Choosing Between the Lesser of Two Insufficiencies

ALMOST BEYOND BELIEF, we the American people are confronted with a choice which really leaves us little real choice. We might wish to comfort ourselves by pretending that we deserve better, and that this dire set of circumstances has been forced upon us by forces beyond our control. That, however, would be dishonest. In reality, we deserve no better, we deserve our dire situation, because it is we who created it. The choice we have is between two too old men, both too old to be employed, arguably, both too old to serve as president of these United States, indisputably. Arguments against age discrimination are valid, but only to a point. We have reached and exceeded that point. During the first twenty or so years of one's life, one enjoys one's youth, and prepares for one's career. During the next forty years, one pursues one's career. Then, one retires, to allow the next generation to take over the responsibilities of making society function, and to enjoy the benefits of long years of preparation and productivity in an all too brief late life retirement. One gives up one's active employed place in society, and lets someone else, someone younger, have and benefit (as well as suffer) from it. We must take turns, from generaton to generation. Both Biden and Trump have had their chance to serve, to be productive, to govern. It is past time that they both retired, and leave the governence of the nation to the people who will be living under their own future governance. Arguments against Trump go far beyond mere age, and have been enumerated incessantly. He is a career criminal, criminally insane. He has no redeeming personal qualities, not a single one. He is and has always been unfit for public service. Again, the arguments are endless. They are more than arguments; they are facts. Arguments against Biden are several, having to do with his age, mental capacity, and length of public service. The two sides of the Biden mental state dispute are both using exaggeration, as people tend to do when trying to forcefully make a point. Those who say that he is mentally still fit and describe his debate performance as a fluke, an outlier, a mere matter of fatigue and a head cold, are ignoring reality. Biden is in fact cognitively diminished by age, as many people become. Those who insist that he resign as the Democratic candiate for president are exaggerating his mental decline. A friend of mine declared that his "brain is gone", and vowed to vote for nobody. Thus my friend is exaggerating and aiding and abetting Trump, even if unwittingly. No, Biden's brain is not gone, he merely suffers from the early stages of what used to be called "senility". His mind has slowed considerably, his ability to "think on his feet" seriously diminished. For what may or not be te first time in American history, we are confronted with a choice of two men neither of whom is qualified or competant to be president. Arguably, nobody is qualified, and we the American people have never been, nor could ever be, given an adequate choice among mere humans for president...Arguably, well educated academicians with extensive knowledge of political science, law, sociology, and history, among other academic areas, are the only people qualified to serve in this highest, most demanding office. The irony and paradox is that the more intelligent and well educated one is, the less one generally tends to be inclined to want to endure the nightmarish circumstances inherent in seeking and serving in the presidency. John Quincy Adams, arguably the most intelligent, best educated president ever, was ultimately in ineffective president. Thomas Jefferson, whose brilliance and education are beyond question, described the presidency as "splendid misery", and had a poor second term, as most presidents do. Geroge Washington, alone in his Wall Street office as president, was evidently even more miserable in the high office than his Secretary of State Jefferson later would be. He said: "I had rather be in my grave than in this room". The conclusion is painfully obvious; the American presidency requires of human beings abilities which, seemingly are beyond the reach of, not possessed by, human beings.