Editor,

I originally intended this letter to be a long, detailed comparison of the two candidates for president of the United States. I would have stated that Joe Biden is one the best presidents in modern American history. I would have pointed to his experience as a public servant, serving as a U.S. senator for over thirty years, one who was instrumental in passing a ban on assault weapons in the mid 1990s. I’d have underscored his eight years as vice-president and his four years as president.

I would ask us to remember back just a few short years to how Biden used the levers of the behemoth federal government to get us out of the pandemic. The other guy wanted the states to take the lead, recommended that we consider drinking bleach, and, tragically, hundred of thousand of Americans died directly attributable to his incompetence. Do we have such short memories?

I would have pointed to Biden’s years as chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee in the U.S Senate. I would have focused on his efforts to support Ukraine against Putin’s attempt to colonize it. I would have contrasted that with the fact that the other guy tried to stiff and strong-arm Zelinsky into having him make up dirt on Biden that could be used against him in the 2020 election, for which he was impeached, in return for the release of $270 million that the Congress had already approved, and the other guy would not cough up unless a quid pro quo.

I would have emphasized that Biden is pro labor, supports a living wage for the working man and the working women. Biden walked the picket line with the UAW autoworkers. The ones who build the cars we drive. That same week the other guy went to Detroit and sided with the auto company owners. We currently have the lowest rate of unemployment in the United States in decades. The economy is cooking. In fact it got so hot, the Fed had to raise interest rates to keep it from boiling over. That was the right thing to do. Biden does the right things.

I would have especially pointed out that Biden supports a woman’s right to control her own body and what happens to it. The other guy and his party don’t and in fact want to put anyone in jail who helps a woman control her own body. I would have examined how Biden supports free speech, freedom to read, and he won’t put Henry Miller behind bars.

I would have elevated above all else that Biden is a good, decent, thoughful American citizen who cares about his country. I would have juxtaposed that with the fact that the other guy is going on trial for trying to overthrow the federal government, for instigating an insurrection and has upward of 300 felony indictments against him.

However, I need not have said any of this. I could have just referenced a recent study that you may have seen reported. It was topical as it was reported on President’s Day. It’s the 2024 edition of the “Presidential Greatness Project Experts Survey.” In this survey, 154 historians and experts were asked to rate the two candidates for president this fall and to place them in rank order with all of the 45 past American presidents since George Washington. You remember him. Biden came in number 14 all time and the other guy came in dead last, 45. Had we been an older country with 84 presidents, he would have been 84.

Joe Biden deserves to be president again, and we’re lucky to have him. The other guy needs to be in prison, where I would be, or you would be, had we done what this arrogant, incompetent, corrupt ingrate has done.

Steven V. Horton

Langley