Larry J said:

>I think there are a lot of people in the US who could do the job
>but simply aren't willing to put themselves and their families
>through the media anal exam, constant defamation, and overall
>harassment that comes with high level politics.

I'm reminded of Douglas Adam's book "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy". A fun concept in the book was that anyone who actually wanted to be President was by definition unfit to hold the job. Adam's solution was to have a "public president" (Zaphod Beeblebrox) who was a narcissist buffoon. This public president would strut and preen before the news media but held no actual political power. The real president was selected in secret and kept hidden from the public. The real president was a solipsist who only accepted undisputable facts examined under perfect reason (all he could really do was doubt the existance of everything around him and be kind to his cat).

In all seriousness, there is something to be said for a "qualified franchise". The original concept of the Founding Fathers was for the public to elect a College of Electors who would then select a President. We all know that the College of Electors is little more than a Supreme Soviet with no discretion of its own and merely rubberstamps a pre-pledged candidate. Rather than abandon the College of Electors as many propose, I wonder if the concept could be repaired to function as originally intended by the Founding Fathers?

Gary