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I actually agree, but it seemed extremely obvious that he had no real desire to run and really wanted to step away from politics. But the current political syst

I actually agree, but it seemed extremely obvious that he had no real desire to run and really wanted to step away from politics. But the current political system has become such that the only way one can become the top official is via "celebrity" status (i.e. we treat politicians as an entertainment commodity in the US); it's very arguable this became an issue with televised debates and the Reagan presidency (he was a very popular actor). Basically we're past the point of finding extremely qualified individuals as leaders, now it's much more of a popularity contest

nocoiner 3y ago
Isn’t Biden a counterexample to this point? Also, I’m not sure that this country has ever really selected leaders based on innate leadership potential (whatever that may be). Sometimes it selects for celebrity (I think GWB and Obama were arguably both in this bucket, despite traditional-ish political backgrounds), sometimes generals, sometimes Republican senators from Ohio. But even for the presidents who turned out to be tremendously powerful leaders (Lincoln, FDR, LBJ), I’m not sure that was a deliberate choice by the voters ex ante (and obviously not in the case of LBJ).
- SQueeeeeL 3y ago
  Yeah, democracy is a fundamentally flawed system in that way, the Greeks were heavily aware of the popularity contest potential of it as a governing system. It's essentially the job of the "political elites" who heavily manipulate the system (through mechanisms like primaries and candidacy criteria) to not let too many elderly plutocrats get into office; because that signals instability to the rest of the geopolitical players. The fact that our political elites can no longer maintain the steady state of "respectable" leadership in America, and are being forced to compromise for goofy polarizing candidates is actually very concerning for long term view of the nation
  - anonymouskimmer 3y ago
    > Yeah, democracy is a fundamentally flawed system in that way As long as the elections keep on happening in a timely manner it's a "flaw" that can fix itself.
    - SQueeeeeL 3y ago
      That's mostly assuming that "decorum" is kept, which is essentially the hallmark bellwether for geopolitical stability. A populis leader could hypothetically take and maintain power outside of established rules and laws (i.e. imposed term limits, respecting results of elections, being physically and mentally fit to serve). Every nation state is basically constantly on the knife's edge of falling into political disarray; decorum/external optics is basically the temperature you can use to measure stability
      - deleted 3y ago
        [deleted]

nocoiner 3y ago

Isn’t Biden a counterexample to this point? Also, I’m not sure that this country has ever really selected leaders based on innate leadership potential (whatever that may be). Sometimes it selects for celebrity (I think GWB and Obama were arguably both in this bucket, despite traditional-ish political backgrounds), sometimes generals, sometimes Republican senators from Ohio. But even for the presidents who turned out to be tremendously powerful leaders (Lincoln, FDR, LBJ), I’m not sure that was a deliberate choice by the voters ex ante (and obviously not in the case of LBJ).

SQueeeeeL 3y ago
Yeah, democracy is a fundamentally flawed system in that way, the Greeks were heavily aware of the popularity contest potential of it as a governing system. It's essentially the job of the "political elites" who heavily manipulate the system (through mechanisms like primaries and candidacy criteria) to not let too many elderly plutocrats get into office; because that signals instability to the rest of the geopolitical players. The fact that our political elites can no longer maintain the steady state of "respectable" leadership in America, and are being forced to compromise for goofy polarizing candidates is actually very concerning for long term view of the nation
- anonymouskimmer 3y ago
  > Yeah, democracy is a fundamentally flawed system in that way As long as the elections keep on happening in a timely manner it's a "flaw" that can fix itself.
  - SQueeeeeL 3y ago
    That's mostly assuming that "decorum" is kept, which is essentially the hallmark bellwether for geopolitical stability. A populis leader could hypothetically take and maintain power outside of established rules and laws (i.e. imposed term limits, respecting results of elections, being physically and mentally fit to serve). Every nation state is basically constantly on the knife's edge of falling into political disarray; decorum/external optics is basically the temperature you can use to measure stability
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]