February 19, 2025

5 thoughts on “Op-Ed: On Joe Biden’s Dangerous Demagoguery

  1. So, picking up where we left off as the clock counts down to November 8, 2002, and election day, when the fate of OUR Republic and OUR Constitution and Separation of Powers, and especially the Tenth Amendment, wherein is clearly stated, although not heard or even acknowledged by Joe Biden and the Democrats, that “The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.”

    From the demagogic rhetoric of Joe Biden concerning him overruling the Supreme Court with an executive order and thereby transferring control of abortions from THE PEOPLE in the states and their elected leaders to the Democrats in the federal government, it is that amendment that is clearly under threat here, people, and make no mistake about it.

    If Joe Biden and the Democrats get their way come November, that will be the DEATH of OUR Constitution as we once knew it, and we will enter a new era where the meaning of the Constitution changes on a daily basis depending on the moods, passions, emotions and feelings of the Democrats that day as to what they would like the Constitution to mean that moment, and there will be chaos, as a result.

    And that takes us back to this statement from The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, to wit:

    The obvious problem, however, is that while few presidents may encounter twin crises like the Great Depression and World War II, the emergency powers of the president are vast, and the combination of presidential demagoguery and the exercise of presidential powers at the merest suggestion of an emergency is frightening to contemplate.

    end quote

    And while we contemplate that, let me go to this from the The Bulwark article titled “Demagoguery in America” by Pejman Yousefzadeh on August 30, 2020, for some background history, something we become more and more devoid on a daily basis it seems, where there is absolutely no fact-checking of claims made by the Democrats and the Biden regime, to wit:

    Andrew Jackson, the earliest American demagogue Posner identifies, “was able to win the presidency because by his time the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”

    end quote

    Now, people, and yes, I do sincerely believe that the readers of the Cape Charles Mirror are mature adults who wish to be presented with facts or opinions for them to consider, as opposed to being told what it is they must think, or in too many cases, what it is they must not think if they want to be considered by Joe Biden and the Democrats as “GOOD AMERICANS,” an ironic term deriving from the term “Good Germans,” referring to German citizens during and after World War II who claimed not to have supported the Nazi regime, but remained silent and did not resist in a meaningful way, I want to pause the narrative here with this phrase from The Bulwark article before us to ponder for a moment, to wit: “the original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues had eroded.”

    WHAT were those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues that had eroded by the time of Andrew Jackson and his Jacksonian democracy?

    WHY did those original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues eroded in the first place?

    And what does that mean for us in our times today, heading into an uncertain tomarrow?

    And here let me leave you with this quote by Alexander Hamilton from FEDERALIST No. 85, Concluding Remarks, from MCLEAN’s Edition on 28 May 1788 to the People of the State of New York to consider the meaning of in relation to those supposed original constitutional bulwarks against populist demagogues, to wit:

    These judicious reflections contain a lesson of moderation to all the sincere lovers of the Union, and ought to put them upon their guard against hazarding anarchy, civil war, a perpetual alienation of the States from each other, and perhaps the military despotism of a victorious demagogue, in the pursuit of what they are not likely to obtain, but from time and experience.

  2. It is interesting as we talk about the dangerous demagoguery of Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, the first appointed president of the United States, that Vanderbilt University on its website has an article titled “Civics 101: Keep Demagogues Out of Democracy” dated April 7, 2021, by Eli Merritt, Visiting Scholar at Vanderbilt University, which article begins as follows, to wit:

    SUMMARY

    UNIFYING THEME: To Keep the Republic: Strengthening Democratic Principles at Home and Abroad

    Political philosophers from the Greeks to the framers of the U.S. Constitution to Abraham Lincoln all warned of the mortal danger that demagogues pose to democracies.

    Vital to their understanding of that danger was their familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy.

    These foundational principles of democracy should not only be taught to students in Civics 101 but deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages.

    end quotes

    As a LOYAL AMERICAN who was educated in an America in a different century and millennium than today, when things education-wise in America were vastly different from what they have degenerated to in our present time today, especially with regard to familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy, I have to wholeheartedly agree with that statement that foundational principles of democracy deserve continued emphasis to Americans of all ages, especially today when we hear modern-day demagogues going on about “sacred democracy,” while weeping and wailing and gnashing their teeth while turning puce with rage over the prospect of their political opponents “stealing” their democracy from them, as though it were a playground toy they were fearful of a playground bully taking from them after giving them a wedgie and a noogie and kicking sand in their faces.

