Have you ever considered running for elected office or accepting appointed public office?

[Skeptic Bob]

No "fixers" on your payroll? Seems a cool $130,000 will make the incident with the porn star go away; a little more for the Playboy centerfold.

Well, apparently paying them off to keep quiet doesn’t actually guarantee they will keep quiet.

 

[Superfly]

Saw this yesterday, and it is so me. I could never, ever be a politician, and not just because of the skeletons in my closet. I'm just too ****ing mean, and I have far too little patience. :shrug:

 

[Verax]

I've often thought if I ever end up on tv a few dozen people would point and be like "wait a minute, I know that mother ****er, I did X, Y, and Z with him, I'm selling my story tonight!".

 

[DH Kirkwood]

I have thought about it yes. However I know that I would never get elected. Particularly since I have a criminal record. But I do believe that I have some policies which would help this nation, particularly in the long term.

I don't know, man. I think the game has changed. I don't see younger voters, even younger Republican voters, caring quite as much about that sort of thing as much as previous generations. Stay consistant with your philosphy, and utilize the living hell out of social media, and who knows?

 

[Mr Person]

I can't imagine being appointed, but maybe. Just maybe, if I thought I could actually accomplish a thing I think must be done.

But you just wait until they asked if I ever inhaled....




The only skeletons I've got in the closet are harmless idiocies from decades back. No blackface, no nazi outfit.

 

[Xelor]

I would prefer voting for a person with a criminal record if they're rehabilitated and pointed in the right direction with the right goals. I think that's more logical than electing someone of dubious character that does criminal stuff after being elected.

I will vote for a person about whom I don't have to, as effectively a stranger to them, figure out whether s/he has rehabilitated. If circumstances force me to have to form a conclusion about such a thing, sure, I will endeavor as best I can to do so. In general, however, I'm not one who chooses among so-called evils, ascribing instead to the maxim "the lesser of two evils is still evil."

 

[Skeptic Bob]

It is amazing how many here have responded that they have too much on their back pages to run for an office.
But who really has a clean slate?

I think once they saw the military made me see a military psychiatrist due to some of my actions I would be immediately eliminated.

Normally I don't think it is right to speak for everyone but it appears we are the people parents warn their kids to stay away from.

That is definitely a skeleton you and I have in common, brother. At least in the same ballpark. I have talked, in a roundabout way, about my PTSD issues on this very forum. I know what people would say. “This guy needs weed to even fall asleep without nightmares. How can we trust him with the nukes?”

And honestly, I can’t say I wouldn’t have the same concerns as a voter hearing about a candidate with my background. We have hundreds of millions of people in this country. We can afford to be picky in choosing our elected officials. Certainly more picky than we have been.

 

[Waddy]

I've served on a couple of public commissions. Both appointed. It was very time consuming. I have no wish to do it ever again. However, I didn't find it to be overly political. Just a lot of work. Toward the end I found it difficult to stay focused during long, drawn out presentations or testimony. I knew I was burnt out. One thing for sure; everyone who stood in front of you had their own agenda; sometimes it was hard to find the truth in all the BS, I mean spin.

Most of the politicians I've ever known were actually, kind, caring people who had good intentions; at least at the local level. Seems the further up the chain you go, though, the worse they get.

 

[Xelor]

It is amazing how many here have responded that they have too much on their back pages to run for an office.
But who really has a clean slate?

I think once they saw the military made me see a military psychiatrist due to some of my actions I would be immediately eliminated.

Normally I don't think it is right to speak for everyone but it appears we are the people parents warn their kids to stay away from.

Red:
I too am surprised in the literal sense of the word. Such confessions aren't among the natures of responses/remarks I anticipated or sought the thread may have conjured.


Blue:
I don't know. I'd presume most folks to have a reasonably "clean slate," until they give me a reason to think otherwise. I don't go rummaging about looking for "dirt," but neither does it elide my attention when it presents itself.

My siblings and I are the children of a Southern man descended from plantation owners, though he had the gumption not to imbue us with his racist notions. (I was in my late 20s before I discovered he and Momma made a conscious effort to keep their racist notions from us kids. They "slipped" on rare occasion, but mostly they were successful.) Moreover, we and my closest friends on the planet -- people I've known since our childhood -- were, as minors, mischievous to varying extents. We certainly weren't above toilet-papering and "egging" people's yards/cars. We all had some embarrassing moments of drunken "revelry" as collegians, and in that same period of our lives, we each, on occasion, acted out of moral/ethical ignorance about certain things.

Obviously and like most folks, the quantity of individuals whom I know well enough to attest confidently to the presence/absence of "skeletons in their closets" is quite small. That said, I think the human condition is constant enough that most folks were and are well-behaved much as I and my siblings were and remain.

 

[Xelor]

Does PTA count?

Is the PTA position you have in mind a paid position to which one is elected and that, as a result of holding it, one makes and/or enforces policy? If so, yes, it counts. If not, no, it doesn't count.

 

[Bum]

No way. I'm a recovered (recovering, former) drug addict.
I imagine that would be just the tip of the iceberg.

I dont see that as an automatic disqualifier.....we have already had a few Presidents that have experimented but "didnt inhale", some "inhaled frequently", and at least one with a DUI arrest.

 

[Xelor]

Well, apparently paying them off to keep quiet doesn’t actually guarantee they will keep quiet.

