Why can't a middle class person run for president?

Question

Why do you have to be super rich to run, why can't we have someone who has lived in our shoes run? Don't you think a middle class person would do a better job?

Answer 1

As a reporter for many years, politics has been a forte of mine. Lord knows that this is the first year I have been of age to run, but money is a key issue in running these days. When it comes to the Presidential Election, it has become more of a trophy hunt than a political process. You ask how I come to that conclusion? I have seen both parties fail to give us a good choice. It has been the lesser of two evils. Why is that? Because they are all about party agendas. There are no true statesmen running for office. No one cares about the greater good of the nation as did the founding fathers. If you read presidential history, you will find that 90% of the presidents we have had have never been effective. I will even say that many lied about issues in order to get there. No surprise there. Look at Abe Lincoln. In his two innaugural speeches, he actually said he would not free the slaves, and had no intention of doing so. He really didn't lie about that. He never really did free the slaves. The Confederates did with Article 14 of the Confederate Constitution. It stated that if blacks did a tour of duty for a year, they and their families would have their freedom. They also said that when the war was over, they would be freed as well. Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation did nothing. If you read it word for word, he only mentioned that slavery wouldn't exist in the Southern states that he had no control over at the time. Never does he mention the slave states in the north. In modern times, look at Bush. He lied about weapons of mass destruction in Iraq. There's been no evidence of that at all. Why do you think Colon Powell left in the first term? He also has yet to uphold protection of our nation at the borders. He wants amnesty for illegal immigrants. Weren't illegal immigrants used to fly into the twin towers? Look at Hillary. She was asked about the Whitewater scandal that occurred during the Clinton administration, which she was the focus of. Now, she says that was all Bill. She was diverting attention from him at the time. What does that say about her as the next president? She's a good old tax and spend democrat. Bush is a tax and spend republican. There is no consistency in either party. They have platforms, but the lobbyists keep their special interests fixed in Washington by donating their funds to candidates who go along with the lobbyist's position. It is so corrupt, that there is no real choice. Heck, the popular vote doesn't really matter whn it comes to who the parties choose will be their candidate. They'll choose who they want anyway, as will the Electoral College. Look at Bush and Gore's election. What we need to do is go back to the Constitution, and live by it, and erase the other contradictory junk that has been passed in the past 230 years.

Answer 2

Because someone who is middle class, just a regular working person, has nothing to gain recognition and political clout with.

If they haven't achieved significantly in private life, do they really have the drive, the ambition, the contacts (yes, contacts are very important - crucial, in fact), the experience to be able to even get party recognition, and without party backing of some sort, they will not have the organizational backing or revenue-generating capability to even get on the primary ballot, let alone be able to take the time off to stump around the country.

It's not about $$, but that helps, because it means you move in circles of business and political movers and shakers, it means you have clout, that you have recognition within the system.

But, it is more important to be part of the political society. Whether as a governor, or even mayor, or as a member of Congress, or as an administration official or general in the military.

A middle class person generally has not managed significant budgets, has not run a significant organization as an executive, has not commanded thousands of men, has not been deeply involved in a national legislative process, and has not made decisions that have wide-ranging national or international implications.

So, other than age and nationality, what demonstrated capability do they bring to the race? Not much, in political terms.

That's how it works.

Answer 3

No reasen why they can't except for two reasons
1. They need political backing AND

2. They need money money money and more money.
The reason super rich run is because the have both 1 and 2 Common people as you and I do not have 1 and 2 A middle class person should be able to do a better job IF and I repeat IF they do not let those in power to influence them. We would have to have more than one person of that persuasion in office for a better job to be done for AMERICANS

Answer 4

A middle class person may or may not doa better job. They would have to be well educated.

Either way, politics involves tons of money. If you are not a wealthy politician, you cannot raise the funds to get enough publicity.

I could run for president, but all I could afford to do was to hand out a few fliers. That isn't going to get me very far.

Bottom line, advertising requires money and middle class doesn't have enough. It's a true shame, but it's also what gives us our freedom.

The free market economy and competition are the true factors which are prohibiting a standard citizen from running successfully. REgulars tun all the time, but go unnoticed.

Answer 5

Anyone who is over 35 years old (I believe) and registered to vote can run for President of the United States. Running and winning is another matter and unless they had some super human means of communicating with the public (better then Reagan or Clinton) they'd never get very far. It takes close to $300 million to run a presidential campaign and while that might sound bad we spend 5x on Pizza every year what people spend on all political campaigns.

Answer 6

A person doesn't have to be rich in order to run for president. They do, however, have to have the ability to generate cash flow by generating enthusiasm. The more well known they are, the easier that is. A middle class person would be starting ground zero with no funding and would be completely unknown to the public and to special interest groups.

Answer 7

I don't really think it is a fact that a middle class person can't run as it is the money needed to run. Generally the higher echelon have supporters that will pay large amounts of money in support.

Anyone can actually run for the presidency.

Answer 8

Bill Clinton, Ronald Reagan, and Richard Nixon were all born middle to working class and were recent presidents.

I believe that Hillary and Obama were both born middle class, I don't know about the rest but I bet many of them were born middle class also. Most politicians actually come from the middle class.

Anyone smart enough to become president would probably have pulled themselves up in the class structure by the time they are old enough to run for president. It's not were they are when the run that is important (important to me anyway, I vote for people with similar economic backgrounds to myself), it's were they came from.

Answer 9

Technically, I beleive that a middle class person can run for president because we have such an open voting system, however, they are shut down due to the popularity or the 2 main presidential parties (democrats and republicans). Middle class people (just a guess) probably don't have the money or support to run for president.

Answer 10

They can. There is nothing in the rules to keep them from it. However, the average cost of even a small campaign is so outrageous that most middle class people cannot afford it. They could get funds from supporters, but they usually don't have the same connections as their richer counterparts. Then, let's say they make it into the race, they'd have to be an independent candidate. Two things are against them. 1. most folks vote along party lines, and the US is a two party system for the most part. 2. No one would know who they were. They wouldn't have the same name recogintion as the bigger candidates to draw votes. Some people just vote for a person coz they know who it is, even if they don't know what they stand for.

Now, as to whether they can do a better job......... I don't think money or the lack thereof qualifies one for president. I don't think that every middle-class person has had the same life I have had. And many middle-classers I know share the same views as the upper-classers, so it wouldn't 'benefit' me just because it was a middle-class person. You could just as easily plug in "woman", "African/Asian/Native/Jewish person", "Gay/Lesbian" to replace "middle-class" person and get the same answer. What you are doesn't benefit the country as much as what you do.