Throw Biden Overboard...

...and Have an Interesting Convention

There are any number of political scientists and media figures who point to the decline of our modern political parties as contributors to our strained politics. Two of my favorite are Yuval Levin and Jonah Goldberg, both of whom hang shingles at the American Enterprise Institute. So the argument goes, the rise of the primary system and changes to the means by which we finance campaigns has led to the two parties exercising little or no authority over those who run under their banners. I have a lot of sympathy for this argument, but I sometimes wonder whether cause and effect are not being conflated.

We have in the current situation in the Democratic Party, the chance for an interesting political science “experiment”, although “experience” is probably a lot closer to what I’m getting at, as very little about what I’m about to suggest is controllable. What has been obvious to any American subsisting on a diet of NatPop media for the past three and a half years is that our President is addled and showing signs of senility. Because many Americans do not subsist on a diet of NatPop media, the President’s debate performance and his interview with ABC News come as something of a surprise. This is unfortunate, as his decline has been obvious and glaring, even as his family and inner circle prop him up for an incurious media grown tired of “speaking truth to power” (unless that power happens to be Republican).

Although Biden appears unwilling to exit the stage, there is a growing chorus within his Party calling for him to voluntarily end his candidacy. For a number of reasons, I am all for this. First, I don’t want him to continue to be President, let alone get another term. My preference would be for him to resign the office altogether. Whether he resigns or not, if he were to end his candidacy, we would have the opportunity to have side by side comparisons of nominating a President: as in olden times (the “smoke filled rooms” as it were) that would be the province of the Democrats, and the modern, primary based method in which the Republican Party supinely ratifies the choice of a fraction of its voters without any institutional loyalty to the Party. I’m here to suggest this would be a good thing.

It appears more and more likely that our previous president will be our next president. If Biden stays in, I see a popular vote victory for Trump along with the GOP taking the Senate and keeping the House (both of which I applaud). The Democratic Party is headed for disaster. Keep in mind, this is the Democratic Party that has told us that another Trump term is an existential threat to our democracy (a sentiment with which I am in agreement). If their answer is to stand by idly while their octogenarian candidate fritters away the future, they deserve all that they have coming to them.

Instead, let me suggest an “old time revival”. Joe Biden exits the stage. I’d prefer he resign the office, but that isn’t important, just that he say he’s no longer running for President and frees up his delegates. This would then create a situation in which the Democratic Party Convention would actually MEAN something. America’s attention would be RIVETED to its (many, diverse) screens while for four nights, it is 1860 all over again. This mix of antiquarian political process with modern media is a dream come true for those of us who believe there is too much direct democracy in our electoral system and not enough representative democracy.

Would the Democrat still lose? Possibly. Maybe even likely. But they would go down with a fight, and they would generate an unparalleled amount of interest in their convention and whatever ticket is chosen as a result. There would then follow two months of INTENSE campaigning, and a presidential election in which their candidate could possibly be 1) not a felon and 2) not senile. What a marvelous time that would be for American politics. Would I vote for their nominee? Who knows. My guess is that whoever squirts out of that process would be attractive to those remaining undecided voters in battleground states to make the race closer than it will otherwise turn out. By this I mean that Bernie will not be nominated. Elizabeth Warren will not be nominated.

A second very positive aspect to this approach would be that whomever is nominated gets to run for President under the banner of a major party and only has to campaign for two months. No trudging around Iowa eating fried butter and lying to farmers about how you love ethanol. No nodding knowingly in the living room of self-important New Hampshire residents who believe the rest of us cannot pick presidents for ourselves. Just a “Balls to the wall” sprint to the finish line.

One party long ago gave up its authority and influence in its nominating process and we are left with the disastrous result and the prospect of its repeat. Would that the other party recognize its coming deathbed moment and actually try to do some thing to change the outcome.

A guy can dream.

House of the Dragon

I am convinced that “Game of Thrones” was the most entertaining television of my lifetime. Even with a couple of rushed seasons to end it all, no series has ever captured my interest and loyalty like it did. I think there are 76 episodes in the series, and I have seen each a minimum of 8 times (I watch TV on the treadmill).

So it was with some excitement that I greeted the arrival a couple of years ago of a “prequel” called “House of the Dragon”, a series that takes place 300 years before the show I came to love. While the main creative influences behind GoT were not involved, a number of others who had a hand in it are. I watched its dreary, boring, heavy, dark, and relentlessly overbearing first season and reached this summary conclusion: there was not a single character—not one—that I gave a rip about. It was completely humorless, and I very much considered not watching Season 2 if a Season 2 was produced.

Season 2 was produced and is now making its way through its allotment of dreary, boring, heavy, dark, relentlessly overbearing and completely humorless episodes. I am watching them at this point, mostly out of self-hatred, passing the time during a visitor-less July 4th weekend. I cannot imagine the amount of money that was spent producing this dreck.

After I started writing this, I went over to Rotten Tomatoes to see how others think about the series. Imagine my surprise to see that I am a tiny minority—critics are at 77% approval and general public is at 90%. There’s no accounting for taste.