While I often don't recognize the very nation I was born and live in, there is a basic premise in politics that I truly do believe in. The best leaders are those that ground their action and intent in public service. That's the real difference between the good and the bad.
People are generally cynical, and often refuse to take a stand and position because of some untrue moral equivalence argument about how "both sides suck." I generally wouldn't take a side, because politics are not sports, but most of the GOP has completely lost its shit. It doesn't mean I want to join the DNC, it just means that by default, they're not the horrible ones. But even in better times, I may have disagreed with members of the Grand Old Party, but in retrospect I can say that most of the time they acted in service of their country.
I probably didn't think it at the time, but even George W. Bush, which I think made some terrible decisions that we're still paying for, acted as a public servant. I believe that even more after reading his memoir. In fact, I could say that about literally every president in my lifetime other than Trump. There are some Republicans that are still around who are also in that category, like Romney. The late John McCain most certainly was the picture of public service, starting in his military career and time as a prisoner of war, and up through his long service as an elected official. Heck, even Liz Cheney, one of the most hawkish Republicans in recent memory, put country above self and party. I respect that.
There's an interesting contrast to observe. Reagan really started the party down the road to government mistrust, with his, "I'm from the government, I'm here to help," nonsense. But his modern contemporaries lie about how terrible everything is, and how they're the only people who could save us. They have demonstrated that they want to make it harder for people to vote, ban books, tell you what you can or can't do with your own body, declare who you can love, regulate or limit protest... the opposite of what Reagan said he stood for.
This bring us to Joe Biden. I think that he has in fact achieved some of the things that he had hoped for. At the very least, I believe he has been a fairly stable president, and one that isn't in the news daily. His administration is full of serious people who are professionals. It was a refreshing change. I think the criticism about his age was valid, if not a little ridiculous that it wasn't also applied to Trump, who is also old. At the end of the day, he recognized the risk of him running for reelection, and stepped aside.
That's what public service looks like. It's what it has looked like most of his adult life. He certainly didn't have a perfect record, but it was a record of service, not indulgence. That's why I think he deserves respect. That's the difference between him and all of the batshit crazy.
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