Origins

I'm a member of the baby boom generation, born in the first few years after WWII ended. I don't know much about the greatest generation, the one that actually fought WWII, other than what my parents have told me about it. The generation that my children are in baffles me more often than not. But I think all three generations have at least one thing in common.

People in my generation were raised to believe that since America is the greatest country on earth, every American can grow up to one day become president. The preceding generation taught us that, and we taught it to the following generation. I understand now that concept is horseshit but it's the way I was raised, as were millions of other baby boomers. America is probably the greatest country on earth; I haven't lived anywhere else but I've seen other countries in magazines and on television and most of 'em look like shitholes. So even though we have Limbaugh, we can agree that America is the best. That still doesn't mean everyone can grow up to be president, or even that they should think much about it. Our system of government was designed by the Real Greatest Generation, and it's complicated. Our economy is complicated too. Government ? Economy ? Both really complicated. The rest of the world is not like us, and by definition that makes it complicated. Foreign = complicated.

The president has a job that requires knowledge of the government, knowledge of the economy, and knowledge of the rest of the world, all things that are hard to understand. If his job was like college, you'd have to say he's carrying a really heavy course load.

Americans, having been raised with the horseshit notion they can all grow up to be president, believe the Prez is someone just like them. They want to vote for presidential candidates they believe are like themselves, who think like they do, who root for the same teams, fish the same streams, drink the same beer, eat the same pizzas, and so forth.

Reality check: It takes a huge shitload of money to get elected president. Most Americans don't have even a small shitload of money, and if they were able to save every dollar they earned in a lifetime, still wouldn't have enough money to make it through one presidential election cycle. And even if they somehow got their hands on the necessary cash, they wouldn't have the goddamned brains to handle the duties of the job, which involve working with things that are extremely complicated.

A lot of Americans still want the president to be someone just like them, since they haven't completely thought through the part about the complicated stuff. They want validation of things their parents taught them about the greatness of America. I believe many of the problems we're facing today originate in that kind of thinking by American voters, and the popularity of Gov. Falin, referred to by my sis as a duh girl, is the latest example.