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America Has A Massive Leadership Vacuum

But Biden is still the better choice

I was watching clips from the presidential debate and the question that kept entering my mind was not who I should vote for. Rather, I kept wondering why are we stuck with these bad candidates?

How did the democratic process screw up so badly that we’re stuck choosing between a racist criminal and a someone’s who’s clearly not all there anymore?

This is probably what happens when extreme views take over and people shift away from the middle and towards the extreme left or right. When the general public starts to buy into extreme views, politicians that cater to those views start to do really well. People like it when those in positions of authority confirm their views.

After a while, politics become crowded with the far-left and far-right — it becomes all about the movement. Those who try to adopt a more measured perspective get shouted down because “they don’t get it” or “they’re traitors to their party.”

During these times, the loudest voices tend to dominate. Facts become secondary — the opinions expressed becomes much more important than the data to back up those opinions. Politicians that yell things that confirm people’s biases become very successful. That’s how we end up with someone like Trump and why the Republican Party has become a shameful shell of its former self.

On the other side, the Democratic Party seems to still be attempting to govern and elect reasonably. It’s become the de facto middle party of the U.S. And that’s why you end up with a candidate like Biden — he’s for lack of a better word bland. Both in 2020 and now he’s the Democrats’ top candidate not because of who he is but who he’s not — he’s not Trump. But when your best quality by far is that you’re not Donald Trump, it’s hard to inspire much passion.

Biden will never have the fiery cult-like following that Trump does (nor would we want him to as Trump’s following is based on lies and racist blame games). Even so, blandness can work if it’s combined with insightful rhetoric and thoughtful execution. But that’s not what Biden can deliver anymore — maybe a few years ago he could, but not anymore.