re one catastrophe step away from anarchy anyway, and those charged with our safety are more interested in lining their own gainful pocket. Those leaders are too busy to notice that they are engineering the American choo-choo right off the tracks and over the cliff.

In another country, or perhaps here in another time, we all would have been fed up enough by now to have fueled a mutiny, a coup or a revolution. That of course would mean raping, pillaging, conquering, devastating and murdering anyone who stands in the way. If that is still possible then thank goodness my resolution was non-binding!