The Old Philosopher - John M. Miller
Since he became president, Joe Biden has had many really good days, some really good weeks, and one or two really good months. Though he seemed to start out well, he is not perceived to have done well in general. When he was elected, he was already too old, as was soon apparent. It is painfully evident to many in both parties that he is too old.
His problem, which thus becomes the nation’s problem, is that he is determined to seek a second term. It is now two years and three months from the 2024 presidential election. If he wins the Democratic Party nomination, the political institution that will be the most damaged by his nomination will be the Democratic Party.
However, it is the USA which will suffer the most, because if he does not make this announcement, radical Republicans may take control of both the House and Senate in 2022. By November of 2024, nearly every voter will know that Mr. Biden is too old to serve effectively in a second term, since it is already evident to too many that he is clearly failing in his first term because of his advanced age.
There is no question that in many respects Joe Biden has perhaps been the most effective American politician for almost all of the past half century. But then, it is also obvious that almost no one else in history has ever served in high office for half a century. For that reason, if for no other, Joe Biden is an amazing man.
Nonetheless, as of now his primary accomplishments are past accomplishments. For the good of the nation, he needs to announce now that for the sake of the future he will not try to win the Democratic nomination for president nor to be re-elected as president.
If he does not do that, either Donald Trump shall be re-elected as president in 2024 (God help us!), or Ron DeSantis will be elected (God help us even more!). God does not intervene directly in human affairs. Probably He has never intervened directly. His influence is only indirect. Either we respond to His diffuse and often mysterious guidance, or we don’t. Thus the future of the world is always in our hands, not God’s.
In the twentieth century, four old men became leaders of their countries at pivotal times in their histories. They were Winston Churchill in Britain, Konrad Adenauer in West Germany, Charles de Gaulle in France, and Ronald Reagan in the United States. Churchill, Adenauer and de Gaulle essentially put their nations on necessary new courses. Reagan made some important course corrections in the USA, but he also was in dementia for perhaps his last two years in office, and he unwittingly abetted the Republican Party to take a dangerous turn toward autocracy in the opening years of the this century.
By bowing out now, Joe Biden has it in his power to enable the Democratic Party to win control of in 2022 and the White House in 2024. It also can reverse the clear and present danger of the autocratic-leaning Republican Party. If he stubbornly refuses, he will be the person most responsible for an autocratic American revolution.
Joe, you are a devoted Catholic Christian man. For the benefit of our nation and the world, tell the American people now that you will leave office on January 20, 2024. God and most reasonable people will thank you for the most important political decision you will ever have made in a very long and illustrious political career. – August 5, 2022
John Miller is the 83-year-old pastor of The Chapel Without Walls on Hilton Head Island, SC., a congregation with an average Sunday attendance of 20-25 elderly people. More of his writings and sermons may be viewed at www.chapelwithoutwalls.org.