If I ever have a problem with my brain (beyond the obvious pre-existing ones) I have a very strict rule about any neurologist I go to see. Specifically, I don’t want to be treated by a career neurologist. I’m not interested in someone who has spent their life immersed in the swamp of Big Neurology. No siree. I will insist on a neurologist who at most has dabbled in brain stuff a little bit, or, preferably, will never have thought of any other brain with his own brain before in his life.
Now, you may be thinking, “Daylin, you are an idiot”. You may have been thinking that a long time. And that’s because you have a brain, probably one that was not operated on by the doctor I plan to use. But that, knowing-stuff-is-bad and experience-is-evil mindset is the philosophy behind many insane presidential boomlets in recent years. Most recently, it has brought us the rumored plan of presidential candidate and human bucket of conspiracies RFK Jr. to choose Jets Quarterback and fellow achilles-tendon sufferer Aaron Rogers as his Vice-President.
To be clear, because it is both obvious and utterly unbelievable, I mean Vice President of the United States.
Even putting aside the horrific Sandy Hook denialism and vaccine wackiness that attracted Kennedy to Rogers, and putting aside the fact running for and then serving as Vice President during the Jets playoff run (as if…) Mr. Rogers has a huge threshold problem. He has absolutely zero political or government experience. He’s never held or run for any office. He’s never served on any relevant staff. Maybe he voted. Maybe he’s read a newspaper. But there’s no convincing evidence he has. And given his views on the few issues he’s opined about, he apparently gets most of his news by picking through Alex Jones’ trash dumpster.
I’m not a fan of people who have never been involved in government starting at the very top. Aaron Rogers has played football his whole life. He’s been a good quarterback. I mean, I could do better. I’ve just never been asked. But while throwing a ball to an open receiver is honest work, we’d never put someone with that resume in charge of a major hospital system or a financial management firm, or even a fast-food restaurant. Why, oh why, would we put him in charge of our nation’s health care, negotiating legislation with Congress and confronting Putin?
I’m all for people of many different backgrounds getting involved in politics. If you are a football player, or an auto mechanic, or maybe a reality TV show star, and you want to run for office, great! By all means! But maybe start by running for State Rep, or City Council. Learn a little something. THEN you can ask us for the nuclear codes.
Unfortunately, the egos of celebrity candidates usually leads them to believe that anything less than the very top is beneath them. If King of the Planet was an elected position, they’d run for that.
It seems apparent that Kennedy has no interest in Rogers for his depth of historical knowledge or his supple and nuanced views on Jeffersonian versus Madisonian democracy. According to the media reports about this possible political marriage, Kennedy thinks Rogers is cool and fun to hike with. And he appreciates his utter rejection of all peer-reviewed science on vaccines. But all of these are pretty cavalier reasons to put a man a heartbeat away from running the free world.
This embrace of palpably unqualified people to hold our highest offices is part of a long downward trajectory of American democracy. Can people be convinced democracy is really worth saving if we are so frivolous about who it’s guardians are?
I trace this back to 2008. When John McCain picked Sarah Palin to be his Vice President. By so doing, he sent the message that none of this is serious. Sarah Palin, in addition to being a “hockey mom” with a bunch of kids named things like Trig, Pogo, Mustard and Barn Door, had recently been the mayor of a town like 80 people. From that moment forward, the idea that anybody could become president was transformed into ANYBODY could become president.
Sarah Palin led directly to Donald Trump, who would have been considered a preposterous choice for President at any time earlier in our nation’s history. Now, you no longer need a long history of serving our nation to lead it. You just have to be a good quarterback (does anyone think that Rogers would be in the running if he had been a shitty quarterback?). It’s easy to make jokes about the course of our nation and the quality of it’s leaders. But it’s actually quite tragic.