Seven to go: voting for an elitist

The truth is they are both elitist.

This blog list some of the reasons why McCain could be considered one. Basically, it comes down to coming from a well-off family and leaving his crippled wife for Cindy McCain, who is worth a lot of money (as much as $100 million) as a heiress to her father's company and is basically an older, smarter, non-sex-tape-making version of Paris Hilton.

He also owns so many homes he's unable to keep track of them all and owns about as many cars.

Obama often talks about growing up in a single-parent home, but he did manage to go to Columbia and Harvard, both prestigious and elitist schools by all accounts.

He currently works at a place where only 100 people can work at any given time, and only two from his state. He's looking to get one of the most important jobs in this country, it's safe to say he is an elitist.

Both these man are elitist. Out of the 300 million people living in the country, both these men think they are the best to run it. Not only do they think they can run the country better than you or I can, they think they are better than you or I.

And I'm perfectly OK with that. I want a president who is better than me. I never went to the Naval Academy, Columbia or Harvard (I did sneak onto their campus and use their bathroom one time). I don't there's anything I can do better than 300 million others (well, other than this Dr. Seuss quote. Somedays I'm not even sure I should be allowed to be in charge of myself, let alone the United States of America.

I need a president who is better than me. I don't want the guy down the street running our country (though, coincidently, the man who does live down my street does run Mountain Home) or Joe Sixpack, Joe the Plumber or anyone else that hasn't already had the chance to screw things up at a local and state level before taking a stab at messing things up for all of us.

So next Tuesday I'm going to go my voting place and feel confident the person I've chosen as the man to lead this country the next four years is an elitist and is better than me.

Then I'm going to look at the local races and I'm going to make my selection based off the exact opposite logic. I'm going to vote for the candidate I think is most like me, the one I'd most like to have a beer with, the one I feel is more in touch with my concerns as an every day citizen. Because at the local level, that's what local politics is all about.

Then I am going to drive home from the polls and wonder whether or not whomever is announced as the winner a short time later is actually the best man for the job. Because it seems to me that we seldom elect the best person to run our country, or to any political office for that matter, but instead choose the one with the most money, the fanciest signs or commercials and coolest bumper stickers.

And that concerns me.

Our country's government was founded on the idea of "we the people for the people." Instead it has become "we the rich people for some other rich people."

If that's not the case, why else would people spend more than a $100 million dollars on a job that pays $400,000 a year? Congress should just save the money we pay the president since anyone who can afford to successfully get elected into the White House can successfully afford to work without pay for four years, especially since they don't have to pay rent to live in the White House, to staff it, to eat in it, or for any other thing while president.