This rather goes along with my belief that the person we elect should be extraordinary. I work with a lot of "average Americans." I troubleshoot the phones of many "average Americans." I spent many years of my life processing the orders of many small business owners. And I can tell you: the idea of choosing a president based on his "average guy" qualities scares me shitless.Look. There is a reason we call "the average guy" average. Because he's in the middle. Average. When you aim for the White House, to lead the free world, to hold the fate of the Earth in your hands, you shouldn't aspire to average. And this election shouldn't be about average.
Don't get me wrong. Plumbers, when you need them, are more desirable than presidents. I, personally, would be underwater in my home if not for my plumber.
But in politics, we overdo the small picture because we get bored with the big picture. Our eyes glaze over when candidates talk policy. The devil is in the details, but we're not interested in the devil. We'd rather watch, be entertained, be told a story.
We need far more than average when we place the fate of this country in someone's hands.
Average has been fetishized to the point of absurdity. The assault on intellect, the demonization of knowledge, and the worship of the lowest common denominator has gotten frightening.
And that's why we're here, my swarthy crew. We know that aspiring to the mundane does nothing for humanity. Wasting away in the doldrums of the average gets us nowhere. Deliberately refusing to fill our sails with genius and sail toward brilliant achievement just because not everyone can get there is pathetically limiting. We should aspire. We should inspire.
Average is the backbone of any society. But it takes more than a backbone to run a civilization: it takes brains.
Huzzah to Mitch Albom for making that case so succinctly.
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