The Power to Dictate

You could see by the look on his face that I surprised grandpa when I asked him this question. “Grandpa, what would you do if you ever was elected as the president of this country?”

His mouth was agape as he stared at me as if to wonder where that question came out of the blue. When he finally collected his thoughts he said;

“ A good question, boy, a question all of us should ask ourselves at times when we complain about how our President is running this country. Being in charge of running this country is probably one of the most thankless jobs anybody could have. No matter what you do you will be criticized for it.

The duties of that office are such that they should transcend all political ideologies. The reason being is that the President has taken an oath to execute the laws of this nation and he may be ideologically opposed to a lot of them. Another thing is that existing laws may restrict him on how he can carry out his duties and that in itself can result in conflict of interests.

So, boy, in answer to your question, the only way that your grandfather would be elected as the president of this country is if he were elected by a write in vote because he would never seek the office. If that impossibility ever occurred then the only answer I could give you is that I’d do nothing. I’d be very grateful that the people had that kind of confidence in me but I’d end up declining the privilege that they were offering. I say that because as the President of this country I could never achieve the goals I would set for myself as the leader of this nation.

What most persons never think about when they argue politics is that they are arguing from a view of how they would run this country but it wouldn’t be as the President. They are arguing from a view of being a dictator for that would be the only way that their ideas of government could be achieved. Furthermore, those dictatorial powers would have to be absolute. That would appear to be a self-contradictory statement considering we are a nation that uses the democratic process to determine who rules over us but it still is true.

Therefore, boy, in recognition of this, if I was in a position of absolute power for only a day there is much I would do politically. I will also admit that any changes I would make would place me in the category of being an extremist as I have already defined earlier. In fact, I would venture to say that it would place anybody into that category if given the opportunity. Absolute power has that effect on people.

The difference of changes made is the real question. A lot of people would use that opportunity to try to create a more perfect society. To me, that is not the purpose and intent of government, any government. The role of government in any society is to govern not create. To create is the role of God and it be God who created man as he is but He left it up to the individual to become more perfect. That is the essence of free will. It could also be seen as the purpose and intent of the gift of free will.

Our nation was founded on the principle of opportunities to all. It was not founded on the principle of equality of all. It is up to each of us as individuals to seek our own level of contentment within society. It is not for others to determine what that level should be.

So, boy, given what I have just said what changes would you make if given the opportunity of being dictator for a day?”

I just smiled although within me I was grumbling because grandpa had turned my question around on me as I said,

"I need to think on that one a bit, grandpa.”

He just grinned as he said,

“Do that, boy, I’d like to hear what you have to say, that I surely would.”