Panickd wrote on Jan 31, 2013, 11:24:
The Half Elf wrote on Jan 31, 2013, 10:04:
Maybe there should be a age cutoff for running for office? How about some sort of common sense testing?
I think having common sense would tell you not to run for a political office at all. It defies common sense to open yourself up to the kind of personal attacks (based in fact or not) that anyone running for national office has to deal with. I don't know how many people I have heard now that ran for a senate seat or for congress against an incumbent who came back and said, "if I had known how tough it was going to be and the kind of campaign that would be run against me I never would have even tried." Only people completely lacking in any common sense at all would want to try and endure that more than once.
And supposing you win, what then? You're just a small fish in a huge pond filled with other fish that don't have the sense not to eat that worm with the giant pointy hook protruding from it. So good luck getting anything done.
I was just talking about this with someone earlier today. I live in Texas, so I'm definitely unelectable due to being a moderate and an atheist, even though I do support gun rights. It would cost too much to run anyway. And on top of that, I'd have to spend a ton of money putting out hits on the people that know too much about me already. Not worth it
"The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts." -- Bertrand Russell (I think...)