It is Time to Find Better Candidates for President

Democrats and Republicans need to find other candidates for the 2024 presidential election. Both Biden and Trump are damaged goods and furthermore too old with extra baggage we do not need! I would advise, as Elon Musk, that they should ride off into the sunset. With all the smart people around, surely they can find someone who did not storm the US Capital with an armed group to reverse an election or a president who botched the withdrawal of US forces from a nation we had protected for 20 years, causing thousands of people to lose their life, condemning millions of women to a life of servitude and minority status, not unlike in the middle ages, not to mention stealing their educational opportunities and giving away trillions in military equipment.       
     Who was responsible for leaving Afghanistan in such a disorganized fashion when all his military advisers counseled against it? And who incited hundreds of people to carry weapons and threaten to hang the Vice-President, when all his advisers told him that he had lost the election. I can only think of two people, neither of whom listen to their counselors. Both are know-it-alls! They have lost my respect, and both forfeit their leadership roles, especially the most important position in our government. How can any reasonable person support either man who is so clearly unfit for the highest office in the land? If you succeed in getting either man elected, you will on the one hand, get a bumbling demented man who cannot put two sentences together without flubbing the teleprompter lines and on the other, a self-absorbed narcissist who is bent on avenging himself on all those that opposed him. Neither take advice nor listen to their advisers. Both of them lack good judgment. How about we find wiser candidates with new visions of a Country based on Freedom, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness for all who respond to their Electorate and Cabinet? The actions of both these two “loose canons” should clue you into their unhinged minds, regardless of cause, be it age-related cognitive problems or a personality disorder.  
     We especially do not need leadership that brings us 9.1% inflation with a looming recession. We do not need self-absorbed people who go through advisers like worn-out shoes, discarding them for the most inane reasons. We do not need octogenarians (I hasten to add that I am one of them). Many of that age have the beginning or worse of deteriorating cerebral cortexes, who cannot reason logically anymore, and have a variety of medical and mental issues that interfere with their function, like walking, talking, thinking, comprehending, or administering the largest most powerful nation in the world.
     At age 65, 20% of individuals have some degree of cognitive deterioration. It doubles every 10 years so that by age 80 about 50% have some cognitive malfunction. Does it make any sense to look for leadership in a group where half of the people have cognitive decline?
     We need to go back to our roots, our beginnings when the Age of Reason gave us men like George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, and Benjamin Franklin. Yes, these men had flaws, as we all do, but they were great thinkers who could overcome their prejudices and foibles. Our Constitution is still valid and a living document that has given us prosperity and justice for close to two and one-half centuries. I do not forget about slavery. That was, however, a worldwide plague that was not limited to this country, to racial divisions, or even that time. There is more slavery of black, white, and yellow races now than there ever was. We need to stay away from recent philosophies that have failed miserably, such as Marxism and Fascism, both of which I have had some close encounters. From personal knowledge, I can tell you, “be careful what you wish for. You may just get it!” All countries that have tried those philosophies, even in small doses, have failed and reversed their form of government, including England, New Zealand, the old Soviet Union, Israel, India, Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. North Korea, Venezuela, Cuba, and Laos are the only countries still toying with Marxism. Even China and Vietnam are now mostly market-based economies, although still dictatorships. Who can forget the incomparable disasters of the two Fascist countries, Italy and Germany?  
     We are not perfect and never will be. There is still racial strife and feelings of superiority toward one over another. However, nothing like it was 200 years ago or even 50 years ago. We have taken great strides forward, and I doubt these issues can be solved quickly or even legislatively. There have been changes in our hearts and minds by leagues and we are continuing to do so. But I do know with certainty that neither Biden nor Trump are the right choices for us!