We are about halfway through the Republican primary, which ends in late June.
By now, the stereotypes of every candidate are cemented. Mitt Romney is the pseudo-conservative opportunist. Rick Santorum is the manic Puritanical traditionalist. Newt Gingrich is the amoral pit-fighter and Ron Paul is the crazed libertarian.
Frankly, I am rather weary of the process. I have grown sick of the sensationalism. I have grown sick of the “debates” that serve as nothing more than chances for candidates to spew talking points.
Most of all, I have grown sick of the pandering and obvious desire of every candidate to climb to the top, no matter what.
My sentiments on the matter are no doubt shared by others, whether they lie on the right or the left. As the presidential campaign season grows longer every four years, one is inclined to ask the question: Is this the democracy intended by our founders?
It is taken for granted that every candidate craves presidency. They fight ceaselessly among themselves, striving constantly to win America’s hearts and minds.
I cannot help but think of Cincinnatus, one of the first reluctant leaders. An aristocratic farmer, Cincinnatus was called by the Roman Senate in 458 B.C. to become dictator and lead Rome’s armies against rival tribes. Sixteen days after defeating Rome’s enemies in battle, he retired and returned to his farm.
While this story may seem remote, America had its own Cincinnatus: George Washington. After the Revolutionary War, political elites begged Washington to become king. He declined, and after the ratification of the Constitution, he ran for president. While he could have ruled in perpetuity, he chose not to and retired after two terms. This set a precedent for later American presidents.
As Americans, we should long for this sort of leader — one who desires the presidency not for personal achievement, but out of a sense of duty. As I scan the current field, such a candidate is not present.
Romney is the consummate careerist, leveraging his time at Bain Capital into political positioning. Gingrich and Santorum are both career politicians. Ron Paul, with his ideological consistency, perhaps fits the bill most closely . However, he has been running for president for the past 20 years.
Barack Obama has been campaigning his entire political career, spending a few cursory years in the Senate before campaigning for presidency.
There are no doubt many reasons for this. It is within the genetic makeup of humanity to desire power. Individuals such as Cincinnatus and George Washington are anomalies in the narrative of history.
However, the system is also at fault. The American political system has shifted from an aristocratic democracy to a meritocratic democracy. A society based on merit rather than class has definite economic advantages, but it also creates a paradigm in which the individual is always motivated to move up the political ladder, never satisfied, never willing to cede power to return to the fields.
We long ago shed the patrician class and retain a field of plebeians kicking and eye-gouging in order to climb to the top.
Once again, I am reminded of an aristocratic individual, this time fictional Lord Grantham, from the television show “Downton Abbey.” When his daughter asked why he was willing to cede his estate to another, he replied, “My fortune is the work of others, who labored to build a great dynasty. Do I have the right to destroy their work or impoverish that dynasty? I am a custodian, my dear, not an owner.”
We may never again have a president who views himself or herself as a custodian, not an owner. But we can always hope.
Luke Bailey is a history junior at UF. His column appears on Wednesdays.