    Going back to the Vanderbilt article, it continues as follows, to wit:

    The preservation of a healthy constitutional democracy in the United States in the coming decades hinges critically on whether Americans heed a golden rule of this free form of government as taught throughout the ages by democracy experts like Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Livy, Edward Gibbon, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln and especially the framers of the U.S. Constitution.

    The golden rule is that demagogues destroy democracies.

    In their writings and speeches, these incisive political philosophers teach us that demagogues, especially those serving as heads of state, are to the body politic of democracy what cancer is to the human body.

    If the cancer is not kept out, or removed, it eviscerates critical organs and eventually kills the democracy.

    end quotes

    Think of that, people, as we head into the November midterms with the dangerous demagogue Joseph Robinette Biden using the bully pulpit of the presidency of the United States to engage in dangerous demagoguery intended to sway the election over to his supporters by vilifying and demonizing his political opponents.

    And the problem we have here, is that we are using terminology that has gone out of the political lexicon, so we lack a cultural perspective and context that would help us understand the danger Joe Biden represents to our future and the future of our Republic, of which Joe Biden is a clear and present danger with his toxic demagoguery.

    For that context, let us take a trip back in time to this nation’s beginnings, to see how the term was used in the America of that time.

    Now, before we go back in time, by way of review, we have our modern definition of a “demagogue,” according to the Reader’s Digest Great Encyclopedic Dictionary, being “one who leads the populace by appealing to prejudices and passions; an unprincipled politician.”

    Is that a description of American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior, people?

    Does American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior lead the populace by appealing to the many prejudices and passions of his political followers, such as calling his and their political opponents “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans?”

    Going back to the definition of demagogue, while we have Joseph Robinette, Biden, Junior before us as a perfect text-book example of one, Wikipedia informs us as follows on that subject, to wit:

    A demagogue or rabble-rouser is a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.

    end quotes

    Is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior they are talking about there, people?

    Think carefully about it, because our collective future depends on it.

    As we head into the November midterms, is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by arousing the common people against elites?

    Be truthful with yourselves, people – is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now as I type these words trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction through inflammatory and incendiary oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups like the Republicans, while exaggerating dangers too democracy, and “who you love,” and the supposed right to an abortion on demand to stoke fears?

    Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior out there on the campaign trail right now trying to gain popularity for himself and for his faction by lying for emotional effect, while using rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, as in the Cult of Joe?

    Going back to Wikipedia, we have this to consider as well, to wit:

    Demagogues overturn established norms of political conduct, or promise or threaten to do so.

    end quotes

    Think American autocrat Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior telling his followers on 18 October 2022, as follows:

    “I want you to remember that the final say (on abortion) does not rest in the Court now.”

    “It does not rest with extremist Republicans in Congress.”

    “The final say about your right to choose rests with you.”

    “And if you do your part and vote, Democratic leaders in Congress I promise you will do our part.”

    “I’ll do my part.”

    end quotes

    With that rhetoric before us, going back to Wikipedia, we are told that historian Reinhard Luthin defined a demagogue as “…a politician skilled in oratory, flattery and invective; evasive in discussing vital issues; promising everything to everybody; appealing to the passions rather than the reason of the public; and arousing racial, religious, and class prejudices – a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses.”

    As yourselves while there is still time, people – is that Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior he is talking about there?

    Is Joseph Robinette Biden, Junior a man whose lust for power without recourse to principle leads him to seek to become a master of the masses, and Joe is doing as I write these words in here?

    And now we take a break for station identification to give you an opportunity to get to the fridge for some munchies to fortify you as you ponder that question and after a solid, uninterrupted three hours of your favorite commercials, we will be right back, so don’t touch that dial!

  3. And as we collectively consider in here why it is so important to the future of OUR Republic and our grandchildren that we strip American autocrat and demagogue Joe Biden of raw political power by taking control of the House of Representatives and the Senate away from him in the November 2022 midterms, The Blue Review, a project of the Boise State University School of Public Service, embracing the university’s state-mandated public affairs mission, the mission of which is to promote scholarship in the public interest, had an article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University and a former Pew Faculty Fellow at Harvard University, as well as a past recipient of the Idaho Professor of the Year award from the Carnegie Foundation, on February 11, 2019, where we are given this important background information on demagogues to give us a better cultural context to understand the threat Joe Niden represents to our American way of life, and our values, and especially OUR Constitution and the fate of OUR Republic, to wit:

    When the delegates to the Constitutional Convention gathered in Philadelphia during 1787 to craft a new system of governance for the United States, they drew upon their knowledge of history to identify potential dangers that might one day undermine the republic.

