Why You Should Vote for Biden

I accepted the challenge to write an essay on why you should vote for Trump . To balance things off, here is why you should vote for Biden. As mentioned in the Trump article, this isn’t necessarily the full picture of what I think. The point is to create the best case you can without really saying anything you actually disagree with. And I want to be as convincing as I can, or at least convincing to a person like myself (which I realize is an unusual person). If you read both articles you’ll get a better picture of what I really think. In the end, I’d have to judge the strength of either argument and make a decision. I am not enthusiastic about voting for either. In fact, I think I’ll vote for myself. You should as well (however you want to interpret that). So here goes. This is the case for voting for Biden.

Why should anyone want to vote for sleepy Joe? Many of us did before so why shouldn’t we again? Well, it’s no secret that most people voted for Biden to get Trump out of office because, well, that was just chaos and we had had enough; half of us anyways.

The case for Joe Biden was that he was the stable, boring, mainstream politician that we usually don’t like, but suddenly started to look good to us with Trump in office. To his credit Joe Biden is a good man. He has served his country honorably or about as honorably as any politician can muster. He was first elected to the Senate in 1972. That’s before I was born and I’m not exactly young. We’ll get back to that issue.

Despite Republicans trying to pin the case on Joe for being corrupt, it’s hard to imagine anyone this label fits less. Biden has been a prominent politician for 54 years. If there was any dirt on Joe it would have come out years ago, decades ago. We all know about his knucklehead son and questionable brother and family. There is no question that they made a cottage industry of making money off of perceived influence with Joe and Joe tolerated it at least. There is no evidence of anything resembling bribery. I’m all ears if they have the evidence but I don’t think they do. This is all they could come up with? Fifty plus years and all they got is nepotism? To be clear, it’s not OK for him to do this but, come on, it pales in comparison to the multiple Trump corruption scandals. Even if something much worse comes out (with perfect election timing no doubt) you have to compare it to the other guy. Whataboutism is fair game in a two-person election particularly with the other guy having 4 indictments or so. I argued in the other article that if you are going to vote for Trump you have to have a very high tolerance of corruption. For Joe you need far less.

Joe is about as good as they come for politicians in terms of character. There is a video of Lindsay Graham back in the good old days crying at the death of Biden’s son Beau and going on and on about what a great person Joe is and how there is no one nicer in the whole world than Joe Biden; no one better. I don’t know why they don’t make that a commercial in South Carolina; perhaps out of respect.

Even in my case for Trump article I couldn’t make the case that Trump has good character (not lying is part of the challenge rules). Trump has an awful character. Perhaps it’s not as bad as the press makes it out to be but that’s not saying much. We know who Trump is; more than we ever wished we did. Many of the people he handpicked to work with him came away screaming about how he was a danger to the country. General Kelly, a Republican, said he was the most flawed man he ever met. There are several saying the same thing. The 25th amendment was seriously discussed among his cabinet. He was also of course impeached twice with at least some Republicans voting to convict (and ending their politician careers in the process).

Trump has been indicted 4 times now (or is it 5, I lost count). Some of the cases like the documents case are not only serious but seemingly bulletproof. He was caught red handed and most of his cronies are turning on him. Make no mistake, Trump is going to prison and he deserves to; unless of course he wins the election or someone pardons him. Why are we even considering someone who is bound for prison and needs to become President to avert it? Is that the best the GOP could come up with?

The biggest advantage of Biden over Trump is character. I made the case in the pro-Trump article that perhaps character should take a second place seat behind actual performance of the country. Maybe it should or maybe it shouldn't. That’s a value judgment. Trump’s America from an economic perspective was clearly better; stronger economy, lower inflation. But the economy is still ok. We actually had one of those “soft landings” (no recession) that had become practically mythical.

It’s hard to overestimate the effect of inflation though. Inflation makes everyone poorer and voters will penalize Joe for that. Biden deserves some blame for the inflation for sure. There was too much government spending during a strong economy and that contributed. But most of it comes from two other sources that Biden had much less control over. Supply chain issues coming out of the pandemic including China’s No-COVID policy; and the war in Ukraine. And inflation and oil prices are falling. Maybe salaries will catch up yet.