If Trump:

1. hadn't run for or obtained elected/appointed public office, and
2. dissembled about the matters when he was asked about them....

...I wouldn't give a damn about his assignations and related NDAs.

One can be multifariously imperfect and hold and deserve to hold public office, positions of public trust, but one thing one cannot be and hold such office is, AFAIC, an inveterate liar.

 

[Xelor]

I don't know, man. I think the game has changed. I don't see younger voters, even younger Republican voters, caring quite as much about that sort of thing as much as previous generations. Stay consistant with your philosphy, and utilize the living hell out of social media, and who knows?

Red:
I think social media is a good place for a politician (or would-be one) to make announcements about events, policies, and the like. It's, IMO, a horrible venue for "baring one's soul."

 

[Xelor]

I can't imagine being appointed, but maybe. Just maybe, if I thought I could actually accomplish a thing I think must be done.

But you just wait until they asked if I ever inhaled....




The only skeletons I've got in the closet are harmless idiocies from decades back. No blackface, no nazi outfit.

Red:
That's what I'd imagine is the case for most folks. Another member here, however, disagrees.

 

[Mr Person]

You have a criminal record?

I like ya' now!

He never said what for...

 

[Mr Person]

Once upon a time I thought it was what I wanted to do.

Obama taught me better, that politics takes idealism and a desire to do good, eats it, digests it and ****s it out for it to be flushed and end up pumped into the ocean to kill a few fish.

I've become pretty cynical in my old age.

And that is why religion proliferates: give reality a good look in the face and you can do one of two things (1) despair but hold on, (2) delude yourself into believing that after all the ****ing bull****, there will be clouds and eternal ecstasy that doesn't ever bore you.







For eternity.

:thinking

 

[JMR]

Is the PTA position you have in mind a paid position to which one is elected and that, as a result of holding it, one makes and/or enforces policy? If so, yes, it counts. If not, no, it doesn't count.

No, PTA is all volunteers. I only brought it up because there are only so many elected positions, but lots of people trying to be proactive and moving policy along...often in payless $$ jobs with lots of other satisfaction.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

I dont see that as an automatic disqualifier.....we have already had a few Presidents that have experimented but "didnt inhale", some "inhaled frequently", and at least one with a DUI arrest.

Heh...at one point I was snorting an eight-ball a day, and then "graduated" to smoking an eight-ball or even more, a day.
That's because my nose wouldn't accept the powder anymore and a gal who was "just being helpful" introduced me to cooking it up as crack.

A ten year love affair with crack is a lot more than "just inhaling"...it's pretty hardcore.

My ex-wife died two years ago because at age sixty-nine she was still in the grip of the stuff.
Her "boyfriend" at the time was an old chum from my past and their living arrangement was more horrifying than what you see on "Hoarders". It will haunt me for the rest of my days.

I'm clean this past twenty-five years, but I'm sure all those old horror figures could be coaxed out of the woodwork easily.
I'm sure that would create some lurid red meat for the press.

 

[MovingPictures]

He never said what for...

Regardless, it's none of my business if he wishes to keep the details private, and I fully understand.

 

[Xelor]

No, PTA is all volunteers. I only brought it up because there are only so many elected positions, but lots of people trying to be proactive and moving policy along...often in payless $$ jobs with lots of other satisfaction.

Okay.

 

[MovingPictures]

And that is why religion proliferates: give reality a good look in the face and you can do one of two things (1) despair but hold on, (2) delude yourself into believing that after all the ****ing bull****, there will be clouds and eternal ecstasy that doesn't ever bore you.







For eternity.

:thinking

Mortality is what gives our lives meaning.

 

[Checkerboard Strangler]

And yeah, I've now put it all out there so no one can accuse me of hiding my past.
I am not afraid or ashamed, just a bit smarter now, having paid rather dearly.

 

[marke]

Have you ever considered running for elected office or accepting appointed public office?

• Yes - elected office
• Yes -- accepting appointed office
• No -- elected office
• No -- accepting appointed office

My brother ran for state house 40 years ago, but lost to the entrenched democrat incumbent by 20 points in the primary. I told him he should have advertised. The dinosaur incumbent lost the general election that year to a republican.

My dad was president of the Oklahoma A&M student body in his junior year. He also excelled in baseball, football and basketball in high school. He even competed and did well in golf and tennis. But he never became a politician, thank God. besides, he was not properly following Jesus in his youth in spite of having excellent guidance from a godly mother.

My grandfather was close personal friends with Wilbur Mills of Arkansas for decades and they often went hunting and fishing together. I am old enough to realize no Christian is likely to gain prominence in today's badly secularized atheistic political climate. I held leadership positions in high school and at West Point Prep School, but I learned early on that success in politics often requires more compromises than I would be willing to make.

 

[JMR]

Once upon a time I thought it was what I wanted to do.

Obama taught me better, that politics takes idealism and a desire to do good, eats it, digests it and ****s it out for it to be flushed and end up pumped into the ocean to kill a few fish.

I've become pretty cynical in my old age.

No!

 

[Mr Person]

Mortality is what gives our lives meaning.

Eternity, even of bliss, sounds like a hell to me. Not nearly as horrific as the idea of eternal torture (seriously, who thinks this **** up). Infinitely better. Yet, still, existence beyond the forgetting of the concept of time.

No thanks, I think. But what do I know...