I am a conservative, a registered Republican, and philosophically, could be categorized as a traditional Classical Liberal, although that term is about as extinct as integrity and courage in the halls of our national governance.
I am angry. I am tired. All of this national discussion about Biden’s fitness has turned bright lights upon DC behaviors that do not serve our country, nor the American people. Anyone who has had regular access to the President has known for a long time that he has serious mental and physical deficiencies. They have done their best to hide these deficiencies, even to the point of allowing him to self-destruct on a debate stage before the world. You mean to tell me all of those who surround him had not a clue that this result would not be a possibility?
Call me cynical, but while driving across the state listening to news shows all I heard were politicians shivering about the November elections and not one word about from this moment forward having someone as Commander in Chief who hasn’t a clue.
Call me angry, but having a major actor/fundraiser do an op-ed in the New York Times stating the Biden he saw at the fundraising event he co-hosted with former President Obama was the same fumbling, incoherent one standing on the debate stage, yet he chose to say nothing after the fundraiser. Only after the debate disaster and two subsequent weeks had passed did he have the courage to step forward. His hypocrisy has no bounds. The old Watergate line comes to mind; “what did they know and when did they know it?” George Clooney, the political operative, co-hosted the fundraiser with Obama. Have they not all know for a long time that Biden was deficient?
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Call me incredulous, but seeing scores of people who have worked in and around DC politics and governance now having come to Jesus’ revelations, stating aloud what you and I know they knew for years. Did they think Biden had serious mental acuity issues but just thought he would persevere, hoping he could fake the American people out until November? We should all make a lengthy list of ninnyhammers to ignore in the future. Anyone close to this administration should be blackballed from our governance processes. They knew and chose to hide what they knew just so they could retain access to the power they so badly covet.
Watching elected officials totally focused on Biden’s weak polling numbers and therefore needing to be removed from the ticket for November (mind you not 25th Amendment removed for reasons of mental limitations but only because his poll numbers are weak), really frosts me. I’m wondering if this will be a bastardized new normal, as political polls measure the likelihood of winning in November as a litmus test for retaining candidacies earned through traditional primary processes. Will parties float candidates through a specious and hollow primary process only to have polling tests mid-summer to test viability through pollsters?
Call me naïve, but I have always thought we had elections based on a long-established primary and convention process. I recall when reformers got rid of the smoke-filled back rooms where political insiders manipulated the system. Yet, now we see all kinds of Rube Goldberg machinations as alternatives for a major party finding an alternative candidate. Finally, call me envious when lots of other countries can manage election seasons within a six-week period while we seem to be in a never-ending series of election processes. I have often said that too often, we choose poorly. Hell, now our processes for choosing are as screwed up as the results of our choosing.
To paraphrase The Wizard of Oz, “Pay lots of attention to the cabals behind the curtains.” They are not there to serve our country but rather to serve themselves. The voters should speak loudly this next election as to what should be acceptable behavior of people entrusted to have the best interests of our country in mind. Instead of integrity, these people, and the list is long, have only served their own interests. These are not our finest days, and certainly, we are not seeing evident profiles of courage.
Dr. Ed Moore served for many years as the president of the Independent Colleges and Universities of Florida (ICUF)
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