Let’s talk about Ukraine. Many Trump supporters believe that the war would have never happened had Trump been in office. That might be true. We can’t be sure. Let’s consider the scenario where it did happen more or less the same with Russia invading. What would be the state of Ukraine now? It would probably be an utter disaster. Trump would not have consolidated NATO support the way Biden did. He would have done Trump stuff; random stuff, personal fights with European leaders and worried about himself most of all and staying pals with Putin. NATO would very likely have been forced to leave Ukraine to their own devices; maybe with a few sanctions. Russia would have conquered Ukraine by now and Ukraine would cease to exist as an independent nation. Russia would be strong rather than the wreck it currently is.

Even if you could care less about the Ukrainians... didn’t it used to all be Russia anyway. Well, no, actually it didn’t, but let’s not get bogged down in details. Even if you think that country, which you couldn't have found on a map, is not the major concern of America, we have to consider the ramifications for us. The biggest effect on the US would have been the demonstration that the US and European nations, and other allies, could no longer rally together and act. It would have shown that NATO is coming apart at the seams. This only adds to the problems of the EU coming apart at the seams. This would have been incredibly empowering for both Russia and China, and really anyone hoping to challenge the US for world power. China might have launched its offensive on Taiwan. Would Trump care about Taiwan? Taiwan is still part of China (kinda, sorta). I doubt it.

The most positive spin you can put on the Trump foreign policy, if there was any such thing, is that he was pulling America back and pursuing a more isolationist “America First” agenda. He was always far more concerned about internal issues particularly how he was perceived in the press. He was and is a national security risk. He was easily manipulated by Putin, Kim Jong Un and China, Saudi Arabia or anyone willing to give him a compliment, stroke his ego or give him who knows what.

Even if Trump was able to stop Putin from invading, the same damage would have been done to NATO. Why? Consider the concessions Trump would have had to make to stop Putin and not just in Ukraine. Putin was already doing a fine job convincing Trump to abandon NATO which is something Trump considered anyway from the very start. Something to that effect would likely have happened. The outcome is the same. If NATO becomes a paper tiger, the US is no longer the dominant military power in the World. It’s still the largest and best but not dominant anymore. Keeping relative peace in the World requires us to be dominant and highly integrated with allies. Trump seemed fine with the idea Russia and China want; a multipolar World rather than US dominance. While many people in parts of the world might have no problem with that; Americans should. It would increase the chance of disastrous World wars and leave us vulnerable to other sources of chaos; chaos we don’t control.

We need to address two more issues. First, I can’t lie, the radical left is insane; at least as much as the radical right. I take that back. They are Marxists. That’s not insane, I guess. There is an inherent logic to it. It’s just very frustrating. It’s a terrible political ideology that leads to impoverishment, loss of freedom and ultimately mass violence. I won’t bother to go into the argument. Just read up on history. There is no counterexample where it made things better. Everything you have around you was brought to you through the labor of people working together in a capitalist system; a system which has its flaws for sure, but is still a grand success in comparison to anything else. Improving that system gradually is the way to go, not some radical shift where the government gets to decide what everyone gets. The effect of having progressives on the wings with limited power actually helps that move forward. Leftist aren’t terrible, evil people. They only transform into that when they achieve too much power. Perhaps everyone does the same. Balance is what makes America strong.

A valid reason to vote for Trump is to stop the radical left. However that might be akin to treating frostbite on your hand by putting it in boiling water. Surely there are other ways? First, the Democrats are not completely controlled by the far left. In fact most Democrats you will meet are perfectly reasonable people. Same is true of Republicans. Biden himself is still a moderate democrat; not Joe Manchin moderate, but pretty damn moderate. He isn’t leading the extremists. He is not Gavin Newsom. He is holding them back. Yeah, they got Joe on board for some things; gun control is the one bothering me most, but he isn’t exactly pushing slavery reparations or asking for government control of social media (I hope). Plus, there is still the Congress and Courts and the filibuster (if needed); even mass non-compliance.

We’re not going to topple over into communism in the next few years. In Illinois there has already been mass non-compliance over Gov Pritzker's gun registration law and the state sheriffs are on the side of non-compliance. They will have to pry the guns out of our cold dead hands. Freedom is strong in this country and the far left won’t be able to legislate their way to communism. History shows that violence is the only way, and if that is their plan, they are way behind on armaments. The largest armed group in the World isn’t the US or Chinese militaries, it’s the American people and it’s not close. And if you think the US military is going to get on board fighting American civilians with F-16s in the name of communism, you haven’t met anyone in the US military, where the idea is laughable. So let’s not get overly dramatic about slipping away into left-wing authoritarianism due to a single election. Even if some rights are eroded, the damages can be contained and reversed.

