In the not-a-shock of the day, Biden has withdrawn from running for a second term as president of the United States of ridiculous politics. He is going to focus on making it through to the end of his current term. These days, I think that the White House has relocated itself next to the Ministry of Silly Walks and is taking its cues from some of the worst screen writers in history. But, at least it is entertaining.

Right?

Meanwhile... In Finland.

Normally the "meanwhile in Finland" would be a cut scene to a person naked sitting in subzero conditions reading a newspaper, carrying his wife on his back in a race for her weight in beer, an ant nest sitting competition, or a battle of air guitarists, but on the day that the US president is just too damn old to run again, the Finnish President and his wife competed in a 24-kilometer (15 mi) river swim. It wasn't a one-off publicity stunt either, as they regularly compete in all kinds of endurance competitions, and last year he came first in his age group in a half-triathlon.

Puts those "heated" golf comments from the US debate in context, eh?

While I am not an ageist and there is a lot of value in experience, I don't think it is too much to ask that an elected president of a country can be expected to physically and mentally make it through their term in the role. Of course and as I intimately know after suffering a stroke caused by a broken artery in my neck at the age of 42, no matter the age or health, there are no guarantees in this life. Health problems occur and accidents happen. But, if we are playing the adds, someone who is in their late seventies or eighties has a far higher likelihood of dying from age related issues than someone in their fifties.

It is ludicrous that people in the "most powerful country on earth" are being given the choice between two candidates who are both statistically unlikely to see the start of the next decade - and that is only five and a half years away. In fact statistically in the United States, both should already be dead.

In 2022, the life expectancy of men at birth in the United States increased by 1.3 years (+1.77 percent) since 2021. In total, the life expectancy amounted to 74.8 years in 2022.

Reality Me

You know what would be an reality series to watch? While there are a lot of crazy politics in the world, since we have turned politics into entertainment, it would be great to see nation leaders of the world debate topics publicly. For instance, a few rounds of presidents debating global energy, pollution, climate change, economy, artificial intelligence and social concerns against each other. Biden

Wouldn't that be fun to watch?

While I don't like politics, nor some of the numerous politicians I have met in person, I also don't think they are all bad as people. However, take my dislike away and just think about them as a face of a country or company perhaps, and there are some that are better than others. Looking at your current leader wherever you are, would you expect them to make your country look good, or foolish? Now, if you think that it is foolish and you are not in North Korea, remember that people in your country have elected them, endorsed them, been willing to even have them run.

As far as I am concerned, people in influential positions of any kind that have power to affect across multiple years, shouldn't be death risks from old age. This goes for those "for life" positions like in the supreme court or federal judges. This is not just because of their risk of death an inopportune times, but also that at those ages, they are also thinking in quite different ways about their own lives and it is likely to affect their decisions which affect people who are yet to live their lives much at all. We don't want people who have no life experience, but we also don't people who have no touch with the reality of those they are making decisions for either.

As I have said many times, politics has reduced the importance of governments heavily, because they have turned it into popularity, not policy. The policies no longer matter to the people now, only the person at the head matters. This results inn policies being made by interest groups influencing policy-makers, and it happens largely out of sight of the people that will be affected by the policies for years to come. The larger the politicians make the spectacle, the more irrelevant the governments they lead become.

How degraded can they become?

You might think "not much" but things are likely to get far, far worse before they get better, or these power-hungry idiots end it completely for us all.

Taraz
[ Gen1: Hive ]