They’re All Bad
By 
Yesterday I saw some people talking about how every person who runs for president should automatically be disqualified. It’s a popular sentiment that’s been around for a long time. And I hate it.
I hate it because it’s lazy thinking that doesn’t allow for nuance. Every person on the planet (except for Donald Trump, who is really just a sentient whoopee cushion) contains multitudes. People are complex and flawed.
It’s true that no one who runs for president is going to suffer from low self-esteem. But that’s a probably a good thing. There’s a reason I’m not running and it’s not just because I would be criminally unqualified. People don’t want Neurotic Eeyore as a leader, and they shouldn’t!
I think the vast majority of people run for president because they want to help people, because they have an actual interest governing, they have a vision for the country they’d like to see enacted through policy. That doesn’t mean they don’t enjoy the considerable perks that come with the job, but, as I said, people contain multitudes.
Cynicism can be good and useful in evaluating the political field–critical even. But in the end I think this kind of thinking is immensely damaging and leads to a kind of stupid, lazy cynicism we really don’t need right now. Besides, this is all moot. The clear choice for 2020 is right before us:
This is a good time to announce I'm running. #ReimagineUS. Ketchup–banned. Federal law saying anything with vodka is not called a martini. The Dakotas–merged. https://t.co/TisFh1ATlY
— Erik Loomis (@ErikLoomis) January 28, 2019