No matter what President Joe Biden does, everything seems to come back to his age. At 82, he is the oldest serving President surpassing Donald Trump as the oldest person ever elected President who was 70. By the time Trump left office on Jan. 20, 2021, he was 74. Ronald Reagan was just 17 days shy of his 78 birthday. His successor, George H.W. Bush was youngblood at 64 when he was elected.
Theodore Roosevelt was about six weeks shy of his 43rd birthday when President William McKinley died from his gunshot wound on Sept. 14, 1901 and he ascended from Vice-President to President. Three years later Roosevelt was still the youngest at 46 to win an Presidential election in 1904. For more than half a century he would be the youngest President ever elected until John F. Kennedy was elected in 1960. Kennedy was 43 himself. Kennedy is the first Catholic to be elected with Biden being the only second. And while he’s a devout Catholic, people can’t go after him as a Godly President, so they have to attack his age.
I’ll admit. I’m not too thrilled with someone Biden’s age being President and having to vote for him again. But if it keeps Trump from ever being President again, I’m all for it. I don’t care if Biden is sworn in on Jan. 20, 2025 and then turns around and says the next day he has to retire and pass the job to Kamala Harris.
However, that’s what most people on both aisle are afraid of. That’s what a lot of people are saying about Harris who turns 60 this year and still will be above the median age of many Presidents who have been around in their mid-50s . Barack Obama was another kid at 47 wen he was elected. If we’re going to criticize both Biden and Trump being too old, we need to stop acting like people in their 40s or late 30s are too young to be President. Jacinda Ardern was only 37 when she became Prime Minister of New Zealand, a position she held for over five years and was very popular. Sen. Jon Ossoff (D-Georgia) was only 33 when he was elected to office. Ted Kennedy once said he was encouraged to run for the Senate because the Democrat Party needed “youngblood” but when he would consider not running, they said they needed his “experience.”
The problem is we’re too busy throwing out the archetype of the Silver Fox as the only person who should serve an elected office, especially President of the United States. Back in 2016, a woman I went to high school with, who obviously peaked around 10th or 11 grade, said she voted for Trump over Hillary Clinton, because she felt the President should be a man. Ok, that’s her choice. But I feel she was probably a little afraid of her husband/boyfriend/partner who may be controlling. Most men who would marry women like her would be a little too controlling. That’s not saying she can’t think for herself but I’m sure her and women like her are swayed by their husbands, boyfriends, fathers, uncles and brothers on their political beliefs.
This was the same state of Georgia that twice failed to elect Stacey Abrams as governor. Abrams is black and it’s the same excuse I hear from conservatives, Christians and Republicans (oh, my!) in Georgia. “Hey, I wish we could have more women and minorities in office. Just. Not. Her!” Yes, just not her nor Hillary Clinton should serve office. If they can get someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene, who represents Northwestern Georgia where I grew up and the above-referenced woman lives, they’re perfectly okay because Greene says what they like to hear. Also, a lot of people there are meth addicts so it’s likely they can’t vote or don’t have a fucking clue who they are voting for, just not a black Democrat. They supported Herschel Walker, because he really played up that “House Slave” persona for Massa.
I mean, if Lauren Boebert didn’t look like she does, do you think the people of her Colorado district would’ve voted for her the first time? Now, that they know what she’s like as she’s moved to a different district, she came in fourth in a straw poll. The voters are too smart nowadays. If Sarah Palin didn’t sound like she had no idea what she was doing, John McCain would’ve been elected. Or at least, he’d gotten more votes.
In 2010, when Mary Fallin, a Republican, ran against Jari Askins, a Democrat serving as the lieutenant governor of Oklahoma she won. Mainly it was because Fallin, at least in 2010, looked a lot better than Askins, who was a bigger woman with shorter hair. Askins has never been married and I can tell a lot of Oklahoma voters were thinking one thing – she’s a lesbian. Not that it matters what Askins does in her private life as long as it’s legal and consensual with another partner. I mean, Fallin wasn’t exactly Mary Poppins as rumors had persisted she had a few affairs while she had served in elected office both as lieutenant governor herself and serving in the House of Representatives.
On paper, both Askins and Fallin are both very qualified to be governor. We live in a society where women who don’t fit some model type are considered dangerous. That’s what scares so many people. They’re afraid they’re going to lose out on a job they feel they should have. Or they’re going to realize just how worthless they are. Not all women want to get married or have children and they should have that choice. However if some women want to be Betty Homemaker, they should have that choice too. But I’m not looking for another mother. I’m looking for a partner.
But what really infuriates men is rejection. Take your position in the friends zone and enjoy it. You might need that friend later to help you out. Why screw it up by coming on too strong? I mean, I asked out 16 young women to the prom who all politely said no. And one of them said yes to a good friend of mine even she said no to me. I wasn’t mad. I had a date at that time and now he did.
