In Empire, the leadership of a nation can determine whether it will be successful or not. In the United States of America, we get to determine who will lead our country through voting for president every 4 years. This is an extremely relevant topic as the next leader of this powerful nation will be determined this coming Tuesday, November 8, 2016. There are several candidates, but America has a two party system, so the only two that are really being talked about are the Democratic representative, Hillary Clinton, and the Republican representative, Donald Trump. If Hillary gets elected she will be the first ever female president of the United States.
Something that I find interesting about Presidential elections and the office of president is that though anyone fulfilling the requirements to become President can theoretically become president, in all honesty, it is very unlikely for someone without money or fame to become president. In order to become the President of the United States you must be born in America, or have a parent who is an American citizen at the time of your birth (you must be a “natural born” citizen). You must be at least 35 years old. And finally you must have lived in the United States for at least 14 years.
With those requirements it seems as though ANYONE could be the President, just as we were all taught in elementary school. However, as we grow up we begin to realize that maybe not ANYONE can be President. There have only ever been 9 presidents who did not have college degrees, and the last one served from 1893-1897, so nowadays, if you want to get in the Oval Office, you’re going to need to get your degree, especially in today’s society where you need a college degree to get most jobs. So now on top of the formal requirements you should have a college education if you’re considering running for president.
Another thing, running for President is very EXPEN$IVE! For instance, as of October 19, 2016 Clinton had raised $1.3 billion dollars while Trump raised $795 million, which are both incredibly large amounts of money. Not to mention, they aren’t quite finished yet. Also, that’s only the two big remaining candidates, there were several other candidates who all spent millions on the election as well and didn’t even make it past the primaries. If someone doesn’t have millions of dollars or doesn’t have a way to raise these vast sums of money, they can kiss their hopes of becoming president goodbye. Without the money it’s hard to get your name out there and to get a team of people behind you to help campaign and get your message to the people. To review, you need the basic requirements, plus a degree, plus access to A LOT of money… doesn’t seem like anyone can be president, huh?
Not to mention, there have been several presidents that were related to other presidents, one of which (Hillary Clinton), is running now. Such as George Bush and his son George W. Bush who were both presidents, his other son, Jeb Bush, ran in this election, but didn’t make it past the primaries. Hillary Clinton is married to former president, Bill Clinton, so if she becomes President, she will not only be the first female president, but she will also be the first President to have been married to another President. Being related to another President is not necessary, but it definitely helps.
The next time you hear someone telling a child that “anyone can be President” just remember that not ANYONE can be President. There are so many informal requirements to becoming President that without connections in some place or other it would be nearly impossible to become the President of the United States. And in all honesty, though some things, like having money and connections, shouldn’t limit someone from being President, being arguably the leader of the most powerful empire in the world, there should definitely be some limitations on who can and can’t take the office. You wouldn’t want someone who has a below average IQ making decisions about how this nation will run. You wouldn’t want someone who doesn’t know what a nuke is and what it can do to be in charge of the military. This is exaggeration, but basically, the Presidential office should be limited to those who are fit to run it, not those who have enough money to scrawl their name on every building and billboard in sight.
Empire state of mind 