After World War II and into the sixties with Kennedy, Americans seemed to trust their government in large numbers.

However, today only about 16 percent of Americans trust the government according to People Press. Perhaps if we didn’t have some of the most ridiculous people in office, the trust level wouldn’t resemble a poll showing how many Americans like soccer.

Thinking about our politicians, most are completely underwhelming.

Sometimes people criticize the young or average citizens for not knowing their state’s representatives or senators. Honestly, I did not even know all of Colorado’s without looking them up.

But why is it all our fault? Maybe if our “great leaders” (using that term loosely) had any sort of charisma level above Steve Carrell in “The 40 Year Old Virgin,” then we would know who they are and be excited about them.

Most everyone knows the names of the people who ran for president, or the politician who is outlandishly racist. Unfortunately, very rarely do we outright admire an individual for the content of his character across the nation. Talking with older generations, JFK seemed to be a very powerful individual, as well as FDR, but today we’re stuck with a lot of mediocrity.

The absurdity of the people that run this nation is evident with a quick YouTube search of “Politicians Blunders.” From Biden to Bush, they all make asinine mistakes. I don’t expect them to be perfect, we are all human. But these people are supposed to be the cream of the American crop, but instead often they talk themselves into an abysmal pit of terrible verbiage.

I don’t think it is too much to ask that the men and women that we trust with our futures be competent in high school English.

Talking like you’re intelligent, will more often than not people make believe you know what you are saying. The mastering of words with more than three syllables is actually pretty impressive, especially when politicians such as Hilary Clinton cannot even pronounce “Medvedev” when talking about the former Russian President. Anyone that wants to run for office should need to pass an IQ test and a non-scripted oral test before we let them play Monopoly with our economy.

Profoundly and profusely, the practice of blindly preaching a parties politics is a precarious position at best. Some persons portray their preeminence as proctors of the people but are simple putrid peddlers of prose.

Presently, the power of predisposition towards indecision makes the pensioners in a place of Congress simply patter like parrots pervasively. Thus, if it is possible to create a prudent proliferation of passionate persuasion in politics, then there may be someone worth electing.

However, if politicians persist on the practice of pusillanimous policies that prohibit the performance of government and send it towards plight, they must immediately cease to persist. Finally, a patron of patriotism that professes their prevailing ideas powerfully and without precaution would surely be prescribed president.

A properly educated person could really run circles around any political opponent that is currently out there running the country, if they have the support of the initiated populace. It is quite simply embarrassing for Americans to be led by people that act and sound like kindergartners. Sarah Palin is one of the best politicians laugh at. Being unable to name a single newspaper that she has read to stay informed of events, and also believing the Iraq war was a task from God.

Perhaps the two go hand in hand. Either way, it’s clear that the educational standards of her upbringing were somewhere between non-existent and theology school only. And to think, she could have been the vice president or even potentially the president had the 2008 election gone differently.

It shouldn’t be too much to ask for that our leaders be charismatic and have a strong presence in a crowd; enough of the same old worn down people whose sole concentration during most of the day is where the nearest bathroom is due to their loss of bladder control.

I am truly sorry that happens to people but when they’ve been elected and reelected for 51 years like Robert Byrd, they need to get out. Has anyone even heard of Byrd before? Either way he served as senator of West Virginia for half of a century.

How someone can hold office for so long and do nothing profound is incredible to me? What this reflects is a failure of the people and our leaders, and it must be changed.

Richard Stecker is a senior international studies and history double major, and is happy to write witty whimsical words of wisdom for all. Questions and comments can be sent to letters@collegian.com