Tag: politics

Decline and Fall

There is a specter stalking America.  It is the specter of Totalitarianism. This specter inhabits the body of a demonic demagogue.  But it is supported by mobs of the unthinking, the amoral, the ambitious, and the avaricious.  It is opposed by a quavering line of political time servers wondering how much they must risk to stop the destruction.

The destruction continues apace.  The demagogue and his henchmen unilaterally disarm the nation’s intelligence services, stand down our defenses against foreign influence, discontinue our efforts to root out the manufactured lies and myths infecting our discourse, give a green light to corruption.  The demagogue cavorts across the globe, bullying our friends, befriending bullies, betraying the free people fighting a menacing dictator overseas. He exploits every weakness and buried flaw in our constitutional system to seize power. 

What is an alarmed citizenry to do? The long game is to rethink our political organization and governmental structures. Even our philosophy of society. But the immediate crisis requires us to go to the barricades. Will we fight as hard for our freedom as the embattled peoples in Ukraine? As hard as American soldiers once fought in the trenches of a burning Europe?

The first order is to choose the real leaders among our political classes. Who will stand and fight? Who will advance? Rally behind them.

Running series
Democrat at the Breakfast Table

Joe Biden bows out

At the last minute, and after anguished pleas from many Democrats and many more Americans, Joe Biden has withdrawn from the presidential race.  At last, without admitting it, he has acquiesced to the reality that his age is catching up to him.  This was the reality that Americans were worried about for the last two years and terrified about for the last month.

He has acted when it is very late in the season, when there is almost no time for an open nominating process.  So, the party has thrown itself at Vice President Kamala Harris, endorsing her to take on Lying Devil Donald Trump.  I’m optimistic.  I think she can take the old blowhard.  I liked her in 2020, but she couldn’t perform.  Then she stumbled through her first two years as vice president.  But now, she seems to have found her footing.

I was never a fan of Joe Biden, the Senator from Big Credit.  His long career in the Senate contained as many mistakes as successes.  Then he turned out to be a very successful president, producing landmark achievements for the Democratic Party and for the country, including bold new programs on climate change, infrastructure improvement, and economic reform.  

But even in success, Biden was undermining his legacy.  His first big mistake was letting Kamala Harris flounder for two years.  His second big mistake was deciding to run for a second term.  His third big mistake was refusing to face reality until it was too late for the party to make a considered nomination.  Now, we’ll see if his selection of Harris for vice president was one of his successes, or one of his mistakes.