"Body" of Evidence

The political world never ceases to amaze and astound me.

First it was the election of Barack Obama as president— something I never even dared to hope that my country would be capable of doing. Then it was the idea that people— rational, educated American adults— would take seriously any political statement that came out of the mouth of Miss California.

And now?

Jesse "The Body" Ventura— former wrestler, infamous governor of Minnesota, and dubious movie actor— just talked intelligently about torture.

Wow.

And the more I read about him, the more I feel like I might have been wrong about him. As a teenager, I remember laughing when he was elected, and thinking, "Are these the sorts of people I want making decisions in my government— brainless former wrestlers?" To me, the election of Ventura stood for what I thought was wrong about elections in general: the emphasis on celebrity and personality instead of positions on issues and actual qualifications.

But y'know, maybe he got a bad rap. I've been reading up on him tonight, and I completely disagree with him on fiscal issues and unions...but I like that he didn't seem fazed about standing up for minorities. He supports gay rights, abortion rights, and the separation of church and state; he made public transportation (including light rail) a priority, and he vetoed a bill requiring the recitation of the Pledge of Allegiance in public schools, which I think was pretty brave.

I dunno— I still think he was under qualified, but at the same time, I'm hesitant to define that necessary qualification. I mean, isn't that issue always at the heart of our democracy? Aren't we all secretly hoping, deep down inside, that the next great leader will come, not from law school or the business sector, but from the unremarkable masses?

Ah, well. It's a confusing thing to think about; that line of thinking brings us to a sense of egalitarianism that we sorely need nowadays, but it also gave birth to the presidency of George W. Bush. The problem, perhaps, is that we need not confuse obscure origins with general mediocrity. Great men can live amongst us, can work beside us, and we might never know it unless they could be given a chance to lead. That just doesn't mean that men who are mediocre at heart will one day turn great.

Anyways...I wish I'd been old enough to really research him properly when he was governor. He seems like an interesting (but strange) person.