Power Corrupts

                                       

 “Power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts, absolutely,” is an old saying that I’m sure is taken as gospel by most people whether conservative, liberal, progressive, or socialist. Nevertheless, why are so many politicians throwing their hats in the ring for next year’s Presidential election? Do they want to become corrupted, or are they already corrupt?

The latest to enter the list of Democratic candidates would appear to be former Vice-President Joe Biden. Headlines in yesterday’s papers indicated that he has told friends that he will enter the race and start raising money. Apparently, Biden has no respect for either the ability or electability of any of the previously announced candidates.  

Despite the qualifications and experience of Senator Elizabeth Warren, perhaps Biden thinks the country is not yet ready for its first Native American president. Perhaps he thinks that Senator Kamala Harris of California is too young and inexperienced despite the fact that she got her start under Willie Brown, the legendary former mayor of San Francisco. Perhaps in one of the debates Biden will turn to Cory Booker, the young Black Senator, and say, “Senator, I know Barack Obama, and you are no Barack Obama.”

Could it be that Biden believes that the Democratic party will need a white male to win in 2020?  It is true that upstart Robert Francis O’Rourke from Texas by way of New York is a white male but O’Rourke, who calls himself Beto, has publicly apologized for being a white male. I doubt that Biden will ever apologize for being a white male. He has never apologized for anything during his long and checkered career. 

Perhaps a better saying to apply to Biden would be the famous one from antiquity. “Whom the gods would destroy, they first make mad.” Biden will be 77 in 2020. He appears to be in good health but what is good health for a man in his late seventies? Moreover, Biden will not be running to head his local Senior center’s volunteer corps. He will be running for President of the USA, one of the world’s most difficult jobs. 

Ronald Reagan was 69 when he was first elected President and 73 when he was overwhelmingly re-elected in 1984. During his second term he was obviously failing. It was sad to watch. Donald Trump, whom most Democrats think is mentally incapable right now, was 70 when he was elected in 2016. He will be 74 in 2020. If he seeks re-election in 2020, he will still be younger than Biden and Senator Bernie Sanders, the oldest of the three.

Personally, I will turn 80 this year and it is hard for me to understand what these aging baby-boomers are thinking. I retired a dozen years ago because I thought that I no longer had the physical and mental ability to handle the many needs of my financial planning clients. Moreover, I no longer had the drive to continue to keep up with the many changes coming into the industry. By fortunate coincidence, I got out in 2008 right before the financial crisis added a huge amount of stress to the lives of financial planners and their clients.  Fortunately, I was able to leave my practice in the hands of competent, younger advisors.

I know that readers of the above post might accuse me of ageism. But, at my age it is common to read the obituaries every day and find that someone who was lively and healthy a couple of years ago has just passed away. I play chess and run film programs at my local senior center, but still am saddened to see people who were active and alert, now stuttering or using canes and walkers. 

Polls indicate that Biden and Sanders, two old white men, have taken the early lead for the Democratic nomination in 2020. They remind me of mad Captain Ahab in pursuit of the great white whale who currently occupies the White House. I am not saying that seniors don’t have much to contribute but it is good to remember the saying from contemporary philosopher Clint Eastwood (Dirty Harry): “A man’s got to know his limitations.”

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