Here We Go Again

Here We Go Again

A new round of presidential candidates are announcing.

On the Republican side it seems as if someone joins the race every day. The total number of folks who think they can win the nominations is staggering. The amount of money each will have to raise, the organizations they will have to build, and the confusion that will surround so many people being on stage for the debates is mind boggling.

The Democrats have it much smoother. Except for a few folks on the outside of the large middle of that party, Hillary Clinton seems to have things locked up.

One wonders how the GOP candidate who emerges from the large field of candidates will not be so damaged and so out of resources as to have difficulty mounting an effective campaign against Mrs. Clinton.

That being said, we all know the Clintons are full of surprises, not all of them happy or encouraging so I suppose the GOP is hoping that either Bill or Hill will torpedo her campaign.

While it is always possible that an alternative to Mrs. Clinton will emerge, frankly it is getting a little late in campaign season to bet the farm on that. It appears she has a significant lead over any potential contenders and she appears to have the support of the incumbent president. Those are mighty swords to carry into battle.

Obviously, the GOP field will be winnowed down over the next few months. Some will fail to get any traction in the polls. Some will find the supporters they thought they could count on have signed on with candidates who have a better chance at a win. The GOP has some mighty effective fund raisers and a few of them who can dump tons of money into a campaign. If those donors unite behind one or two candidates this field will be narrowed quickly and significantly.

One could argue that Mrs. Clinton has the greatest experience of any potential Democrat. She spent eight years at her husband’s side, watching the presidency, hearing the policy debates, talking to him quietly in the family quarters of The White House. She then went on to make a name for herself as Senator from New York. That was followed by a presidential nominating campaign and then a term as Secretary of State. She would bring a wealth of experience to the job. But she lost the nomination to a man whose experience could not come close to hers last time around. So maybe Americans are less interested in experience and more interested in specific plans for handling the nation’s many problems.

No Republican has a similarly impressive background. 

However, Mrs. Clinton, because of her long time in the political limelight also brings baggage to her campaign. Baggage that most of the GOP candidates will not have to carry into their campaigns.

I am looking forward to a spirited primary season on the GOP side and a lackluster one on the DEM side. Then we will move into a campaign it appears that will offer the first chance for a female president.

It all sounds pretty exciting. It is way too early to handicap the GOP race. Having said that, I think it will take a pretty big surprise to upset Mrs. Clinton’s march to her party’s nomination.

Notes of Concern…

   …Jack Blair

THE SPORT OF PHARAOHS

Horse racing has long been called the “Sport of Kings.’  I looked for a king for a long time at Belmont but could only find a Pharaoh.  So perhaps as in all things we may have arrived at a new designation for horse racing.

Seriously there are few things more beautiful than watching undulating  muscles of race horses traveling that fast and look both beautiful and dignified.

I hate horses.

Well, not really hate them in the common sense of the word. I love looking at the, I hesitantly pet one now and then, I never mucked out a stall and it is not on my bucket list.

My extended family purchased some land in the country and we all went there every weekend to picnic, play and enjoy one another. I met a neighbor lad there, his name was Wayne, and his family actually owned a farm. In addition to other animals they raised goats and they drank the milk of those goats. So I got an early lesson in milking goats. Because he and I were under twelve we reached selected a goat to be our “horse.” His was a large white goat named Lightening. My goat was was called Chocolate and was about the size of a Great Dane. I remember we did not have saddles but we did have reins to guide the goats. I also remember when you want your goat to move forward you had to pull its tail. 

Those were fun, carefree days and falling off a goat was hardly possible. Pretty social creatures.

I came close to a horse for the first time when dating my wife, Pam. She liked to ride and had a friend with horses so up onto the back of this horse I climbed. Pam got onto her horse and explained we would just ride slowly around the pasture.

Horses don’t speak English and mine definitely did not hear the suggestion of a slow ride round the pasture because he took off at high speed with me holding on while looking for a brake pedal. I was terrified. When they tell you just to pull on the reins to stop a horse: do not believe them. I could have pulled the reins on my steed from between his teeth clear back to his tail and he wasn't stopping.

I  did not fall off. The horse finally slowed. I dismounted promising myself I would never again mount a horse, or anything without a brake pedal or handbrake.

Fast forward to after our wedding. We both had positions at Culver Military Academy which had, to the great happiness of my wife, a School of Horsemanship. So she had lots of opportunity to ride. One night I got a call that her horse had taken a jump, Pam was thrown, and taken to the hospital by ambulance. I raced to the hospital and found she had been transferred to a larger facility in another city because of concerns for her spleen.

I reminded myself I would never mount a horse and I prayed she wouldn’t either. 

Fat chance where she was concerned. She continued to ride throughout the summer. On weak moment she suggested I try it again as the evening riding was going to take place indoors, at a large riding rink, and would consist of a column of two, horse and rider, simply circling the arena. I admit it was a weak moment but I said OK.

