An interesting move for near-stereotypical "Strength Through Peace" Democrat nominee Dennis Kucinich: contemplation of a Republican running mate. While many of us may see this as a terrible idea- the thought of constant clashes due to ideological differences weighing heavily on us, the concept behind it is interesting. While Kucinich is running the election to- more or less- gain name recognition- as he is currently a long shot candidate (His claims of seeing a UFO certainly aren't helping him in the poles, methinks...) his tactics in his consideration of using Republican Ron Paul are interesting. The idea of creating a balance of power, more or less another system of a check and balance between the parties, has merit in much the same way that communism looks good on paper.
Although this strategy in the split President / Vice President party runners is interesting, history tells us that this sort of a setup has not worked well. Before the running mate system had taken its hold, when the second place candidate for President became VP, it became abundantly clear that having different ideologies in the top levels of the government brought about nothing but trouble. Constant disagreement in the upper level of the government may seen nice as a form of checks and balances, but it is these same checks and balances that would prevent a government from getting anything done.
IF (In the rare, rare chance...) Kucinich were to run on a platform of split views between the President and Vice President I would predict him losing a large amount of both parties votes. Let's see how this one turns out, Kucinich!
[Source: http://blog.cleveland.com/openers/2007/11/if_kucinich_wins_nomination_ro.html ]
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
Like you said in your update, it is pretty obvious Kucinich is not in the race to win, and I wonder if this idea of a republican running mate is sincere or merely a gimic to get his name out there. This concern for checks and balances is suspicious. Why would someone run for an office of power if they only want to share it. The system of checks and balances works because each individual branch of government works hard to keep as much power as possible. If the executive branch itself were split, the judicial and legislative branches would steamroller it.
Incidentally, John Kerry seemed to be floating the idea of a split-ticket with McCain as his VP, which the latter turned down. It's really too bad for McCain; had he joined Kerry, they probably would have won the election, and President Kerry would have had to give McCain quite a bit of influence in the Oval Office just to keep him from embarrassing the president. Instead, McCain supported Bush in 2004, but Bush still doesn't trust him, and the support McCain expected to find from the president in 2008 hasn't materialized. Sometimes the sacrifices you make don't pay off at all.
Post a Comment