A Conundrum

I have been reading Robin Sharma's, "The Greatness Guide", again and I came across a quote that I had underlined previously by neurologist, Donald Caine. This time, however, it hit me in a different way. I just stared at it for a while trying to gather my thoughts. Here are some:

First the quote: "The essential difference between emotion and reason is that emotion leads to action while reason leads to conclusion." 

I have been turning over and over in my mind, for quite some time now, the simple question, 'how could so many Americans be so stupid and so idiotic, so unthinking, as to put Obama in the White House?' And thus the quote, above, has finally shed some light on the issue for me. I am admitted that he was an attractive candidate in that he was young, well spoken, energetic and black. Yet... really are those qualities enough... or rather SHOULD those qualities be enough to make someone the President of the most important country on the earth?

 He had so many down sides... The  most liberal senator in the Senate, a short and spotty history, no substantial career background, years of attending  a church where the pastor had a history of being antagonistic to the country, numerous votes of "absent" on important issues instead of taking a stand, and we still have not seen a legitimate birth certificate for Pete's sake! For all we know he may not even be legally qualified to be the president!

So much on the down side! And yet... and yet, a slight majority of Americans put him in power. How could they be so foolish?!

Now... I also must admit that the other side did not offer much in the way of an alternative. I have never really understood why the US system allows anyone to vote in the primaries as opposed to just the members of the particular party. I do not think that McCain was an attractive candidate for the Republicans. There were others who had more intellectual weight, and better policy positions etc., etc. I also admit that Bush, in many respects, was a disappointment. (that is a discussion for another time.) 

So... here we are, this conundrum with respect to emotion and reason.

What is needed in politics and governmental leadership is intelligence, thinking, logical analysis. A well thought out sense of right and wrong, a healthy and intelligent understanding and respect of and for the constitution. In short, a reasoned approach that leads to useful, helpful and masterful conclusions as pertaining to public policy and national and international leadership!

And yet... as we continually see... the masses, or at least a great many, vote for these political 'leaders' based, in many cases, almost completely on emotion.