Much of the criticism of Donald Trump starts with or includes the notion that he’s not qualified to be president. He is, of course, qualified in the sense that he meets the constitutional requirements for the office, so the stated concern about his qualifications is really more about his unconventional approach to his candidacy and, ultimately, his office.
If traditional qualifications for office don’t matter, as Trump’s supporters — and, to be fair, the supporters of many candidates for national office before him — explicitly or implicitly believe, then Donald Trump is certainly not alone.
There are clearly many other “unqualified” Americans worth considering for the presidency– or for any elected office in the United States.
Who are they and how do we find them? I’d suggest three simple criteria:
First, they have to be public personalities or citizens on the cusp of becoming public personalities due to their prominence in something.
Second, they should be people who are not controversial in a political sense — in other words, not already associated with strong political sentiment that would repel a significant portion of the voting public.
Third, they should be persons that everyone agrees are — for the most part — respectable and respected.
My guess is that there are a lot of them out there.
An example is Chris Webber. He’s a former NBA star and current NBA game announcer, genuinely smart person, and — seemingly — all-around good guy. Much of his on-air commentary, while couched in the context of basketball, is easily extrapolated to other parts of life. Chris appears to be an intellectually curious, non-judgemental person who has built on these traits to become wise.
Here is just one of his quotes about basketball that would be a good guideline for the kind of unconventional political leader this quest presumes.
“Everything you knew, throw that out and get better.”
There are a lot more.
I’d vote for him.