Greetings Earth People! Take me to your leader...

From Jim: When we contact "other" life forms and begin to forge an understanding of each other, let's hope that we get around to our political system after they've decided not to rid the universe of us as the vermin we are. We'll have some "splainin" to do, as Dezi said. The "leader" thing might just cause our alien visitors to retire for a caucus on our future anyway. If they attempt to understand our primary elections, straw polls, and caucuses in the context of selecting leadership, we're pretty much doomed to be transmogrified into a slimy goo. If we wish to leave no doubt as to the need to expunge us from the cosmos, we should give them an opportunity to chat with the media. During the last micro-second of human existence, CNN and FOX can finger point at each other. The liberals and tea partiers can request separate death beams. We will be divided-even in death! The aliens might use this as their best rationalization for offing us in some technologically spectacular way. Or they might just squash us. In any case, their supreme council/federation/ruling order/Jedi oversight group will insist that all those who came in contact with us be subjected to a series of sterilization and synapse washing sessions. There will be no mind-melding with those who have met the mindless. This might be the best outcome we can hope for. An alien exterminator truck to finally clean up the mess we've made of things. It would be quick and decisive and not prefaced with 137,342 political ads, 3562 robo-calls, and 239 tons of junk mail. Nope, it would just be an instant of vaporization. I don't even see a choice here.