Conversation at Walgreens

Just left 24 hr Walgreens.  One of the manager’s there who is familiar with the topics within my book, struck up a conversation with me.  We were talking about how individual choice and laws affect quality of life.  In the midst of this lengthy conversation, he says there’s an election coming up and people don’t even know why they are voting.  My response was that may be true, but what does the presidential election have to do with making laws.

This manager cited Obamacare as an example of the president making a law.  I corrected him by stating that the executive branch has the power to recommend policy.  Policy recommendations are very well put together documents that may or may not need tweaking before being enacted.  Nevertheless, only the congress can sign a policy into law.

Here’s my thing.  No one knows everything and that’s why these conversations are important to the quality of life of Americans.  This manager stated that people didn’t understand government well enough to protect their rights as citizens, but he did so to make his own point.  However, he spoke as if he believed that Obamacare was a policy passed into law by President Obama.  His misunderstanding of the powers of the executive office will play a huge role in how he votes, because it determines his expectations for the President.

Nonetheless, this manager did prove his point that people don’t understand government well enough.  I hope that he got my point which is that as long as people have to work incessantly in order to survive, there is no choice between survival and learning more about government; which means an individual’s vote is a function of the commercialized outlook of the media.

What are your thoughts?  What powers are vested in the office of the president?  What determines your ability to participate in life beyond your job?  How do you see these topics as being related?