The True Perils of the Presidency
For the last 231 years, the United States of America has grown from the original 13 colonies to 50 states. We have seen 58 presidential elections in which the American people chose the person they want to represent the third most populated country in the world. We have seen many ideologies and many hardships that make each election important, but we have never had a President be so erratic that American democracy was threatened until Donald Trump took the oath of office.
When America was founded, it was founded on the crucial idea of democracy. It was established on the idea that we the people get to elect our leader. The United States was ruled by Great Britain and under a monarchy, and the Americans fought their way to create a country where the voices of the citizens were welcomed. Donald Trump has repeatedly stated that he wants to serve for 12 years or even more. When George Washington was nearing the end of his second term as President, he chose not to serve another term in order to ensure America’s continued status as a democracy. He wanted to set a precedent of not staying in office for life as the United States was no longer under the rule of a king. When Abraham Lincoln was President, he oversaw a war that tore the United States into two. John F. Kennedy helped save the country from nuclear annihilation and both Presidents were assassinated while in office. Yet, Donald Trump states that out of all the Presidents, he has been treated the most “unfairly.” Not only is that statement incredulous, but it is disrespectful to the lives that Presidents Lincoln and Kennedy sacrificed for this nation.
Presidents lead by example and are expected to tell the American people the truth. Franklin Roosevelt held “Fireside Chats” informing the American people of what they needed to know during his presidency and especially during World War II. Barack Obama declared H1N1 a national emergency by listening to our health officials. As of July 13, 2020, the Washington Post reported that Donald Trump has told 12 lies per day since the start of his presidency. Meanwhile, Joe Biden has promised to tell the American people the truth. While we are in the midst of a national pandemic, Donald Trump has repeatedly gone against the words of our scientists and health officials for his own political gain. Joe Biden has called for a national mandate on masks that would make the rate of COVID-19 infections lower, as a call for patriotism.
President Ronald Reagan reinforced our military and subsidized innovative work on our weapons system. He even saw America’s future as a “shining city on a hill” and always promoted the idea that this country’s best days are yet to come. John F. Kennedy inspired millions of Americans to dream the impossible dream and wanted to put a man on the moon to prove that if we stick together, we can do anything we set our minds to. Barack Obama challenged the American people to hope and to change the course of this country during the worst recession since the Great Depression. Joe Biden has vowed to “restore the soul of this nation” and return America to a place where we can be civil to one another again. While those leaders focused on the future of America, Donald Trump has tried to take America backward by continuing to stoke the flames of white supremacy, equating white supremacists to protesters and to “very fine people.”
Those who have occupied the office of President of the United States for the last 231 years have led by example. Dwight Eisenhower propelled the creation of NASA, which created America’s most innovative space program. Lyndon Johnson signed the Civil Rights Act of 1964 which fundamentally made progress on race relations at the time. Barack Obama helped ensure that millions of Americans across the country were able to get the health insurance that they needed. While there are some instances of those who put party before country, the vast majority put their country before their own interests. Joe Biden has worked with every President from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama and has the experience needed to face the tough challenges America faces. While Joe Biden was co-authoring the Violence Against Women Act, Donald Trump was telling his friends to “be rougher” with their wives if they didn’t get their way. While Joe Biden secured three key Republican votes to get the Recovery Act passed which would help save the economy from the brink, Donald Trump was named in a claim over a failed construction venture. Those who invested said that Trump distorted his role in the finance portion of a new resort, expressing after the project’s downfall that he didn’t take any part in it’s financial collapse. Joe Biden and his family moved from Pennsylvania to Delaware when he was young due to his dad having to find another job to support the family. Donald Trump claims that Joe Biden abandoned Pennsylvania. While Donald Trump is acting as a reality TV star, Joe Biden is always putting Americans and the middle class first. President Trump and Vice President Biden are polar opposites, but only one of them truly cares about restoring the backbone and the soul of this nation. I strongly urge you to vote for Joe Biden on November 3rd. Be a patriot and save this great American experimentation called democracy.
“When a man unprincipled in private life desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper, possessed of considerable talents, having the advantage of military habits — despotic in his ordinary demeanour — known to have scoffed in private at the principles of liberty — when such a man is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity — to join in the cry of danger to liberty — to take every opportunity of embarrassing the General Government & bringing it under suspicion — to flatter and fall in with all the non sense of the zealots of the day — It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may “ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.”
~ Alexander Hamilton to George Washington
Originally published at https://bidenwarroom.org on September 14, 2020.
