Just Flip the Ticket Upside Down

https://edition.cnn.com/2024/07/04/politics/biden-rising-tide-pressure-reelection-bid-analysis/index.html

Of all the baser instincts that we’ve inherited from our prehistoric ape selves, panic seems to be the least productive.? I understand the fight-or-flight instinct.? One doesn’t need to reach as far up the mammalian pyramid as primates to understand its usefulness – any cornered rodent (a rat or squirrel) will exhibit this instinct as a final gasp of self-preservation.? But pure, unadulterated panic is a strange emotion among the array in our collective DNA programming.? On the face of it, panic would seem to be counterproductive.

For better or worse, the anyone-but-Trumpers are now in full-fledged panic mode.? Passing over the grim irony of ‘Captain Chaos’ fomenting panic in the heart of his opponent’s camp, there must be a second phase, where hearts stop pumping at full capacity and blood pressures return from the stratosphere.

James Zogby, a prominent member of the Democratic (Party) National Committee, and Lloyd Doggett, a senior Democratic member of the House, have both stepped forward to announce that the emperor, a-hem, has no voice and that the number of potholes in the previously unblemished road of his active memory is steadily increasing.?

An added element of uncertainty is that there are no constitutional or, therefore, any federal legal ?/ regulatory guidelines to apply in such instances.? The framers of the US Constitution specifically omitted any reference to political parties in drafting the document that was finally adopted in 1789, a dignified contrast to what the French were getting up to in that same year.? Several of the earliest American presidents expressed opinions to the effect that political parties were a European institution that serve largely to increase the level of corruption in any nation so afflicted.

Next, political parties in the US are private corporations, leaving them vulnerable to boardroom intrigues, exchanges of money and rampant corruption. ?The accepted policies and procedures for conducting the business of political parties are codified at the level of corporate governance – i.e., without any enforceable legal or regulatory underpinning – by boardroom corporate secretaries, who set the all-important agendas for boardroom meetings (AGMs, EGMs). ?As in any corporate setting, one C-suite officer might say ‘yes,’ whereas another director or executive committee member could vote ‘no.’

My point is that, despite their outward appearances of being quasi-governmental institutions – one might readily suppose that they are similar in legal terms to charitable, educational and /or religious entities and groups – political parties are and operate according to the confines of American corporate law.

The significance of this otherwise inconsequential circumstance is that replacing a political party’s nominated candidate prior to its quadrennial convention would simply invoke a free-for-all that would guarantee the Trump-thing a victory.

This canot happen.? We, collectively, Democrats, Republicans, independents, and all the rest – no matter how jaded and exhausted we may be – must stop Trump.? This is an epic battle that must be joined in order to save American democracy and the rest of the free world – America’s allies and friendly nations in Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and nearly every country in the Americas save Cuba, Nicaragua and Venezuela.

What would be the least invasive, disruptive option, given the stark variables discussed above? If you play chess, what is among the early defensive moves available?? Castling. The king, among the weakest pieces on the board, is tucked away into an easily defensible corner, with a powerful rook keeping watch.

The time has come to castle Trump.? The most available rook on the scene is Kamala Harris. ?Just flip the ticket upside down.? Biden was a more than adequate vice president for Obama; and now, he could mentor Ms. Harris. ?The word on her is that she’s been a slow study on the job; but she’s had four years to cut her teeth.

This could be accomplished quickly, cleanly, and with greatest deference to the wishes of all the Americans who cast their votes for Biden in the primaries.? The US and the free world would be assured of Biden’s continuing influence in fashioning America’s domestic and foreign policies – and we could all get back to ensuring that the orange baboon with the red necktie can't threaten the prevailing world order anymore.?

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