Media Dogs

Watching the Presidential hopefuls scurry through the media making themselves visible has got its risks. On the up side, there's a chance for name recognition at voting time, and on the down side the same is true. Reporters hammer them with questions designed to alienate one group or another if they take a serious stand on any issue, and the group who often screams the loudest isn't the one deciding the vote.

I question the motives of media scrounges who dredge up questionnaires filled out years earlier by political hopefuls. Do they think people seeking office shouldn't have the same rights as the rest of us to temper our thoughts by maturity and insight before it becomes political dogma?

My views certainly have changed. Experience usually deepens into a broader, wiser, more temperate view of the world. Folks hang somewhere between the far right and the far left because we eventually learn that life just isn't all one way. We seem to be a complicated blend of independent thoughts strung together: Republicans when we want to protect our earnings, Democrats when others are in need, and Independents when we want a non-partisan thinker to represent us in the White House.

The media delights in criticizing our future leaders for re-examining important issues along the way. Are they kidding?

I want a Thinking-Man's President. I want someone with the character to re-examine important issues in light of a complex, constantly changing and dangerous world. I want someone who thinks on their feet, who can react and respond when it all boils down to a keen mind that can sift through an issue and make an informed decision.

What the media is really encouraging is mediocrity and inflexibility in our political leaders. Seems to me that hasn't worked out so well for us in the past.