Biden and Harris – A Ship of Fools

The events of the past week have been disturbing – so disturbing that they cry out for a means of correction. No, I don’t mean the continuing onslaught of Russian troops on Ukraine at the behest of Russia’s premier war criminal – President Vladimir Putin. It appears that the Ukrainian people at the behest of their hero – President Volodomyr Zelensky are more than able to repel the Russian invasion if our President Joe Biden (more importantly the cabal managing him) can ever grow a pair of sufficient size to provide the Ukrainian military with the military and humanitarian supplies it needs to continue to process their defense of their homeland.

I’m not even talking about the kerfuffle over whether Mr. Zelenksy should be invited to the Oscars or watch Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro’s (Socialist) good friend Sean Penn (genuine Hollywood phony) smelt his Oscars. Please do and discover that no one gives a red rat about you or your politics.

Or even child star Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s new hip hop video. The girl’s got rhythm – no brains but plenty of rhythm.

No, I’m talking about this past week when the incompetence of both our president and vice president were not only on full display before their colleagues in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and the European Union but also before the television cameras of Europe and much of the world not currently encumbered by Russia, China or Iran. Every time Mr. Biden opened his mouth the White House staff had to race to the microphones to correct him on what his intentions really are. Whether our troops would be sent to Ukraine, whether he would use chemical weapons in retaliation for Russia’s use of them, and whether we were seeking “regime change” in Russia.

Think about that for a minute. A group of unelected bureaucrats closeted in tiny rooms in the White House has to call in the press to tell Mr. Biden what he really meant. These weren’t minor gaffs; these were major policy pronouncement. These weren’t mistakes in a television interview; these were said before the leaders of most of the Western democracies. Each one – each and everyone – carried major ramifications. And yet within hours of Mr. Biden’s pronouncements, minions in the White House were compelled to directly contradict him – to tell the world that Mr. Biden was wrong or that Mr. Biden didn’t know what he was talking about.

The Wall Street Journal – a paper of record not normally given to hyperbole noted in Monday’s edition:

“More or less the whole world—including his own advisers on background—has criticized President Biden for his latest gaffe in saying in his Warsaw speech on Saturday that Vladimir Putin cannot remain in power.’ There’s no need to pile on. And someone should say that Mr. Biden’s unscripted remark did have the virtue of telling the truth that the problem in Russia won’t end even if Mr. Putin orders his troops out of Ukraine.

“Mr. Biden’s remark, even after its repudiation on Sunday by Secretary of State Antony Blinken, may well make it harder to negotiate with Mr. Putin over Ukraine or anything else. And Mr. Biden’s habit of misstating his own policies—no fewer than three times during his European trip—is especially dangerous amid an international crisis.”

And all of that occurred during the same period of time as we saw Vice-President Kalamata Harris stumble through another series of appearances regarding Ukraine. First she tried to use “Dick and Jane” language to explain the conflagration caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine thus demonstrating that she was clueless. It was embarrassing, as was the Q&A session with Polish President Andreszj Buda when she launched her nervous cackle in response to yet another question that left her clueless. Since her inception as vice-president I have maintained that Ms. Harris is the most purposefully ignorant person to ever hold national office – she refuses to do the work to learn the issues. I am beginning to think that I am wrong. It is becoming painfully obvious that she may simply lack the necessary level of intelligence to comprehend even the simplest elements of these complicated problems. So you have to ask yourself, is Ms. Harris too lazy to learn or is she simply too stupid to learn?

The Wall Street Journal in the same article as noted above echoed my stark warning about the possibility of Ms. Harris ascending to the presidency as we continue to watch Mr. Biden’s cognitive skills decline:

“The reality is that we have to live with Mr. Biden for three more years as President. And please stop writing letters imploring us to demand that Mr. Biden resign. Do you really want Vice President Kamala Harris in the Oval Office? She was chosen as a bow to identity politics to unite the Democratic Party in the election campaign, not for her ability to fill the President’s shoes. In the last 14 months she has failed to demonstrate even the minimum knowledge or capacity for the job. We are fated to make the best of the President we have.”