All of us were assigned a mount, paired off in twos, and a column of horses and riders began to encircle the arena.

I suppose I should have assumed something could go wrong. Seems they paired me with a horse who really hated the horse riding along side us. They spoke a few profane horse words then began to fight. Enough instructors around to get me safety off the horse that was now definitely the last horse I would ever ride.

My wife’s sister also liked horses. She resided on a farm in Ohio and loved to ride. We got a call one night that something had scared her horse, it reared up and toppled over backwards and landed with full weight between ger legs. Hospital again.

Now my wife still likes horses and I know she would accept an offer to ride anytime. My sister-in-law gave up horses for cats.

It might be possible if my sister in law were to saddle up one of those cats I would give it a try. But as for horses, I bet on them. I don’t ride them.

Ideas from the 1700s May Not be Realistic for the 2000's!

Notes of Concern…

   …Jack Blair

                             1700 -vs- 2000

What was the life expectancy in 1776? 

                                   35 years to 47 years of age !

Article II in the U.S. Constitution ( 1700s) states that In order to qualify to serve as president, a person must be a natural born citizen of the United States or a citizen at the time of the adoption of the Constitution, at least 35 years old and a resident of the United States for at least 14 years. 

The first president to be born an American citizen was Martin Van Buren.

In the 1700s when a young America was wrestling with the formation of a Constitution, they specifically laid out in Article Two the qualifications to be president:

What were they looking for? Experience in life. Wisdom. Leadership abilities witnessed by others. Keeping in mind that life expectancy at the time was 35-47 years of age (due largely to many infant deaths), I think we can posit they were looking for a senior gentleman, known to the country to have the qualities I outlined above.

Fast forward to 2015. Life expectance today is into the 80’s. You do the math. I think it safe to say if they were forming the constitution today the lower limit to the age required for the presidency would probably be 50 years of age or higher. We can argue a year here or there but they would not be looking for someone 35-40 with little experience.Less than one term in the U.S. Senate? Never having run a state? Never having held a political office or seen how the system works? Give me a brake. We would have to be nuts.

Our nation is burdened by great threats both inside and out. The Constitution gives broad powers to the executive branch of government. Perhaps it is time to bring some of these archaic principles and requirements, appropriate to the 1700s into the 21st century.

Since the Congress is unlikely to take on the broad project of amending  the Constitution too make it a more modern reflection of reality, especially since to do so would limit some of their powers, I am suggesting here what I think would be appropriate.

A candidate for president of the United States should be a natural born citizen and should be at least 50 years of age.

A candidate for president must have had considerable applicable experience, shown to be important to governing on of the world’s largest superpowers. These experiences must at the least include one or more of the following:

     a sitting Vice President (rules for candidacy for VP same as for President), therefore already determined to be qualified to step up, or

     a U.S.Senator who has completed at least two full terms in the U.S. Senate,or

     a  Congressman who has completed at least six years in the House of Representatives,or

     a  Governor of a State who has run that state for at least one full term.

     (I intentionally leave out experience as the CEO of a major company because I know that experience in management is very different from what is required in managing the nation. A CEO typically rises from the ranks of the business in which he succeeds. He has qualities that could make him a good president but if that is his goal he should leave the business world and spend some time as a governor or senator  before embarking on a campaign for president.)

It is a recognized scientific fact that we lose brain cells daily. While we wish it were otherwise, no one ages with the same alacrity of thought, keen ability to be planful and active in dangerous situations, and then begins the onslaught of medical problems. 

Although this does not apply to all, it applies to most, so I would add as a qualification no president should retain that position past the age of 78 and should not be a candidate for president if the term would take him beyond age 78.

Because we live longer we have a much larger group of living ex-presidents. Collectively they possess an unparalleled treasure of experience. They should be required, since living very much at government expense and protection beyond their presidential years, to become part of a new “kitchen cabinet” for the sitting president, regardless of party or personality. 

This group should meet officially four times a year with the president and should be on call for emergency situations. A house, in Washington DC, like Blair house, should be established with sufficient bedrooms and living quarters and a conference room to provide the location for their quarterly and emergency meetings. Just having all this experience in one place, a place where the current president could sit informally with his predecessors and brainstorm what is happening in the world, could be a huge asset.

I have met most of the living former presidents and one of the things that stood out was that most had abandoned politics. They really don't see themselves as Republican or Democrat. Something about serving in The White House gives them a much broader view on the world. So I would not worry about politics interfering with their discussions or their advice. No one is better qualified to offer advice to a sitting president than the small group who sat in that chair before him.

In any event, I am just forwarding an idea that I think is realistic. We should not be governing or applying rules that fit circumstances in the 1770s to events of the 2000s.  

So however many votes I might have left in my life I intend to cast based on what I have outlined in this column. I know it won’t make a difference but to me I will feel I am acting more responsibly when picking our leaders.

I have some similar views on the Supreme Court that I will share in a later column.