The Very Sad Ending to What Was Once Thought to be a Great Presidency.

[army judge]

Let me have men about me that are fat

Caesar
Let me have men about me that are fat,
Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights.
Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look,
He thinks too much; such men are dangerous.
Mark Antony
Fear him not, Caesar, he's not dangerous,
He is a noble Roman, and well given.
Julius Caesar
Would he were fatter! But I fear him not.
Yet if my name were liable to fear,
I do not know the man I should avoid
So soon as that spare Cassius. He reads much,
He is a great observer, and he looks
Quite through the deeds of men. He loves no plays,
As thou dost, Antony; he hears no music;
Seldom he smiles, and smiles in such a sort
As if he mock'd himself, and scorn'd his spirit
That could be mov'd to smile at any thing.

​

Such men as he be never at heart's ease
Whiles they behold a greater than themselves,
And therefore are they very dangerous.
I rather tell thee what is to be fear'd
Than what I fear; for always I am Caesar.
Source:

Julius Caesar

Act 1

Scene 2

Line 202

Source Type:

Plays

Spoken by:

Antony, Julius Caesar

Figures of Speech:

Alliteration, Anadiplosis

Let me have men about me that are fat - myShakespeare.me

Caesar Let me have men about me that are fat, Sleek-headed men and such as sleep a-nights. Yond Cassius has a lean and hungry look, He thinks too much; such men are dangerous. Mark Antony Fear him not, Caesar, he's not dangerous, He is a noble Roman, and well given. Julius Caesar Would he were...

myshakespeare.me

 

[Tax Counsel]

Do you really think that Jack was serious?

I don't think he was serious about me actually running for the office or that my chances would be very good if I did. Rather, I took it as a comment on the rather poor choice of candidates we do have. I think a lot of Americans would rather have some other truly viable options than the two we have this year. I've already made it clear I'm not happy with either one.

 

[welkin]

I think a lot of Americans would rather have some other truly viable options than the two we have this year. I've already made it clear I'm not happy with either one.

I think you are in good company with your sentiment. But the facts are the facts and people will either vote or sit this one out or vote a third-party candidate if they can get on the ballot. Or they may flush their vote with a write-in choice.

The likelihood of Biden being replace on the ballot is slim to none. I say that because of two things. First, there are legal reasons and second, there are political reasons and the DNC rules. You don't hear the media talking about either.

Since 1992, when Ross Perot ran as an independent candidate, many state passed laws making it very difficult for a third-party candidate to get on the ballot especially at such a late date. There are campaign finance laws that make it illegal to transfer money between campaigns. In fact, 15 states passed laws that would require donations to a campaign to be sent back to the donors if the candidate were to drop out.

The only way Biden could be replaced is if he withdraws from the race and releases all his delegates. I don't think that will happen. But if he did, he doesn't get to pick his replacement. It would be the DNC delegates that pick the new candidate. It would be a replay of the Chicago 1968 contested convention all over again. That would be total chaos.

 

[Tax Counsel]

The only way Biden could be replaced is if he withdraws from the race and releases all his delegates. I don't think that will happen.

I agree. So far, despite the calls from Democrats, the President has shown no inclination to do that. There is no way Trump would do it unless something drastically changed for him that would make running, and winning, the job more of a burden to him than he'd consider worthwhile. That's why I've said we're stuck with these two, for better or worse (mostly worse IMO). Unless, of course, one of them dies or becomes so obviously unfit for the job before Nov 5. That is, of course, a possibility but given their general health it seems rather unlikely to occur in the next five months.

My state always has third party candidates on the ballot for president, including one that has been around quite awhile and is unique to this state. Since it's unique to this state, that party's candidate for president will never win, but I like that at least they have the opportunity to be on the ballot and let people make their views known by voting for its candidate if he/she more closely matches their views.

 

[Redemptionman]

America is not a constitutional democracy, it is a republic for which it stands. It has always been a constitutional republic regardless of O'Bama calling it a liberal democracy.

As far as Biden, I have lost 2 relatives to dementia and he is around the middle stages of it with probably anywhere from 2-4 years left. Sad to see really as he can't put coherent thoughts together.

 

[welkin]

America is not a constitutional democracy, it is a republic for which it stands. It has always been a constitutional republic regardless of O'Bama calling it a liberal democracy.

As far as Biden, I have lost 2 relatives to dementia and he is around the middle stages of it with probably anywhere from 2-4 years left. Sad to see really as he can't put coherent thoughts together.

It is very sad to see Biden's decline, no doubt. The people around him should never have let this happen in the public setting of running for reelection. But we still don't know what his dementia is being caused by and that is important to know. Why, because there are several causes of dementia that include Alzheimer's, Lewy body dementia, vascular dementia, and a few others. Each have a distinct developmental history, and some are slow to start but are rapid in development to the point of incapacitation or death.

