(C) Daily Kos This story was originally published by Daily Kos and is unaltered. . . . . . . . . . . With Age Comes Wisdom [1] ['This Content Is Not Subject To Review Daily Kos Staff Prior To Publication.'] Date: 2024-02-14 Before I get started in this piece, I just want to offer a most humbled and heartfelt thank you to everyone who read my previous piece, recommended it, and wrote such wonderful comments. As I start writing these lines my last piece has 553 recommendations and nearly 300 comments. I would have been happy with two or three people commenting "nice article." Thank you all so much. As someone who is constantly struggling to find motivation to move forwards, everything you've said means so much to me. I tried to reply to all of you who took the time to write comments, but you are going to have to forgive me if I do not do so as meticulously in the future. Replying to everything took many hours and sapped a lot of my strength and energy. I did see what you were all saying however, and yes I took note of the some of you who said "don't worry about replying to me." I saw and heard you. Thank you all again. Your kindness has taken me completely off guard, and I am beside myself with gratitude. OKAY - on to the spicy materials. I wrote already on how I categorically disagree with some people's assertions that Biden is cognitively dysfunctional, as someone who actually is cognitively dysfunctional from Long Covid. If you didn't read my argument against claims of Biden's cognitive capacity, you can read it here: www.dailykos.com/.... If you have not read it, I recommend you do so before reading any further here. I will be referring to that previous piece for context, and it gives some more insight into who I am as well. So, the big question: Is Biden too old to be President of the United States? In short, no. Absolutely not. Now, I am taking a subjective stance by saying that, and on that point I concede. However, it is worth noting that this whole issue and concern over Biden's age IS a subjective concern, unlike the concerns over Biden's cognitive function. Plain and simple experts can offer empirical data to show, as a matter of objective fact, that Biden is cognitively functional. In my case, I could objectively show that Biden is cognitively functional because he exhibits no cognitive dysfunction. With regard to his age, however, this is a harder problem to tackle. To attempt to define "too old" objectively you have to discuss what is the baseline for young, middling aged, and old. You have to discuss what is the norm, what are the expectations of someone in the position Biden is in and yada yada yada yada. It is a considerably more complex issue than simply gazing one's eyes upon Biden and remarking "oh Lord, look at all those wrinkles, that snow-white hair, his wispy tired voice.... oh no. No no no no he's too old." To do so is naïve folly on a superficial level - "judging a book by its cover" if you will. I will give my best attempt, however, to give an objective explanation of my subjective opinion that Biden is not too old to be President, and I will furthermore talk about how discussions of Biden's age miss the FUNDAMENTAL point of this 2024 election and elections as a whole. The year is 1789. You watch with elated joy as General Washington, the man you fought under years earlier in the Revolution, is sworn in as the first President of the United States. Washington is 57 years old on this day. Four years later, a man named "Wigglesworth" will publish an Infant Mortality and Life Expectancy table that will read the life expectancy of a male in America is approx. 36 years of age. This means that in 1789, George Washington is 21 years older than the average life expectancy of his American peers - and he went on to serve for 8 years as President. This sort of trend continued until 1901, when Theodore Roosevelt was sworn in as President at 42 years old with the national life expectancy of males in 1901 being about 48 years of age. From 1789 until 1901 American Presidents were reliably at or many years older than the life expectancy of common Americans with their average age being 53 years old at inauguration. Most of them were over 60 years of age at inauguration. Even in the 20th century, as the life expectancy of the common American rose, it was more common than not for an American President to be near or above the national life expectancy - notable exceptions being John F. Kennedy (43), Richard Nixon (56), Bill Clinton (46), and Barack Obama (47). So, if we look back on history, we will see that it has been much more common than not for an American President to be older than the citizens he is presiding over. This context brings us to 2024 with Joe Biden. