Conclusions and Ponderings

No, Synk, now it is over.

Having taken Dynamics several years ago, my concerns rested with with deadlines on or after the Thanksgiving break. However, death week was survived, finals completed, Dozer's graduation attended, and travel accomplished (by the way, Dozer, you can still write normal posts on this blog and not just comments). Now I can relax.

And now that school is done with for a while, I actually have time to think. And what else is there to think about besides politics?

Don't worry, I'm not going to discuss current politics; my thoughts started with musings on the kind of speeches I would give if I were running for president. First of all, I would write them myself. This would gain me big points already. Second, I would try to be as honest about my views as possible, which would make popularity difficult considering my conservative standing and opinion of the public (I would definitely try to sneak in something about how the masses are idiots just to see if I could get away with it). I wouldn't promise to do anything, but rather expound upon what I would like to see changed while explaining the constitutional limits on the President's powers as well as the possibility of unforeseen circumstances. I would try to get elected on the basis of a representative republic rather than a pure democracy, since that's how I would conduct business. Elect me based on my values, priorities, and character and then I will make decisions based on what I think would be best for the country, not necessarily what the country wants. Do you think people would listen long enough to understand? Perhaps this is where the part about the masses being idiots would come in.

After a while, my thoughts changed from aimless musings to considerations of logistics: Could I get elected? Should I? The later refers to the fact that I still have resolved in my own mind whether or not I am a pacifist. If I am, I seriously doubt I could be President. How could I order troops into battle to kill others when I am not willing to do so myself? Is it necessary to kill in order to preserve what is right? Does this change between a person and a government?

Assuming I got that straightened out, there is still the issue of how I would get support. Currently, I don't think I have enough notoriety or money to get a position with a political party. I'm not sure I'd want to, either. It seems that the major issue with political parties these days is that you need to have a lot of money and clout before you can even speak: not anyone can become President. What, then, could be an alternate route? The first thing I thought of was the internet; it was used to a great advantage in this last campaign, could it be used to support an entire campaign? The problem with the internet, though, is the fact that anyone can speak, and this includes a great number of imbeciles. Therefore, in order to be heard, you need to already have a name behind you. Even then, most of the people you will be speaking to are your supporters. Judging by the number of comments this blog receives, I'd have to do a lot of work to get a following on the internet (though by referencing this xkcd comic, I automatically win).

On the other hand, even though it isn't perfect, is there a better and viable alternative to the two-party system? There are a great number of popular bloggers I wouldn't want as President, third parties are easily crushed due to the current state of the electoral process and the media (good luck making that go away), and a no-party system would run into the same problems as people trying to be heard on the internet.

[Warning: topic change ahead]

Speaking of the internet and blogging, there is a trend I have been noticing. In the early days of the internet, the big thing was having your own web page. Here you would describe yourself and your hobbies and interests in a semi-permanent format. This developed into blogging, which, while still a form of personal expression, was a bit more fluid and was a record of the person's thoughts in a journal-type format. Then came Facebook and its Wall, where users post announcements of significant (or not) events in their lives as they happen. And now there is Twitter, a near constant stream of trivial (or not) details. In regard to information available to strangers, postings on the internet have become more and more fleeting and less and less deep. I say that Twitter has about a year or so until the next big thing. I wonder what that will be.





Oh, hey! I just got it! I'll kidnap the families of half of the electoral college, then I'll be a shoo-in for President.