Ticked off

by P. Z. Aberasturi

I do not like polls or surveys.  A poll or survey will immediately ask you for a Presidential candidate, and you, without conscious deliberation, will pick one. It robs a voter of the chance for an informed vote.
I just realized that I choose people everyday. Who makes breakfast?  Who watches the kids?  Who drives me to places? Who runs my shop? Who do I spend the rest of my life with? And how do I pick them? Definitely not through a list with tick-off boxes.  And definitely not only because everyone else said so.  It would be like going around the household, the office, or my little world, with a sheet of paper, my candidates lined-up and choosing the one with the most number of ticks. I will not have it. The ticks will have weight, but not bear its brunt.  My fortunate cook, nanny, driver, employee, and the unfortunate husband, have been chosen after insightful and earnest evaluation, and especially with as much freedom as I can muster.
Evaluations sheets.  That ought to be the cardinal way in choosing a President. The candidates are pitted against each other based on objective yet high ideals that you have set.  Your own criteria of what makes a perfect President.  Mine would be: (1) Wisdom; (2) Integrity; (3) Adherence to Truth; (4) Compassion; (5) Morality; (4) Competence; and (5) Past Record of Achievement. There might still be some element of bias, but the process allows more objectivity, and will especially require me to think/feel through my answers.
It seems foolish that we do evaluation sheets when we choose our employees or partners and yet have a different means for choosing our President.  Being swayed by surveys would be like choosing an employee or a husband, because everyone said so.  Would you choose an employee, based only on his popularity, his high marks, or contacts?  Will you be lured by his smile and promise that he will work his ass off for you? Of course not.  At a minimum, you will do a background check, and see what he has done in the past.  With a host of boyfriends, whom do you marry?  The one who everyone likes? A dashing debonair who’s all wit and charm but has nothing but a muddied past to show for? The millionaire who promises you diamonds, this and that? A boyfriend you once left because he hurt you? Of course not. At a bare minimum, you will give each boyfriend a fair chance and  apart from the promises of a happy life, you will know whom to choose by looking at what he has done for you all these years.
And yet, while we make informed choices in picking partners, our employees, even house help, we prevail on tick boxes and popular choices for our President.  Come on, this is the Presidency!   I truly hate surveys and polls. It’s an affront to human intelligence and freedom.