I am in the camp that President Biden should step aside and not run for re-election. Not because he is doing poorly, but because he is over 80. He has been a highly effective president steering us from the brink of collapse in many variety of ways. However, he could live to be 110 or he could live to be 82, such as it is once we get older.
For some reason, the media seems to have forgotten that Trump is only a little over three years younger than Biden. However, Trump is in much poorer physical health and has demonstrated a diminished mental capacity. He, as with Biden, could possibly live to 110 or live to 80, such as it is once we get older and even more so when we don’t take care of ourselves.
If it must be a Biden v. Trump rematch at the ballot box, as the media is pushing us towards, Biden has my vote hands down. I don’t worry about being hauled off to the Gulag under Biden. I don’t worry about a war being caused by Biden. I don’t worry about economic collapse under Biden. I don’t worry about an unconstrained pandemic under Biden. And I assuredly don’t worry about authoritarian white christi-nationalism control under Biden.
I do worry about the upcoming 2024 election (less than a year away now) and having authoritarian leaning Republican candidates and incumbents being placed in positions of power up and down the spectrum in our national leadership positions. The more I stories I read about the inner thinking, beliefs, and actions of elected and candidate Republicans, the more I see what I would call the Devil’s reach, not Christ’s reach.
Matthew 22:39 tells us Jesus’ words, “Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself.”
If Christian Republicans truly believes in Bible teachings, then they must not love themselves very much. Look around at how they are treating people of color, transgender youth (and adults), gays and lesbians, and people of non-Christian faith. Blocking them from fully participating in society, withholding medical treatments, bashing, and threatening to block people from entering the U.S. due to their personal beliefs in God isn’t much of brotherly love.
We also hear on almost a daily basis of, mainly Republicans, showing they care nothing for their neighbor (and thus themselves), through their actions. By the way they push women to carry a fetus to term even when it will most likely kill or do irreparable harm to them. By the way they molest and rape as we hear through the media, by the way they treat humans who are not straight, white, and a certain type of Christian.
Mark 12:17 tells us Jesus’ words, “Pay back Caesar’s things to Caeser.”
We know this was meant as we must pay our taxes to the government. Current American Christians (and world-wide) seem to think paying taxes is a bad thing. Politicians have made this an art form in which those among us with the least must pay taxes while those with the most are provided exemptions and loopholes in which to not pay taxes. However, those with the most enjoy the benefits of taxes being paid, such as roads, airports, and other infrastructure to further their businesses to finance their lavish lifestyles.
James 2:14 tells us Jesus’ words, “Of what benefit is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but he does not have works? That faith cannot save him, can it? If any brothers or sisters are lacking clothing and enough food for the day, yet one of you says to them, “Go in peace; keep warm and well fed,’ but you do not give them what they need for their body, of what benefit is it? So, too, faith by itself, without works, is dead.”
At every turn, from local governments to state governments to the U.S. government, Republicans and clergy from across the spectrum want to cut the social safety net for children, for young adults, for adults, and for the elderly amongst us. Republicans across the board (and yes some Democrats at times) consistently and wholeheartedly advocate and pass legislation to limit healthcare, food assistance, home assistance, child tax credits, welfare, Social Security, and more to the most neediest of us. Yet at the same time, the government provides tax credits and corporate welfare to big agri, big pharma, banks, fossil fuel companies, and more to the detriment of the commons and the planet on which we all live.
These are but a few ways in which a group of elected Republicans, clergy, and members of society who spout the words of the Bible without following them behave and live each day.
One thing many sayings we have in our society is, “The devil made me do it.” As I grow older, I’m coming to believe this to actually be true. But, since God gave us free will and free thought, it is no excuse. Even as we may be doing that action that isn’t very “Christian-like,” we always know in our heart what we are doing is wrong. That is the time God, or if you wish, a higher power, is talking to us. We can choose to continue the action we know not to be of Christ’s teachings, or we can choose to stop and do the right thing.
However, I also think that one can believe the path the Devil is leading one down is what God wants. The difference is, if one is a true believer in the teachings of Christ, one knows the difference. We still get to make the chose of the path, but with eyes wide open and without excuses after the fact.
What choice will you make?
Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man 