Lesser of evils
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Give me Liberty
Rodger Williamson
Recently, both President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump each clinched their nomination status for each of their parties to run for president in this upcoming November 2024 election. This will be an unprecedented race between the two oldest candidates to ever run for president of the United States.
When Joseph Biden was sworn into office as the president on January 20, 2021, he broke the record for being the oldest person to do so, at 78 years and two months of age (older than President Ronald Reagan was when he left office in 1989).
If he survives to the end of this term, he would be 81 years and two months. And despite his obvious cognitive decline, should he somehow manage by hook or crook to be re-elected to a second term, and live to complete that term, he would be 85 years and two months of age. His age matters, as well as his poor performance in debt management.
Until Biden was sworn in, Donald Trump held the record for being the oldest president elected to office. As a former U.S. president, Trump would only be eligible for one term should he win the election, and that would make him 77 years, 7 months old on inauguration day in 2024, and 81 years, 7 months old when he left office in January of 2029.
Despite whatever Donald Trump may have to offer that inspires his supporters, like Biden, his age is a liability, and especially his poor past performance in debt management.
Like every election before, it seems that the two major political parties manage to nominate the worst possible candidates for the office of president, leaving “We the People” to choose the lesser of two evils.
Given that Alabama still went hard for Trump in the primary, I am left to wonder do the voters really support Trump, or are they more anti-Biden in their leanings? And as I look back upon the 2020 election, were the Democrats who voted for Biden actually pro-Biden, or more anti-Trump? Regardless, the 2024 match-up between the Republicans and Democrats for 2024 will be a repeat of the match-up of 2020.
During his recent 2024 State of the Union address, President Biden referred frequently to his “predecessor.” Without using Donald Trump’s name, Biden focused part of his speech on his many contrasts with his presidential predecessor, which Biden said extended to management of the nation’s finances, stating that Trump’s administration “added more to the national debt than any presidential term in American history.” Biden added, “Check the numbers, folks.” … So I did.
Looking back, during his single four-year term, Donald Trump signed off on increasing the national debt by $7.8 trillion. Adjusted for inflation, and based upon the increase of debt prior to the start of their term, Trump increased the debt by 33.1%, the highest for a single-term president, but well below the 791.8 % increase of President Franklin Roosevelt over his four terms.
What Biden left out, was that the debt on his watch is on pace to exceed Trump’s single-term debt accumulation by the end of his current term. During his first three years, Biden has already accumulated $6.32 trillion in debt. For his final year, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected a deficit of $1.582 trillion. Add those two figures together, and you get $7.902 trillion as Biden’s estimated four-year total.
So what we have between Republicans and Democrats is a race between the two worst financially competent single-term former presidents to become the oldest ever serving U.S. president. No matter how you slice it, there can be no good to come from giving either of them a second term as the leader of the free world.
But, we must not forget that there has been, and still is, a viable third option with the Libertarian Party. The Libertarians will nominate their presidential candidate at the Libertarian National Convention, scheduled to be held from May 24 to 26, at the Washington Hilton in Washington, D.C.
Until then, the two top leading Libertarians appear to be 54-year-old Charles Ballay of Louisiana and 38-year-old Chase Oliver of Georgia. Regardless of whom ends up as the 2024 Libertarian presidential candidate, it is the Libertarian platform to reduce the national debt, and to drain the swamp, and return liberty to the people.
In the end, it matters not if the candidate has an (R), or (D), or an (L) by their name if their age could even remotely affect their performance as the holder of the highest position that this nation has to offer. All their campaign promises will mean nothing if they develop dementia, and if not a cognitive disability, then any of dozens of other potential age-related issues could cause any of the elder candidates to drop dead.
So, I ask you, the reader of this column, to choose wisely when going to the polls in November and to consider the Libertarian option, and to remember this quote from President John Quincy Adams, to “Always vote for a principle, though you vote alone, and you may cherish the sweet reflection that your vote is never lost.”