Enlightened Statesmen

I do not like politics. I promise that this will be the one and only time I broach the subject, but I figured that since Election Tuesday is Girl Tuesday’s exclusive jurisdication, I might as well subject you to my two cents.

Let me begin by saying that it is not that I dislike ALL politics—it is that I dislike modern politics—the cult of personality that Girl Friday pointed out last week. The truth of the matter is, I dislike modern political parties and election campaigns because I idolize our founding fathers. The Federalist Papers is one of my two favorite books (or serial publications, if you want to be painstakingly correct. As a side note, my other favorite is equally lame, but that is a subject for another day). I am your typical political science geek. I find Locke, Rousseau, and Machiavelli fascinating; and I am inspired by the fact that Hamilton, Madison, and Jay were able to build upon these great enlightenment foundations and articulate to the constitutional convention the arguments for the great American experiment. I don’t want to vote for career politicians, or support the political machinery. I don’t feel particularly strong allegiances to my political parties, and I would rather engage in intellectual debate on the issues than subject myself to two minute sound bites from the candidates hammering away their three or four talking points for that particular engagement.

I detest the lying; I can’t stand the calculating. I long for leaders who act as gentlemen. I don’t want a President I can have a beer with, I want a President who is smarter, more courageous, and more principled than I could ever be. I want a President who is strong in his convictions but gentle in his guidance. I want a President who harbors the same level of respect for the American Experience—who recognizes that if men were angels, they wouldn’t need Government.

And I can honestly say, writing this at 11 pm on Monday night, that I am still undecided. I’ve been joking all fall that I wanted to write in George Washington, because neither candidate satisfies my personal criteria of what it should take to assume the role that our Founders so carefully crafted to lead the Executive Branch of Government. I note, as well, that it was to lead the Executive Branch, not to lead our entire nation, or to lead the free world. Perhaps there is an argument to be made that the nature of governance has changed enough since 1783 that we should remake the Presidency in a modern image. But right now, sitting and staring at a blank television that I shut off to block out the final barrage of advertisements, I still don’t know who I am going to vote for. Because neither candidate seems to be quite what my friend Publius had in mind.