    The founding fathers believed that understanding the problems that marred previous experiences with citizen-centered rule would alert them to the perils that America could face in future.

    Foremost among their concerns was the threat that demagogues posed to civil discourse and democratic norms.

    end quotes

    Now, think about that for a moment, the threat that demagogues pose to civil discourse here in America, and then think to yourself, my goodness, could that be Joe Biden?

    By denigrating LOYAL AMERICAN CITIZENS and by dismissing them as “DREGS OF SOCIETY,” and “semi-fascists,” and “MAGAtards,” and “MEGA MAGA Republicans,” is Joe Biden a clear threat to civil discourse here in America?

    Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues as follows:

    The term “demagogue” (dēmagōgos) arose in Greece during the fifth century B.C.E. to describe a new breed of charismatic politicians who sought to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices.

    end quotes

    That is back in the beginning, when the term “demagogue” essentially meant a “popular leader,” which takes us to our times today, and an CBS News article titled “Joe Biden breaks Obama’s record for most votes ever cast for a U.S. presidential candidate” by Sophie Lewis on December 7, 2020, where we had as follows:

    In 2008, Barack Obama earned 69,498,516 votes in the presidential election, the most ever.

    Now, Mr. Obama’s former vice president, Joe Biden, has far surpassed that tally, setting a new record with more than 81,284,000 votes (51.3% of the total) in the 2020 election.

    end quotes

    So, people, based on that, is Joe Biden a popularly elected charismatic politician who seek to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices?

    Consider this Reuters article from October 24, 2022 titled “Biden says Republicans would cause ‘chaos’ in U.S. economy” by Steve Holland, where we have Joe Biden clearly seeking to lead the masses by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, as follows:

    WASHINGTON, Oct 24 (Reuters) – Under pressure over his handling of inflation, U.S. President Joe Biden took aim on Monday at opposition Republicans, warning their economic plans would cause chaos in the world’s largest economy if they won control of Congress in Nov. 8 elections.

    Biden appeared before a young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters, who greeted him with chants of “Let’s go Joe!”

    end quote

    Note the “Cult of Joe” atmosphere, there, people, which marks Joe Biden out as a charismatic leader.

    As to Joe seeking to lead that young, energetic crowd of Democratic National Committee workers at DNC headquarters by arousing their passions and appealing to their prejudices, the Reuters article continues as follows:

    With 15 days before the midterm elections that will determine the course of the final two years of Biden’s term, polls give Republicans a decisive edge in the U.S. House of Representatives and are showing the Senate a toss-up.

    Biden seized on Republican congressional leaders statements that they may refuse to approve an increase in the U.S. debt limit next year, which could throw the United States into default unless they can scale back some of Biden’s spending priorities.

    “Republicans are determined to hold the economy hostage,” said Biden.

    “There is nothing that would create more chaos …”

    “Republicans are going to crash the economy.”

    end quotes

    That, people, is hysteria-mongering, plain and simple!

    Joe Biden has no rational basis for those statements, given he is talking about possible future events which he has no way of knowing if they will happen, or not, but he doesn’t need a rational basis because his cult followers, whose passions and emotions Joe is appealing to, do not need a rational reason for anything – it is enough for them that Joe Biden said it would be so.

    And that is demagoguery in action, where “demagoguery” is defined as “the spirit, method or conduct of a demagogue,” where the demagogue, in this case, Joe Biden, a classic text-book example of an unprincipled politician, a political leader in a democracy who gains popularity by arousing the common people against elites, especially through oratory that whips up the passions of crowds, appealing to emotion by scapegoating out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity.

    And with that thought stated, let me pause here, to let that all sink in with this thought that I address myself, not to your passions, but to your reason; I speak as to wise men and women.

  4. Going back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, we have further insight as to how the ancient Greeks, who gave us the concept in the first place, considered one to be a demagogue, to wit:

    Following the outbreak of plague in 430 B.C.E., Athens fell under the spell of demagogues who flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners.”

    end quote

    And following the outbreak of the plague COVID in 2021, America has fallen under the spell of the demagogue Joe Biden who has flattered the common people and vowed to make them “winners” in the Race for the 21st Century, as well as the war for the SOUL OF AMERICA!

