Will I run for office? The short answer is ‘no’; the longer answer is ‘no way’

I’ve been reading your articles in the last two weeks and find myself agreeing with what you say. Have you ever thought about running for office? We need people like you!

Have I thought about it? Yes. Do I have any intention of doing it now? No.

There was a time in the past when I believed it was possible to bring about change through the electoral political system, so I was seriously interested in running for office. Or maybe I was simply still egotistical enough to believe that maybe I could make a difference. Either way, I don’t believe now it’s possible to solve the problems, both because of the size of the problems and because of the nature of the voting public.

Even if I thought it might be possible — in the pragmatic sense — to fix things, I’ve come to the conclusion that the entire system of choosing a person to “run the country” is pretty darned immoral. (I know we have Congress to technically make the laws, but you know what I mean.) I’m happy to have you join us. If you stick around (and maybe poke through older articles), I think my position on this will become more clear. Either way, you flatter me by suggesting the possibility. Thanks.

I am currently a sophomore enrolled at [Big Name] University. I am currently in a Political Science course, in which I have to write a paper explaining the purpose of radical thought in our political tradition. I read a few of your columns on radical ideas and I was curious to see what role you think radical thought plays in U.S politics. Thanks in advance.

You’d have to be way more specific than that for me to even hope to give you any useful answer, but off the top of my head I’ll say that pretty much any change that’s ever happened in this country — even going back to its founding — was a “radical idea” before people accepted it. The idea of independence from Britain was pretty radical. The idea of freeing slaves was radical. The idea of women voting was radical. The idea of prohibiting people from drinking alcohol was radical. And on and on and on. Every break with the status quo seems radical at first, but once more people accept it, it seems obvious.

We are doing a writing project in our government class about the election and I am writing about President Obama and Mr. Romney the Republican. Can you tell me how thier position on issues is different and why they are different? It would save me a lot of research and you sound like you would know. Thank you.

This sounds like a way to get me to do your research. I’ll make you a deal. If you write me a really killer article that’s worth publishing here, I’ll write the answer your teacher is looking for you to do and you can turn it in if you don’t mind cheating. (I can offer this deal since I know you won’t take it.)

But the very short answer to your question is that the two men are pretty much identical except for skin color.

Do you think something terrible is going to happen in 2012? Also, what do you think about the chemtrails they’re spraying our atmosphere with? Don’t you agree the New World Order is trying to kill a large part of the population slowly so they can take us over?

I think a lot of bad things are going to happen in 2012. I also think a lot of really great things are going to happen in 2012. But there’s absolutely zero evidence that it’s the end of the world or that the Mayans predicted something bad. That’s just superstitious nonsense. If you don’t believe me, check back on new year’s day of 2013 and we’ll discuss the concept of gullibility.

As for so-called “chemtrails,” please take off the tin foil hat. I don’t trust much of anything that government says or does at face value, but nothing about the whole chemtrail conspiracy has ever made any sense. There’s nothing to it. Now if you’ll excuse me, I have a black helicopter to catch for a meeting with the Masons and the Illuminati. I think the Bilderbergers are coming, too. But thanks for writing.

If you have a question for David, drop him a line at davidmcelroy@mac.com. He can’t promise to answer all questions, but he’ll try. He also can’t promise not to make fun of you if the question is especially funny.