The Election and the Nature of Presidents

 I posted this in a thread on the ALPB site.  In order to file it for my own use, here is what I wrote:

In any election the tendency is to cast the future in apocalyptic terms. Life as we know it will end if ____________is elected. Our most cherished rights will be taken away if _____________ is elected. Such and such president is the absolute worse man ever elected. And so forth. I'm trying to ignore this. I've lived through the terms of 12 presidents, five who were Democrats, seven who were Republican. Four of them managed to get reelected and serve 8 years: two Republicans (Reagan, Bush 41), and two Democrats (Clinton, Obama).  The economy has risen and fallen during those six decades.  Wars were fought and peacetime enjoyed.  Voting and civil rights laws were passed into law for minorities.  We lived through the resignation of one president brought on by criminal acts of men close to his presidency (and some believe by the president himself), one was assassinated, two have been impeached (but left in office). Despite the weaknesses and flaws of each occupant, the presidency and the country has survived, and in many cases thrived.

Unfortunately during an election it is nigh near impossible for those supporting one candidate to find any redeemable qualities in the other. Interesting, however, that when time has passed many one-time opponents find reasons to actually like each other, let alone work together (think Clinton and Bush 41, and Clinton and Bush 43, for example). We have disparaged the intellect of some without cause, and made others into near messiahs.  But they are all men.  Fallible human occupants of an office that is of such pressure it visibly ages most of its occupants.  If the internet had been available during the terms of those who served in the earlier years of my life, I am certain that shocking truths would have become more widely known, and the occupants condemned far and wide.  JFK, for all the praise afforded him, was hardly an angelic choirboy. 

So even if Biden wins I am not despairing that all will implode in the world I know.  And if Harris takes over sooner rather than later, as is predicted, the world will continue again.  If they win and the legislative branch flips to their party, I have concerns.  Without a real 'check-and-balance' of an opposing party the tendency to pass laws in swift fashion over the objections of the opposing party is not unknown (think Obama Care).  But we've been through this too.  The American voters have a way of bringing balance in future elections.  I would just as soon not live through a presidency that could be a time of reversal of some rights and privileges I have enjoyed,

but I'll live through all those as along as my right to preach the Gospel remains intact.  When that disappears, I will bear that cross as called.

Trump is a flawed character.  We all agree.  But he's not the first to occupy this high office.  Lest we throw too many stones let us consider the other flawed men we have entrusted this office to in years past.  There are concerns, to be sure.  And although some do not share all of these with me, one that keeps rising to the surface is law and order in our cities.  Apart from the White House, regardless of the occupant, work on a much needed vaccine will continue.  Whether Trump or Biden wins, the private sector will still push on to drive the economy and advance scientific discoveries.  It does not all ride on one man.

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