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the current life expectancy for an American in 2024 is 78.9 years old (we'll say 79 years for brevity). Joe Biden is 81 years old right now, with his birthday having just happened last November. This places Biden currently 3 years above the current life expectancy. Now contrast that 3 year difference with the historical norm - the point being that presidents like Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, and JFK are exceptions, not the norm. Indeed in all the campaigns of presidents like Obama, Theodore Roosevelt, and JFK, people remarked all over about "how they were so young for the job." Indeed, as recently as 2008, Barack Obama had to argue and justify that he was not "too young" to be president, as did JFK. One thing that assuaged people's concerns in 2008 for Barack Obama was that he had chosen a highly experienced and wise running mate. Joe Biden. So what's the deal? I am not a medical expert, and I do not have first hand experience of being "old." At 27 in 2024, there really isn't anywhere on the planet I would be considered an old or "older" man. That being said though, Biden appears to be just fine walking around on his own, standing for hours during speeches and press conferences, still rides bicycles for exercise, and doesn't need both hands to drink out of a cup (as Trump was filmed doing). Additionally, as I discussed in my last piece, Biden's cognitive capabilities are just fine - better than fine. Further, I believe it deserves at least passing mention that the President of the United States simply has access to better medical care than we do. Don't believe me, just look at when Trump contracted Covid-19. Trump was hospitalized for 3 days at Walter Reed where he received supposedly "special" treatments. This is conjecture, but I believe Trump received medications similar to Paxlovid - a year before it was made available to the public. Regardless, a visibly unhealthy elderly man with significant obesity was able to go from being hospitalized at Walter Reed for 3 days to flying on Air Force One and doing a rally in Florida. Presidents have excellent healthcare provided to them. If they could keep Trump alive from Covid-19, then that medicine is highly impressive. Now tell me with a straight face that Biden is weaker or "less healthy" than Donald Trump. Tell me with a straight face that Biden is sooooo old that Trump is a better choice. What this all boils down to, in my opinion, is nothing more than a false flag operation to dishearten left-leaning Democratic voters and Independents from getting out and voting for Biden in 2024. If nothing else, I want to make this emphatically clear. YOU ARE NOT, AND YOU NEVER ARE, VOTING FOR ONE MAN FOR PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. You are voting for the man who will be president, you are voting for that man's message and principles, and you are voting for the men and women that president will hire to staff the White House around him. You vote for an "administration." Vote for Trump and you are also voting for his kids (who he will nepotistically give seats of government), for Mike Flynn, Steven Miller, Sara Huckabee, and etc. (traitors et al). But vote for Biden? Vote for Biden and you are voting for a legion of American citizens that are all united behind one founding principle, if nothing else: American Democracy shall never fall to the darkness of fascism, and Americans will never sleep until every rotting vestige of evil in this nation is rooted out by its bonespurs. If Biden gets reelected to the White House in 2024... Sorry, WHEN Biden gets reelected to the White House in 2024 (a discussion for later on why I am certain he will win), let's pretend our worst fears come to fruition. Let's pretend Biden gets reelected and then he dies in office - literally we find out in the news that Grandpa Biden passed away in the night sleeping peacefully, being taken to Eternal Paradise, our Republic saved. Here's what I say to that fear: "So what!?" Absolutely, the death of Biden would be a devastating loss of 81 years of experience and wisdom from American leadership... but Kamala Harris would step up to the podium to take his place. And if something happened to Kamala Harris, someone else would step forward (presumably the newly gazetted Democratic Speaker of the House), and so on and so on. Here's the deal, people, if we choose Biden, then we choose for democracy to continue long after he is gone. We choose the legacy that Biden is putting to the fore. We are setting the stage for democracy to move onwards to 2026, 2028, 2030, and so on. This is why it is so important to ignore the ageism that is being shoved down our throats by the media, conservatives, and even some of our own in the Left (looking at you Jon Stewart - what the hell, man? I'd come to expect you to be a big-picture guy). Because yes, Biden is old. Here's a gold star sticker for your acute observation. But ultimately... Biden is not too old to be President of the United States because I am not and never shall be prepared to sacrifice this democracy for the sake of a few wrinkles. As Oscar Wilde once said, “With age comes wisdom, but sometimes age comes alone.” Biden is the former. Trump, latter. Everyone who says that Biden is too old to be President needs to be looked in the eye and asked: Would you sacrifice everything because you fear Biden is too old? Fine, vote for Trump or a 3rd party candidate because you think Biden is too geriatric. I leave you to explain to historians why the United States had to die under the jackboot of an evil monster only three years younger. [END] --- [1] Url: https://www.dailykos.com/story/2024/2/14/2223559/-With-Age-Comes-Wisdom Published and (C) by Daily Kos Content appears here under this condition or license: Site content may be used for any purpose without permission unless otherwise specified. via Magical.Fish Gopher News Feeds: gopher://magical.fish/1/feeds/news/dailykos/