I, Drew Kopf, am Running for President; and here is why
I am doing it:
Presidents
of the United States stand as an embodiment of where our country is at any
given time. When the Nation and we its people suffers, or rejoices, or is
ill at ease, or is struggling through a kind of national identity crisis,
that suffering, or joy, or uneasiness, or crisis can be seen in who is serving
at any particular time as our leader.
We have had
Presidents who were deeply caring; ones who were comfortable and at easy;
ones who were overwhelmed by the awesome responsibility of the job and dwarfed
by its burden; ones who were seething and troubled; ones who were smiling
and happy; and one who history will eventually label as having been at best
completely clueless and at worst demonicly deceptive.
The fact
that our Nation has survived as it has without having succumbed to the plight
of so many of our South American neighbors, where violent coups have occurred
with regularity, is truly amazing. Even when our presidents have been assassinated,
some how the system has worked to help us maintain order as the new President
assumed the responsibilities of the office.
There is
a lot that goes into the formula that has kept the United States relatively
safe from both external and internal forces and of those who have wished,
attempted and who are trying to destroy it:
1. A Free
Press, which often works to hold our elected officials to standards of forthrightness.
2. Our military being controlled by civilian leaders.
3. The belief that elections
are fairly run.
4. Equal rights under the law; anyone who is a citizen can run for any office
save for that of president which requires the president to be a natural born
citizen as opposed to a naturalized citizen.
5. The checks and balance system of the Federal Government as established
by the founding fathers in the Contitution.
A TV reporter
recently asked a youngster in Florida why she wanted to be President of the
United States and the youngster piped up, "To bring Peace to everyone
in the world" or something to that effect. It was as cute as could be
and gave that child the fifteen minutes of fame she richly deserved.
What she
said was just what we hope a young person would say and she said it with a
seriousness that made her words drift over her listeners like a prayer to
which each of us must say, "Let it be so."