Now, aside from relationships and out-dated concepts of what men think women should be like, it brings up something we really need to discuss – Democrats and liberals are very, very prejudice. Jordan Peele touched on this in Get Out, showing white liberals who have a racist bias. Most white women will tug their purse closer even if they would’ve voted for Obama a third time. Three years ago, this week the Manhattan District’s Attorney Office dropped the charges against Amy Cooper, aka the Central Park Karen, for calling 911 and saying that Christian Cooper (no relation), was threatening her. Christian, a black man, had told Amy, she needed to have her dog on a leash. The incident happened on May 20, 2020.
Amy was reportedly a liberal at the time. But still she proved that liberals and Democrats are racist. How many switched over to vote for Trump because they were mad Bernie Sanders didn’t get the Democrat nomination in 2016? Debbie Wasserman Schultz, the chair of the Democratic National Convention was forced into retirement with some people who felt she didn’t do enough to support Sanders over Clinton. I mean, the Bernie Bros were some awful sexist people who booed her at the 2016 convention. Sanders had endorsed her challenger Tim Canova as DNC chair but Wasserman Schultz won by 57 percent. So, even Democrat men weren’t too happy with the election process if it didn’t favor other men. And let’s not forget that Sanders isn’t technically a Democrat. He’s an independent.
The problem in America is that we’ve boasted we’re the country that is better than the rest of the world but we’re not. We incarcerate more people in this country than dictatorships. Rent is too high. People can’t afford to buy houses. Getting into an accident, even if it’s not your fault, can result in massive financial hardships. Women are sexually assaulted and harassed. Drug and alcohol abuse is out of control. As the saying goes, “We’re a third world country with Gucci bags.”
What we’ve so far hasn’t helped. And it doesn’t help anymore if we keep people in office who were alive during the days of Jim Crow and segregation. Black and Latino servicemembers did their time in the military in World War I, World War II, Korea and Vietnam only to come back to face the racist oppression and violence by law enforcement, business owners and white supremacy groups.
In less than 80 years, Germany went on to become a model of democracy in not just Europe but the world. And Japan is leading the world in technological advancements as well as a democracy itself. And this is coming 35 years since the fall of the Berlin Wall and the reunification of Germany. However, America is still stuck in the past with everything. We shouldn’t still have Confederate monuments up in the 21st Century. How hard is it for people to understand that?
The sad part is that the elders don’t want any change and they will do whatever it takes to keep everything the way they want it, not the way it should. That’s why people go no contact with their parents and grandparents. Younger people aren’t seen as individuals but expected to be extensions of their parents. And that leads to the problems we have. People have to stay in their one-horse towns where their options are limited. How many women and people of color are being held back because they’re not allowed to take the classes they should be taking in high school. They can’t get into colleges or tech schools that are in bigger areas. So, they’re stuck having to take whatever job comes their way. It’s the old mentality of people saying, “A job is a job” is what keeps this country behind in so many ways.
And this ignorance is why they’re afraid of someone like Harris one day becoming President. If Al Gore had anyone but Joe Lieberman as his running mate in 2000, it could’ve given him the push he needed to be elected President. Lieberman is Jewish and Americans in this country support Israel, worship Jesus Christ and want the same Ten Commandments Moses brought the mountain everywhere. They definitely don’t want the Presidency one heartbeat away from a Jewish man. Harris has ancestry from India from her mother and her father is black. Of course, this has gotten the bigots on both aisle and “independents” upset.
Are people afraid Harris in the White House might push for many changes such as universal healthcare, the legalization of cannabis and the end of having incarcerated people having to perform modern-day slavery on prison farms? America has become that nation that behaves like the one person in every workplace, school or town that thinks they are better than anyone else. Yet, others do a lot more. They just don’t boast of it all the time. No wonder we elected a braggadocious bastard like Trump. He said he did a lot of things, but all I saw him do was sign paperwork.
And do people think he’s any better than Biden? There’s only a few years separating the two. This isn’t a reverse high school deal where the younger are treated more. I think Biden may have a few issues, but it could be because of his stuttering history. Trump rambles on making no sense even his own party is tired of him. And I definitely don’t think Biden nor Harris will think everyone who ever treated them bad will get payback. Did people ever watch The West Wing? There’s a lot of people working along with the President.
They say age limits are discrimination. Yet, we treat young people as if they don’t know what they’re doing. After watching the hearings on TikTok and the GameStop incident, it’s obvious some people in Congress have no idea in the 2020s how the Internet works. The late Sen. Ted Stevens (R-Alaska) was heavily criticized for calling the Internet a “series of tubes.” When Kennedy debated Richard M. Nixon in 1960 on TV, the image of Nixon changed people’s mind than those who heard it on the radio. The world is changing and we have to change with it.
What do you think? Please comment.
Zane Says 