What the media has been focused on is Biden's present state of decline. That is important but not what we should be focused on. It is what will happen in the next months that should concern us. It concerns me (although I will not vote for Biden). Biden still has 7 months in office.

I lost my father to Lewy body dementia in 1995. A very slow onset of the disease but a rapid acceleration after the first year. Some of the prominent symtoms of LBD are delusions and paranoia. From the time he was diagnosed to the time of his death was only a little over 2 years. You could not have a conversation with him without him claiming that someone was going to harm him or that people were living in his attic that would come down during the night. And he insisted that my mother was a whore doing tricks while he slept. I kid you not. After being in a nursing facility for 6 months, he closed his eyes and went into a sleep that he could not be awakened from. He was transferred to a hospital and died 2 weeks later. Politics be damned.

While I don't think that Biden is making any decisions at this point, you can't have a president with dementia, period. The vice president and the cabinet should invoke the 25 amendment to remove him.

 

[Tax Counsel]

America is not a constitutional democracy, it is a republic for which it stands. It has always been a constitutional republic regardless of O'Bama calling it a liberal democracy.

America is democratic constitutional republic. The people elect the leaders of the nation and the states, with each person getting an equal vote. In that regard it is indeed a democracy. What it isn't is a direct democracy in which the people vote on every issue themselves instead of having representatives do that on their behalf. Both a direct democratic republic and a democratic constitutional republic are democracies. In both instances, the people ultimately decide the direction of the state and nation by a democratic process. Your post seems to imply that the U.S. is not a democracy, and for the reasons just stated, I disagree with that. There isn't just one single way a government must be set up to be a democracy.

 

[Redemptionman]

America is democratic constitutional republic. The people elect the leaders of the nation and the states, with each person getting an equal vote. In that regard it is indeed a democracy. What it isn't is a direct democracy in which the people vote on every issue themselves instead of having representatives do that on their behalf. Both a direct democratic republic and a democratic constitutional republic are democracies. In both instances, the people ultimately decide the direction of the state and nation by a democratic process. Your post seems to imply that the U.S. is not a democracy, and for the reasons just stated, I disagree with that. There isn't just one single way a government must be set up to be a democracy.

LOL, democracies FAIL, democracies are MOB rule. The lifespan being roughly 200 years or so. A constitutional republic on the other hand uses a democratic process, but is vastly different since the people elect through a voting process the leaders of the country. In a democracy the population mob wins and elects the government officials. The constitutional republic weighs and gives rural areas a voice through the electoral college to outweigh votes from inner cities where population densities always rule through their mob group voting.

 

[Tax Counsel]

LOL, democracies FAIL, democracies are MOB rule. The lifespan being roughly 200 years or so. A constitutional republic on the other hand uses a democratic process, but is vastly different since the people elect through a voting process the leaders of the country. In a democracy the population mob wins and elects the government officials. The constitutional republic weighs and gives rural areas a voice through the electoral college to outweigh votes from inner cities where population densities always rule through their mob group voting.

There are several ways to set up a government that is democratic. Direct democracy is one of them and those only tend to work well with small groups because having every citizen vote on every issue is cumbersome and inefficient. A democratic republic is still a democracy. It's just that the citizens use their votes to select the people who will represent their interests in making the laws. I agree that democratic republics tend to be more stable and last longer than direct democracies. Both are democracies. It's just that one arrangement of how the democracy functions happens to generally work better than others. In short, in my view, you are using a much too narrow definition of what constitutes a democracy.

Putting aside the debate over definitions, there is no doubting that the U.S. system of government has been remarkably successful, outlasting most other governments that have appeared on the world stage over the last 250 years or so while providing its citizens more rights and freedoms than nearly any other on earth. But it won't stay that way if citizens become complacent and won't work to keep what we have.

 

[Redemptionman]

^True, Ben Franklin said it was a constitutional republic for as long as you can maintain it.

 

[welkin]

Can we get back to the topic of this thread, Biden and the end of his Presidency?

I agree. So far, despite the calls from Democrats, the President has shown no inclination to do that. There is no way Trump would do it unless something drastically changed for him that would make running, and winning, the job more of a burden to him than he'd consider worthwhile. That's why I've said we're stuck with these two, for better or worse (mostly worse IMO). Unless, of course, one of them dies or becomes so obviously unfit for the job before Nov 5.

For the past two weeks, the news cycles have been Biden, Biden, Biden and the Democratic party is trying to get him to pull out of the race. Most of the left-based media has turned on him. But Biden says he is in it to win it.

How about a metaphor? Right now, Biden is a crewmember on the Andrea Gail, and the perfect storm (a historical event) is forming in the United States. We all know what happened to the Andrea Gail and its crewmembers. There were no survivors!