To that issue, it’s not like the GOP is not hell-bent on taking some freedoms away as well. They are not being good libertarians. If you want freedom to bear arms, how about providing, in exchange, freedom of reproductive rights and freedom to get the medical treatment you need if you’re trans. The latest bill out of Ohio banning gender affirming care for minors is simply abominable. How about you mind your own damn business like libertarians are supposed to? How about we just have more freedom overall? Pushing back on leftist indoctrination in education is the correct thing to do but the tactics (book bans etc) are absurd. It needs far more thought and a better strategy.

The final issue to discuss is Biden’s age which will be 82 I believe when he is sworn in again. Some people at 82 are sharp as a tack. But most aren’t. There are unmistaken signs that Joe is acting like a normal 82 year old. He is forgetful. Sometimes he seems confused. This adds to the prospect of instability in a person who was chosen specifically for stability. And he would be 86 I believe by the end of the term.

But let’s put some cushions around this one too. Yeah, he is a little forgetful. Yeah, most 82 year olds should probably be retired, fishing with their grandkids and telling the same story over and over again. I hope I am anyway. But let’s not go full ageist here. Forgetting some things and getting confused from time to time does not mean you are a danger to those around you or that you are completely incompetent. Does Joe have dementia? We don’t know. I would hope that if he did, his family would step in. It progresses slowly anyway. This is what we have vice presidents for, and in extreme cases, the 25th amendment.

I am 49 and I forget some things too; a lot more than I did when I was 30. Yesterday, I couldn’t for the life of me think of the name Bob Dole; like for hours. It was driving me mad while I hiked. I kept coming back to Al Gore knowing that wasn't it. This is actually normal behavior for mature adults. In the age of Google or, in his case, being surrounded by thousands of experts, it’s not an insurmountable problem at all. I like to think that your brain only holds so much that when you reach the full stage, you have to start moving boxes of books to the basement so to speak.

Joe Biden in his prime was a very smart man. I don’t mean writing math papers smart; I mean smart in practical ways and competent. But he was and still is an extremely knowledgeable person especially about American/World Politics where he has worked 50+ years. Yeah, I’m sure at 82 he is not in his peak mental condition but if you start from a high place, you can still out think of a lot of youngsters. Wisdom matters and usually is more important.

Speaking of not being a youngster, Donald Trump is only a few years behind and has also demonstrated some signs of mental decline as well. And Trump wasn’t exactly starting from a high place. There has always been a certain genius to Trump when it comes to manipulating people and the press and having a feel for politics. He should recognize him as a skilled, if unconventional, politician. But there has never been any sign of intelligence concerning executive functioning. He was never a good manager or businessman. We all (should) know now that his self-made billionaire story is a fabrication. He was born rich and hardly progressed beyond what you would expect from buying mutual funds and lying on the beach for 60 years getting drunk every day. His greatest success financially was actually The Apprentice. He was a great reality TV star. If only they gave him another season. He is a failure most everywhere else. Everything he touches dies.

Trump was called, “an idiot”, “a moron”, “a dope”, “unhinged”, “having the intelligence of a 5th or 6th grader” and “dumb as shit”; not by his angry democrat detractors but rather his own cabinet members most of which were very bright people: generals, hedge fund managers, Republican National Committee Chair etc. Nobody who has worked with Joe Biden has come away seriously thinking he is an idiot. Intelligence hasn’t ever been his top trait for sure. There are smarter politicians and Presidents. But knowledge, experience and people skills goes a long way. When you are a President, you are surrounded by an extensive administration who do most of the work. There are a lot of checks and balances to stop bad ideas, bad strategy and impulsive decisions from going live and affecting the country. Even Trump was countered and contained to a degree by reasonable people and even his hand picked unreasonable people.

So, yeah. Let’s go vote for Joe Biden! Are we excited or what? I know. I get it. No one is excited by Biden. He isn’t ideal for the far left. He isn’t a Republican. He isn’t inspiring and watching him speak makes your palms sweat and you’d rather change the channel. He isn’t really anything in particular other than middle of the road to the extent that such a thing exists anymore. But he is still competent and he is still not Trump. He isn’t too bad of a President and we don't want that madness coming back to town, especially given how fragile the World seems these days and how further unhinged Trump has become. We could do worse. Vote for Joe!