Have a Croissant!

I'm at the gym today trying to make the minutes fly, thinking about a BBC series I just watched on Netflix, "Edward VII," about the English king who succeeded his mother, Queen Victoria.  Checking on the accuracy of the series, I used Wikipedia to look up a number of the characters, including Victoria's first grandchild, Wilhelm II, the last Prussian king.  From what I read, and there's always some dispute on how one reads history, Wilhelm was mainly responsible for World War I.  So, I'm approaching ten minutes on the treadmill and start to wonder how it was (and is) possible for the people of any country to give power to a man (or woman, in the case of Victoria) based on birth.

But  . . . then I started thinking about our own country, where supposedly merits rules, where (and again supposedly) our presidents come to power based on experience, wisdom, talent.  In so many ways Wilhelm II, who pushed Bismarck from power during a fight for social and labor reform (Wilhelm was for reform and Bismarck was against) had far more talent to rule Germany than any of our Republican candidates (or former vice presidential candidates like Sarah Palin) have to rule the United States.  The heirs to the throne, in whatever country, were at least trained from an early age to understand foreign policy, history, and science.  Republican candidates (and admittedly at times Democrats) are often totally ignorant of the world they want to rule.  Sarah Palin, who if McCain had won, would have been next in line for the presidency, didn't know that Queen Elizabeth does not rule England (she's a constitutional monarch). Even worse, she didn't have a clue as to what the Federal Reserve is or does. Apparently, she's never talked to Ron Paul.

Am I suggesting that we revert to a monarchy in the United States? Not at all. I'm just asking how the American people can accept, let alone elect, idiots. How different are Romney, Gingrich, and Santorum from Wilhelm II, who loved war and power, and was willing to sacrifice his people and all of Europe to expand his power.  Other than Ron Paul, the Republican candidates are dying to have a war (the third in ten years) as a way of cementing their power. Even worse are the fools who vote for these men who never having fought in a war themselves think rattling nuclear weapons (in Wilhelm's time it was swords) is acceptable.  Do they really want to blow up the planet? Apparently, yes.  And I don't except Obama, who fearful of losing in November, plays a similar game, if with more subtlety.

I did finally do 20 minutes on the treadmill (not making my usual 30 minutes), perhaps because I thought what's the point.  If we continue as we are, our planet may not be here that much longer. Better to have a croissant!