But even that isn’t the critical element of this story. There is an article circulating on the internet and attributed to a writer for a Prague newspaper. The authenticity of the article is suspect because neither the author nor the newspaper is identified. I cannot read nor understand the Polish language so it is impossible for me to even take a stab at verifying the article. Regardless, it is the essence of the comments that are important:

“The danger to America is not Joe Biden, but a citizenry capable of entrusting a man like him with the Presidency. It will be far easier to limit and undo the follies of a Biden presidency than to restore the necessary common sense and good judgment to a depraved electorate willing to have such a man for their president. The problem is much deeper and far more serious than Mr. Biden, who is a mere symptom of what ails America. Blaming the prince of the fools should not blind anyone to the vast confederacy of fools that made him their prince. The Republic can survive a Biden, who is, after all, merely a fool. It is less likely to survive a multitude of fools, such as those who made him their president.”

At first I was offended. I do not think of the American citizenry as fools but I do acknowledge that a “confederacy of fools” have seized a significant amount of power in the United States while the rest of us were distracted doing life’s necessary things – maintain your employment, start and maintain your business, secure food and shelter, care for your children and the aged in your family, and provide for our domestic security. Regardless, the effect is the same, While we were distracted, the fools were corrupting the public education continuum and the venues of free speech. (For those of you forced to endure a teachers union led education in the Portland Public Schools, a continuum is a stream of elements that vary imperceptibly compared to their adjacent elements but vary widely at their edges (extremes).) It is, in fact, the recognition of a “continuum” that the fools use to make dangerous paths seem mainstream and reasonable – a small variation from the norm, followed by a small variation from the previous, until we arrive at the edges where a radical notion appears to be mainstream.

It is how we have moved from identifying odious speech to banning free speech in our schools and universities. It is how we have moved from robust debate to destruction of people and businesses with which we disagree. It is how we moved from legitimate criticism of political candidates to using the powers of the government to create a false narrative of one while burying the truth about another.

In truth, we have allowed the confederacy of fools to seize power.

To some degree, that lurch to foolishness is correcting itself. Parents have become militant in re-establishing parental participation in our school system. It may well carry on to the general electoral process. However, the danger of fools at the highest level of government – in this case the president and vice-president require more immediate attention. We simply cannot allow a position as powerful as the President of the United States to again fall into the hands of those with diminished cognitive skills or those who either cannot or will not learn the essence of difficult problems. And given that the mainstream media actively participates in covering up the obvious shortcomings of certain candidates, an alternative method must be used. In short, we should have a cognitive test for those seeking the presidency and vice-presidency.

Now before you get your bloomers in a bunch, I fully recognize that the United States Constitution sets forth the only qualifications for being elected President and Vice-president and that short of a constitutional amendment additional qualifications cannot be statutorily imposed. However, much like the use of national debates for presidential candidates, pressure can be brought to bear in such fashion as to “require” candidates to accede. Understand that a test of cognitive skills is not a knowledge test (obviously an incumbent would have a significant advantage) but rather a test of mental acuity – the ability to remember and apply facts and figures to increasingly complex problems.

A group of neuroscientists, none of whom are dependent on the federal government for employment or grants, can develop a standard test (if one doesn’t already exist) and the candidates, after reaching a certain level of voter support (like qualifying for the presidential debates) would be offered the test under neutral supervision and the results would be published. A candidate could decline at his or her own risk. In the end, it would go a long way to weeding out people like Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris. (Others might suggest that it be likewise imposed upon congressional candidates but the disqualification rate may be so high that we would lose a substantial number of the current denizens.)

You can argue that a test for being obnoxious should also be required but I’m either not sure of how it would work or that it might not be applied to me.