    Going back to the story of ancient Greece, it continues as follows, and at one time, this was all schoolboy/schoolgirl history, to wit:

    Cleon, the most notorious of these individuals, was described by the biographer Plutarch as “a fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face.”

    end quote

    Is our Joe Biden today a modern-day incarnation of Cleon, another fellow remarkable for nothing but his loud voice and brazen face?

    In formulating your answer to that question, consider this article from The Daily Wire titled “Joe Biden Calls Trump Supporters ‘Virulent People,’ The ‘Dregs Of Society'” by Joseph Curl on September 17, 2018 where we had Joe Biden gaining popularity by arousing the common people through oratory that whipped up the passions of crowds, appealing to their emotions by scapegoating those Joe considered to be out-groups, exaggerating dangers to stoke fears, lying for emotional effect, or other rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, to wit:

    Joe Biden just had his “deplorables” moment.

    Biden, who says he’ll decided in January whether to run for president in 2020 but who is making all the moves of a presidential candidate, used a pro-LGBT Human Rights Campaign annual dinner on Saturday to rip President Trump.

    And in so doing, Biden had a moment reminiscent of Hillary Clinton, when she called Trump supporters “deplorables.”

    Biden did his old act, starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about.

    end quotes

    That, people, right there, that starting off soft and avuncular before booming through his power points, punching the air and flailing about is classic textbook demagoguery, and if you watch and listen to his speeches today, it is readily apparent that Joe is a master at it, which takes us back to that article as an example of the demagoguery of Joe Biden in action, to wit:

    “Despite losing in the courts, and in the court of opinion, these forces of intolerance remain determined to undermine and roll back the progress you all have made,” he said.

    end quote

    And there we have a textbook example of a demagogue exaggerating dangers to stoke fears.

    Going back to the article, we have more as follows, to wit:

    “This time they — not you — have an ally in the White House.”

    “This time they have an ally.”

    “They’re a small percentage of the American people — virulent people, some of them the dregs of society.”

    “And instead of using the full might of the executive branch to secure justice, dignity, safety for all, the president uses the White House as the literal — literal — bully pulpit, callously — callously — exerting his power over those who have little or none.”

    end quotes

    And there is a classic case of Joe Biden lying for emotional effect, while engaging in rhetoric that tends to drown out reasoned deliberation and encourage fanatical popularity, which again takes us back to the article, to wit:

    Biden got himself lathered up into a full froth as he waxed poetic about his and “Barack’s” thoughts on Trump.

    “Barack and I agreed to remain silent for a while to give this administration the chance to get up and running in the first year,” Biden said.

    “God forgive me,” he added, making the sign of the cross as the audience applauded.

    “Those who try to excuse this kind of prejudice in the name of culture, I say, ‘Prejudice is prejudice and humanity is humanity — it is a crime,'” Biden said, urging those in the room to continue to oppose Trump.

    “Our work is not yet done by any stretch of the imagination.”

    “The stakes are much too high.”

    And then he went even further.

    “This is deadly earnest, we are in a fight for America’s soul,” Biden said.

    end quotes

    Which takes us back to the Blue Review article for more on Cleon, to wit:

    Whereas Cleon was heralded by his supporters for speaking frankly (parrhēsía) — ostensibly, “telling it like it is” — Aristotle demurred that on the contrary bluster and bravado typified his oratory: “He was the first who shouted on the public platform, who used abusive language and who spoke with his cloak girt around him, while all the others used to speak in proper dress and manner.”

    The historian Thucydides added that Cleon was the most violent man in Athens, someone prepared to brand those who disagreed with him as “enemies of the people.”

    end quotes

    Which brings us to a poisonous rant in Salon by a dude named Chauncey DeVega on 9 September 2022 titled “Joe Biden’s historic speech was too damn nice: No hand of friendship to fascists,” where we have Joe Biden, the most violent man in America, having those who disagree with him branded by one of his surrogates as “enemies of the people,” to wit:

    Last Thursday in Philadelphia, Biden delivered a careful, statesmanlike and truly historic speech warning the American people that the Republican Party and the “conservative” movement have been taken over by Donald Trump and his MAGA-fascist followers.

    For an American president to issue such a warning is virtually without precedent: Matters are that dire.

