“When he was faced with an impossible choice, when the futures of all paths were equally shadowed, when the countless possibilities of either choice either balanced out or were hopelessly confusing, that he would make a decision based on what he hoped to be true, rather than by what he feared to be true.” — from Aleron Kong in The Land: Predators
Kong’s mesmerizing tale is fiction. Unfortunately, the situation we may soon find ourselves in is not.
A few weeks ago, we took time out before the season becomes prone to slinging, to respectfully but bluntly acknowledge the perceived codependence of Presidents Biden and Trump. Our working supposition is that Joe Biden and Donald Trump need each other in order to get re-elected, but as a country, with truly all due respect, we need neither. We need competent, fit, lucid, self-aware, emotionally-intelligent, unity-building, economically-solid, solicitous problem solvers. That doesn’t unquestionably describe either of the two most recent presidents. And yet, both are running again.
As Philip Levine opined in USA Today last month, “We have the American people facing the prospect of choosing, for a second time, between two candidates they don’t like — candidates intent on ignoring the many voters who appreciate old-fashioned things like cooperation and problem solving.” It is, therefore, an impossible choice, one the clear majority of the country fears coming true.
According to a recent NBCNews poll, 70% of Americans believe Biden shouldn’t run for re-election; that includes 51% of Democrats. 60% of Americans believe Trump should not run; that includes a third of Republicans. Hence exists the impossible choice that the public — not the parties nor candidates — seem to see. We want better.
So if the parties/candidates truly wanted to embrace the inaugural wisdom of JFK by not asking “what our country can do for you,” my sense is the following should change before the debates and primaries…
But alas, the presidential debates… Allow us a brief, tangent editorial observation. The debate system has certainly become flawed. Some of the worst public, nonproductive, political debates we’ve witnessed have come in the last three years (i.e. Biden vs. Trump, Fetterman vs. Oz, etc.). The public has noticed; so have the candidates. Trump has threatened multiple times now to skip the party’s debates. Biden’s party has said they will adhere to recent precedent and actually hold none. Commented actor James Van Der Beek, “There’s no debate? There’s no debate over an 80-year-old man who, if he lives, would be the oldest sitting president in the history of the country? And if he doesn’t live, has a vice president whose approval rating is worse than his?” As Van Der Beek added, and which thus seems true of both Biden and Trump, they are “openly ignoring, bypassing the will of the people.”
So let’s get back to the will of the people and what we can do for the country…
Before the onset of the presidential primaries — with the Republican primaries currently scheduled to begin in Jan of 2024 in Iowa and the Democrats in February in South Carolina — let us semi-humbly suggest the following…
For the Republicans, currently 11 noteworthy persons have declared their official candidacy:
- Doug Burgum, the governor of North Dakota
- Chris Christie, former governor of New Jersey
- Ron DeSantis, the governor of Florida
- Larry Elder, a talk radio host and 2021 California gubernatorial candidate
- Nikki Haley, former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Governor
- Asa Hutchinson, former Arkansas Governor
- Mike Pence, former vice president of the United States
- Vivek Ramaswamy, entrepreneur and political commentator
- Tim Scott, a United States senator from South Carolina
- Corey Stapleton, former Montana Secretary of State
- Donald Trump, former U.S. President
For the good of the country, that’s too many. With so many vying for the nomination, they will dilute the vote, potentially handing the nomination to Trump. Good for the country would be for many to exit the race before the primaries ever begin.
For the Democrats, currently 3 noteworthy persons have declared:
- Joe Biden, incumbent President of the United States
- Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a lawyer and author
- Marianne Williamson, 2020 presidential candidate and author
For the good of the country, that’s too few. With so few vying for the nomination, they don’t provide a significant choice, potentially handing the nomination to Biden. Good for the country would be for more solid candidates to enter the race before the primaries ever begin.
The majority agrees; we want to avoid the impossible choice. We instead seek someone who is unquestionably competent, fit, lucid, self-aware, emotionally-intelligent, unity-building, economically-solid, and a solicitous problem solver. That, no doubt, would be good for the country.
Respectfully…
AR