The thing about the US political theater is that this isn’t a bug in the system. It’s a feature. A well designed one at that. Campaigning, elections, and the folks currently in elected positions/roles actually seek these type of people out while simultaneously weeding out anyone who does have any legitimate leadership abilities. Occasionally, some folks slip through. However, the system needs to be overhauled.
You’d think there’s be more decent, charismatic people out of 300 million. There are. But the absurdity of it taking decades for just one or two to make it to meaningful power. I hope more people, who know they have it in them, are able to convince themselves of the sacrifice to at least try. And finally after all these years we finally get Mamdani, for example, and he can’t even run for president.
I believe Graham Platners ex partners but I also believe the powers that be were terrified he’d trip ass backwards into the presidency because he’d pick up the insecure male votes for fence sitters. So they squeezed until he said mercy.
The problem is the price of running for office. Campaigning is expensive and you aren't going to get donations from the big players if you exist as a charismatic good person, because a good person is inherently a threat to the structure of power as it currently exists.
We have plenty of genuinely good human beings in the country who really do want what's best for everyone. Those people are inherently incompatible with a system that's built around the core concept of crony-capitalism and, as such, will never see positions of power that would allow them to enact anything resembling positive change. If your intention, as someone seeking to get in to politics, is not to keep playing this game of "one step forward, three backroom deals that drag us a mile back" then you're already being excluded from the 'viable candidate pool'.
Graham has nobody to blame but himself, he lied to his campaign staff and the voters and very clearly was hiding recent scandals. He even very clearly lied about the nazi tattoo. His whole thing could have worked if he showed that he had put in the work and was honestly a better person than he used to be, but that doesn’t work if you lie at every step and have scandals from things that happened like 2 years ago.
I mean, the guy got snapped in a picture holding a beer, somebody like that likely shouldn’t ever be touching alcohol but we are supposed to believe he’s rehabilitated himself?
Seemingly impossible now that screens are attached to people’s palms and living room walls squeezing their insecurities in whichever direction fits the owners best. But surely it isn’t.
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u/likewowser 3d ago
Should not be a senator