Biden Turns the United States into a Gerontocracy

Published in El Español
(Spain) on 26 April 2023
by (link to originallink to original)
Translated from by Marta Quirós Alarcón. Edited by Michelle Bisson.

 

 

If Joe Biden wins the 2024 election, he will be 86 when he leaves the White House. This feat will not make him the oldest president in the history of the United States, for he already holds that title. Instead, his achievement will be that, from now on, the term “gerontocracy”— which is generally used in reference to the Soviet Union in the 1980s — will become associated with the United States of the past decade.

Yesterday, in a three-minute video, Biden announced his candidacy for the 2024 presidential election. Only 38% of Democratic voters approve of his intention to run, while 57% believe that it should be a different candidate and 5% remain undecided. In contrast, Barack Obama had the support of 75% of his party to run for a second term, while 73% supported Donald Trump and 50% supported Bill Clinton.

“Democrats reluctant about Biden 2024, but they see no other choice,” was yesterday’s headline in The Washington Post, which is close to the Democratic Party. “They are lukewarm about picking Biden as their nominee, but many believe he may be the best hope of preventing a second Trump term and fighting extremism.”

The Democratic base has repeatedly shown itself to favor candidates who are younger, more progressive and more representative of “diversity” in the Democratic Party. However, the polls seem to confirm that Biden is the best possible option for Democrats against Trump’s hypothetical presidential bid.

This would nevertheless not be the best option against a candidacy on the part of Ron DeSantis, Florida governor and Trump’s potential future opponent for the Republican candidacy. The irony of it is that DeSantis is more likely to win against Biden in a presidential election than against Trump in the battle for the Republican nomination.

However, the relevant question today is whether Biden has the necessary strength to lead the greatest world power in a moment of extreme geopolitical tensions, with Russia threatening nuclear war if there is obstruction to its plans in Ukraine and China advancing in an increasingly aggressive manner in its intention to become a new superpower, replacing the United States. Will Biden be able to lead the free world in a hypothetical world war against the Chinese, Russian and Iranian autocracies?

Deep down, Biden is a metaphor for the aging Western world with a declining birth rate and more concerned about conquering “new rights” than about growth, as demonstrated by the fact that "more freedom or less freedom, more rights or fewer" was the slogan the president chose for the video announcing his candidacy.

That is not exactly the most serious issue for American citizens, who enjoy the greatest level of rights and liberties than any other society throughout history — because the battle of the future is not that of “new rights,” many of which are slight tweaks of rights gained decades ago, but the survival of the structure that enables the existence of those rights. In other words, the survival of democracy itself.


Biden convierte a los Estados Unidos en una gerontocracia

Si Joe Biden gana las elecciones de 2024 saldrá de la Casa Blanca con 86 años. La hazaña no le convertirá en el presidente más anciano de la historia de los Estados Unidos porque ese título ya lo ostenta hoy. Sí conseguirá, en cambio, que el término "gerontocracia", que suele usarse en referencia a la Unión Soviética de los años 80, se identifique a partir de ahora con los Estados Unidos de la última década.

Joe Biden anunció ayer con un vídeo de tres minutos su candidatura a las presidenciales de 2024. Sólo un 38% de los votantes demócratas aprueba su intención de presentarse, mientras que un 57% cree que el candidato debería ser otro, y un 5% permanece indeciso. En contraste, Obama contó con la aprobación del 75% de sus votantes para presentarse a un segundo mandato, Trump del 73% y Bill Clinton del 50%.

"Los demócratas se muestran recelosos sobre una nueva candidatura de Biden para 2024, pero no ven otra opción" titulaba ayer el diario Washington Post, cercano al Partido Demócrata. "Los demócratas se muestran tibios respecto a Biden, pero creen que es la mejor opción contra un segundo mandato de Trump y en contra del extremismo".

Las bases demócratas se han mostrado repetidamente partidarias de un candidato más joven, más progresista y más representativo de "la diversidad" en el Partido Demócrata. Los sondeos parecen confirmar sin embargo que Joe Biden es la mejor opción posible de los demócratas contra una hipotética candidatura presidencial de Donald Trump.

No sería sin embargo la mejor opción contra una candidatura de Ron DeSantis, gobernador de Florida y posible futuro rival de Trump por la candidatura republicana. La paradoja es que Ron DeSantis tiene más probabilidades de ganar a Biden en una elección presidencial que a Trump en la batalla por la candidatura republicana.

Pero la pregunta relevante hoy es si Biden tiene la fuerza necesaria para dirigir la mayor potencia mundial en un momento de extrema tensión geopolítica, con Rusia amenazando con una guerra nuclear si se obstaculizan sus planes en Ucrania y con China dando pasos cada vez más agresivos en su intención de convertirse en la nueva superpotencia en sustitución de los Estados Unidos. ¿Será capaz de liderar Biden al mundo libre en una hipotética guerra mundial contra las autocracias china, rusa e iraní?

Biden es, en el fondo, la metáfora de un Occidente envejecido, de natalidad declinante y más preocupado por la conquista de "nuevos derechos" que por el crecimiento, algo que prueba el hecho de que el eslogan escogido por el presidente para el vídeo de presentación de su candidatura fuera "más libertad o menos, más derechos o menos".

No es ese, precisamente, el problema más grave que afrontan unos ciudadanos americanos cuyo nivel de derechos y de libertades es el mayor que haya disfrutado jamás ninguna otra sociedad a lo largo de la historia. Porque la batalla del futuro no es la de los "nuevos derechos", muchos de ellos leves retoques de derechos conseguidos hace décadas, sino la supervivencia de la estructura que permite la existencia de esos derechos. Es decir, la supervivencia de la propia democracia.
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