Cal Thomas has lost all sense of reality

After reading Cal Thomas’ editorial opinion in the Monday, March 27^th Advocate, it is obvious he has lost touch with reality.  In his column he advocates for Donald Trump to withdraw from the 2024 presidential race “for the good of the country.”  Donald Trump is not concerned about what’s “good for the country.”   It has always been what is good for him.  He schemed to overturn the legitimate election results, culminating in the January 6^th debacle ‘to restore him to power.’  Today he advocates for his followers to “raise up” and “take our country back” soley because of his possible indictments, not because of his love for America.  Additionally, his business empire profited immensely at the expense of the tax payers during his presidential term.

Sadly, Cal Thomas also fails to understand Trump’s two major personality flaws, the abhorrence of being seen as a “loser” and revenge.  In Trump’s world a “loser” is the epitome of the lowest form of existence.  That’s why he has never conceded the 2020 election nor sent the usual congratulatory message to Biden on his win.  To do so would completely destroy Trump as a person.

Additionally, most everyone who has had an association with Donald Trump will agree he is obsessed with seeking revenge on those he perceived as being disloyal.  This was quite evident in his continual revolving door firing practices of his cabinet advisers during his presidency and his recent threats to “punish those Republicans” who endorse or assist other candidates.  Trump relishes the fact that if he is once again elected he can “rain down terror” on all those that maligned him.

So basically, Cal Thomas needs to get real because his wish for Trump to graciously bow out of the 2024 presidential race is never going to happen.

 

Old age, time to go

It’s time to remove the old timers from Congress.  Sounds like I’m advocating for age discrimination doesn’t it?  And, yes, regarding the individuals running this country, age discrimination should take front and center stage since many of our representatives are no longer relevant.

Today, almost 25% of our esteem members of the U.S. Congress are over the age of 70.  This contrasts with the fact that 50% of the country is 38 years old or younger.  Interestedly, from the 1950’s to 1980 about 10% of Congress was under the age of 40. It rose to about 17% in the 1980’s, but today is about 4%.  This occurred at the same time that the median age of U.S. residents continued to decrease.

Additionally, in the 1960’s, and for the next 30 years,  the median age (50% above, 50% Below) of Congress hovered around  54 while that  figure jumped seven years in the 1990’s to a high of 61 years by 2022.

At this point you make rightfully ask, “So what’s the big deal about all this?”  The big deal is that you can’t stop the realities of Farther Time and how it effects one’s cognitive functioning.

As one ages, their brain begins to shrink, resulting in more difficulty in processing information, multitasking, reduced attention span, and remembering things.  Fluid intelligence, our ability to reason, declines dramatically in most people because we get slow.  And let’s not confuse someone’s IQ score with their cognitive abilities. An individual’s IQ does not change with age.  In other words, if you compared someone’s IQ taken ten years ago with their current IQ score, there would be similar scores because IQ is always measured relative to other people your age.  So when old folks brag about their high IQ, it’s kind of irrelevant.  It just mean it’s high compared to others their age, but they may still suffer from reductions in cognitive abilities due to the aging process.

In reality don’t you agree that individuals charged with making decisions about running our country and its interaction with other countries throughout  the world should be able to operate at their peak both physically, and more importantly, cognitively?  Additionally. these same individuals should be in tune with those they represent.

And this same discussion applies to our country’s leaders.  Joe Biden will be 82 years old and Donald Trump will be 78 in 2024. They along with the old timers in Congress need to ride off into the sunset instead of drawing a salary on the public’s dime to perform in a job governing people that they can no longer relate to, and lack the physical and  mental ability to perform at peak capacity.

Term limits is one way to stop these old folks in Congress from continuing.   Some in their 80’s have served for 40 years or more.  However, since that would take a vote of the U.S. Congress to even give voters a chance to decide if they favor term limits, I doubt that any of our congressional leaders would vote for legislation that would put them out of a job.

Sadly, with the present system in place, our U.S. Congressional leaders are going to become still older, and more and more disenfranchised from those they purport to represent.  And that will have continued dire consequences for our society.  However, the good news is, in 2024 we can stop the process at the presidential level.  Please give the old folks the heave ho.  In full disclosure I am 78 years old and have no business being a member of the U.S. Congress or President of the U.S.