PRESIDENTIAL POLITICS 2012 HEATING UP...........

Now that for the third time in twenty two years, businessman and celebrity entrepreneur, Donald Trump, has publicly flirted with becoming a candidate for President of the United States, and decided after a protracted period of testing the waters, and milking the opportunity for self promotion of whatever project he is entered into, not to run; and with President Obama, a declared candidate for re-election next year - the prospective field of Republican aspirants for the 2012 Presidential nomination is starting to shape up.  Newt Gingrich; Gary Johnson; Ron Paul; Herman Cain; declared candidates - and Mitt Romney; Tim Pawlenty; Jon Huntsman; Mitch Daniels; Buddy Roemer; likely to enter the race in coming weeks; Haley Barbour; and Mike Huckabee; have taken themselves out of the race - while Sarah Palin; Michelle Bachman; John Bolton; Peter King; and Rudy Guiliani; are still considering bids - there are as many as 39 potential candidates for the GOP nomination, forming exploratory committees and weighing their candidacies for the opportunity to run for President of the United States of America, next year.  Of the fourteen potential Presidential candidates named above, seven are current or former Governors, four of them, with fair to very good chances of being nominated.  Sadly however, with each Presidential Election cycle, the substantial and the sublime, seem to get increasingly interwined to the extent, that our elections for President, to the highest office in this country, and the most awesome political and governmental position in the whole world, take on a circus-like dimension, that undermines the serious and substantive importance of the campaigns and the issues, all Presidential candidates need to bring to this most vital of electoral contests.  The denegration of Presidents ability to govern over the past generation plus; teemed with the tendency to politicize the term of office, as well as, the campaign period, ill serves our country and the Presidency.  The longer the campaigns have become, the more frivilous much of it is.  Many other countries throughout the world seem to have the better practice.  A brief, intense, seriously focused, campaign period for nominating, campaigning, and electing, a President, prime minister, or national leader, makes much more sense and would be more efficient.  Given the magnitude of our geography as a nation, a five or six week presidential campaign and election are not feasible.  But a well defined, and monitored, campaign from ThanksGiving of the year before the quadrennial Presidential General Election, allowing ample time for primaries, caucuses, nominating conventions, campaigning, and debates, is more than sufficient a timeline by which to elect a President.  Until thirty five years ago, most Presidential campaigns did not begin until early in the actual Election year.  What have we gained by a much longer, more expensive, and circus like campaign season ?  Better Candidates ?  Better Presidents ?  Or a worsening, politicizing, of what is arguably the most important vote we make every four years, for the common good of the USA, and the betterment of the community of nations ?  Trump-like, personal interest only, candidates need to step aside, and let the Presidential Election Campaign, be run by serious, experienced, well qualified, candiates of all political stripes, who can articulate, and have the ability to enact a productive administration of governance...........Hopeful, But Not Holding My Breath, As Political Reform And Renew Must Become Ongoing Realities, Not Political Shenanigans,   Fr.  Troy