For six weeks after the inauguration I exulted in the defeat of Harris and hoped for the best from Trump, that he might generally repeat his first term or improve on it. But since the meeting with Zelinskyy I have been horrified by: his Ukraine policy, disregard for the constitution and rule of law, tariff incoherence, relentless vindictiveness, polarizing compulsions, grandiosity and narcissistic disconnect from reality. His worst character traits have been intensified by his years of battle and final victory. But when I remember Biden/Harris I recall my urgency to defeat them. For some clarity, I will attempt a numerical evaluation of our last four presidents on 7 distinct areas of importance.
First, let's identify the areas of concern along with the weight of their importance to me. Secondly, I will evaluate, on a scale of 1 to 10 the last four presidents and so arrive at a final evaluative weight.
Culture War issues have the highest weight of 5 for me as a moral conservative: the nature of the human person (abortion, euthanasia, embryonic research), gender, sexuality and family (surrogacy, in vitro, LGBTQ), identity politics and religious freedom.
Social Justice and Solidarity including concern for the poor, suffering, marginalized carries a 2.
Personal Moral Exemplar, especially for our youth, carries a 2.
Global Diplomacy carries a 2.
Vision of the Common Good, including law/order and immigration, an ability to unite the nation thereby carries a 2.
General Competence in Governance and Diplomacy carries a 1.
Economic Policy carries a 1.
We see that the total weight is 14; so that a perfect president would score 140; a mediocre, averaging 5, would score 70. We might think of it as a school grading; 70s is adequate, 80s good, 90s excellent.
Donald Trump
- scores 9 out of 10 on the culture war for 45;
- 3 on social justice and solidarity for 6;
- on personal morality he is amazingly a -3 so bad is his example for a -15;
- on global diplomacy a 5 for a total of 10 as he is terrible on Ukraine but good on the Middle East and other;
- vision of the common good he gets a 3 for a total of 6 for his overdue closing of the border but he is horrifically polarizing for us as a nation;
- competence gets him a low 3 for his character-based disconnect from reality and truth despite his astounding political powers for a total of 3.
- his economic policy garners him 5 for a total of 5 as it is mixed but very confused on tariffs.
Total: 60. Clearly a failing score
Biden/Harris
- are -4 on culture war for a -20;
- social justice and solidarity gets them a 5 as they speak for the poor but actually cater to the affluent, educated upper class for a 10.
- personal exemplar they score a 3 for a 6.
- global diplomacy they score a 3 for a 6 due to systemic weakness.
- vision of the common good they score a 3 for a 6 due to polarization and weakness, especially on the border.
- competence they garner a 3 due again to weakness, lack of energy, clarity and vision for a 3.
- economic policy they score a 3 for deficit and inflation for a 3.
Total 14. Terrible!
Barrack Obama
-Culture war scores 0 for 0.
-Social justice scores 6 for a 12 total as first black president.
- Personal exemplar scores 7 for wholesomeness despite social policies for 14.
- Diplomacy scores a moderate 6 for 12.
- Vision of common good again a moderate 6 for 12.
- Competence gets a 7 for 7.
- Economics a 7 for 7.
Total 64. Not passing. Overall slightly better than Trump despite his 0 for culture war.
George W. Bush
- culture war 8 for total of 40.
- social justice 6 (especially Africa policy and a compassionate conservatism) for 12.
- personal exemplar 8 for his decency for 16.
- diplomacy is 6. I am not as hard on him on Iraq as most are. for 12.
- vision is 6 for 12.
- competence is 6 for 6.
- economics is 6 for 6.
Total: 104.
Conclusion: Bush 104, Obama 64, Trump 60, Biden/Harris 14.
By this calculus I am again forced to vote for Trump because the Biden/Harris option is still SO bad.
Bush senior would be close to the score of his son. Hillary very close to that of Obama with whom she served. Bill Clinton would be lower, not only for his personal immorality, but because there was neither remorse nor consequences with catastrophic consequences for the souls of our young. Reagan would be very high, into the 120s, because of good grades on the culture war, diplomacy (fall of Soviet Union), and personal decency. Carter, strong on personal morality and global vision with human values, would be quite low since he was on the wrong side of the culture war and was a weak president.
I am proud that most of my immediate family voted for neither Trump nor Harris. Many of my conservative friends dismiss or underestimate the depravities of Trump. Most of my progressive Catholic family and friends share my values but prefer to displace and ignore the culture war issues as personal, rather than political: a catastrophic judgment!
Let's bring back the Bushes! Is Jed Bush still around?
No comments:
Post a Comment