The value of experience
Did you see what I did in that last post? I mentioned my BA in Public Policy. It was a hard-fought education... I designed my own major and took 104 hours in Economics and Political Science, along with another 15 hours in History, in addition to the rest of my Liberal Arts curriculum. And you know what? It does NOT qualify me to run for VP. No way, no how! I only mention this because the hours and hours and hours I put into learning about how our government functions, and how our world's governments function, how the markets work, what our role is in the world... all of this is MORE than Sarah Palin has put into her education. And what do I do now? I work in databases.
Why?
Because government is HARD. You can't walk into government with a BA and expect to get anywhere. You have to go to law school. You have to work 16 hour days for $5/hour, while wearing a suit and heels. You have to learn from others who know more than you do. And you have to work your way up. Unless you're Sarah Palin. Then you can take your folksy ways, your '90s hair-do and your WB-named children into the spotlight and tell women that you are "just like them" while at the same time opposing everything that has helped women even enter the higher ranks of government in the first place.
One of the best parts of my legislative classes was the simulation. It was "groundbreaking software" at the time that allowed us to spend 2 hours attempting to balance a budget, make laws and get re-elected, every choice we made fed into a computer to see what the result would be. And you know what? It was HARD. Nobody successfully balanced their faux-budget, nobody made everyone happy, and though a few of us managed to get re-elected, that seemed like a small victory in light of our failure to properly govern our sim-populations. I doubt Palin has ever even tried something like this. She wouldn't think she'd need to, what with her mayoral experience.
I'm sorry, I was laughing too hard to type.
Here's the deal with experience.... it matters! Call me an elitist? Sure. Whatever. I want my President to be SMARTER THAN ME. Because I know, even with my BA, I don't know how to run the country. I don't know how to appease foreign nations or strengthen the economy. I want somebody SMARTER THAN ME to do it. I trust education, I trust intelligence, I trust experience. I don't trust PR reps. I don't trust somebody who doesn't value education and experience. I don't trust people that aren't smart enough to know WHY education and experience are important.
Another "elitist" New York Times column for you here.
I'll get back to talking about happy hour and the cats later.
Why?
Because government is HARD. You can't walk into government with a BA and expect to get anywhere. You have to go to law school. You have to work 16 hour days for $5/hour, while wearing a suit and heels. You have to learn from others who know more than you do. And you have to work your way up. Unless you're Sarah Palin. Then you can take your folksy ways, your '90s hair-do and your WB-named children into the spotlight and tell women that you are "just like them" while at the same time opposing everything that has helped women even enter the higher ranks of government in the first place.
One of the best parts of my legislative classes was the simulation. It was "groundbreaking software" at the time that allowed us to spend 2 hours attempting to balance a budget, make laws and get re-elected, every choice we made fed into a computer to see what the result would be. And you know what? It was HARD. Nobody successfully balanced their faux-budget, nobody made everyone happy, and though a few of us managed to get re-elected, that seemed like a small victory in light of our failure to properly govern our sim-populations. I doubt Palin has ever even tried something like this. She wouldn't think she'd need to, what with her mayoral experience.
I'm sorry, I was laughing too hard to type.
Here's the deal with experience.... it matters! Call me an elitist? Sure. Whatever. I want my President to be SMARTER THAN ME. Because I know, even with my BA, I don't know how to run the country. I don't know how to appease foreign nations or strengthen the economy. I want somebody SMARTER THAN ME to do it. I trust education, I trust intelligence, I trust experience. I don't trust PR reps. I don't trust somebody who doesn't value education and experience. I don't trust people that aren't smart enough to know WHY education and experience are important.
Another "elitist" New York Times column for you here.
I'll get back to talking about happy hour and the cats later.