Welcome to the beginning.  The future face of politics starts here. Or should I say the faces.  I’m talking about beards in politics and the lack thereof. And not just beards for that matter, but facial hair in general. The absence of facial hair in politics is remarkable and the perception, whether conscious or subconscious is that it does not belong in politics. The image of an elected official is someone who is clean shaven just as it is in much of the workforce.  An article from the BBC cites a survey that suggests in the United States “bearded politicians polled 5% fewer votes than clean-shaven opponents.”  This is Beardism as it has been named by the Beard Liberation Front. 

So that being said, the aims of this blog are threefold:

1.  To change the aforementioned image and perception to one that is accepting of facial hair. 

2.  Promote the candidacy of those courageous enough to run for office with facial hair.  I will also promote females running for office, it’s not their fault they can’t grow beards and they would probably do a better job running the country than men anyway.  Obviously not every female candidate or candidate with facial hair will be promoted.  I can’t support lunatics, beard or no beard.

3. Honor past elected officials who have worn facial hair , such as the 9 U.S. Presidents seen as the background of this site who represented the Golden Era of Facial Hair from 1861-1913 when all but two Presidents had facial hair.  And this does not include sideburns.  An eight year old can grow sideburns.

Those that will be featured will largely be American politicians past and present, but occasionally there will be a focus on prominent international figures and sometimes we will bash on those that taint the beard such as John Corzine and Wolf Blitzer.

Having said all that I do not suppose that men with beards necessarily make better politicians, I just feel that they deserve more of a chance.