    America, Biden said, was “at an inflection point” and must choose “to build a future or obsess about the past, to be a nation of hope and unity and optimism or a nation of fear, division and of darkness.”

    In fact, today’s Republicans are not “semi-fascists,” as the president has said, but actual fascists, increasingly allied with a global authoritarian movement.

    The examples are numerous: Today’s Republican Party is organized around the Great Leader principle and a political personality cult.

    Joe Biden did not speak those truths without qualifications or exceptions.

    Instead, he tried to create a political off-ramp, offering the Republican-fascists the hand of unity and the promise of shared “American values.”

    Biden is extending the hand of friendship to sworn enemies who have not earned it and actually despise him and the Democratic Party.

    There can be no negotiation or compromise with fascism or with those tainted by it.

    Those people must be totally defeated and driven out of politics, government and public life.

    Playing defense in the war to protect democracy simply will not work.

    Now is the time for the Democrats to launch a robust counterattack against the Republican fascists and their forces, and to press whatever advantage they have before that window of opportunity slams shut.

    Yes, it is certainly refreshing and good that Biden is acting as a president who wants to act in the best interests of the nation and the American people.

    But in trying to save American democracy, President Biden must accept the harsh reality that tens of millions of Americans are now enemies of democracy, if not outright fascists.

    end quotes

    And there for the moment, I will rest.

  5. So why are demagogues like Joe Biden such a danger to America and OUR Republic and our future?

    Because people too ignorant to know better, and lacking the ability to employ reasoning believe what they are saying without question, because they believe in the demagogue himself in this case, although there is no reason I am aware of as to why a woman like Hillary Clinton or Karmela Harris or Lizzie Cheney or Elaine Luria cannot also be a demagogue.

    And with that said, let’s go back to The Blue Review article titled “Demagogues and Democracy” by Gregory A. Raymond, Distinguished Professor of Political Science Emeritus at Boise State University, where we have this further insight into the subject of demagogues like Joe Biden and demagoguery, to wit:

    By rebuking would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, the historians, playwrights, and philosophers of antiquity have forewarned us of the dangers that demagogues pose to democratic governance.

    end quotes

    Focus on those words “would-be tyrants who manipulated the anxieties and resentments of the crowd,” because that, people, is exactly what Joe Biden is doing in America today – manipulating the anxieties and resentments of the crowd, and let’s face it, Joe Biden is a master at it – the demagogue’s demagogue!

    Going back to the Blue Review, the article continues thusly:

    Uppermost among these dangers is what demagogues do to civic life.

    Although, as Plato observed in the Republic, demagogues portray themselves as “protectors of the people,” they widen social cleavages by peddling conspiracy theories, playing one group of citizens against another, and by singling out scapegoats to blame for both real and imagined problems.

    end quotes

    Consider Joe Biden’s “only I can save you” message that consistently underlies his speeches, with “The Biden Plan to Build a Modern, Sustainable Infrastructure and an Equitable Clean Energy Future” as an example, to wit:

    At this moment of profound crisis, we have the opportunity to build a more resilient, sustainable economy – one that will put the United States on an irreversible path to achieve net-zero emissions, economy-wide, by no later than 2050.

    Joe Biden will seize that opportunity and, in the process, create millions of good-paying jobs that provide workers with the choice to join a union and bargain collectively with their employers.

    President Trump has a devastating pattern of denying science and leaving our country unprepared and vulnerable.

    Just as with COVID-19, Donald Trump has denied science and failed to step up in the face of the climate crisis.

    He has called it a hoax.

    He has allowed our infrastructure to deteriorate and farmers’ fields to flood.

    He has held back American workers from leading the world on clean energy, giving China and other countries a free pass to outcompete us in key technologies and the jobs that come with them.

    Joe Biden’s Build Back Better plan ensures that – coming out of this profound public health and economic crisis, and facing the persistent climate crisis – we are never caught flat-footed again.

    He will launch a national effort aimed at creating the jobs we need to build a modern, sustainable infrastructure now and deliver an equitable clean energy future.

    end quotes

    That, people, is a classic example of textbook demagoguery in action by a master!

    Going back to the Blue Review:

    They further degrade public discourse by hurling insults and spurious allegations at anyone who dares to challenge them, attempting to cow opponents into silence.

    Demonizing the opposition, denying its legitimacy, and calling for its leaders to be locked up undermine the prospects for fair, inclusive, and competitive elections.

    Within this toxic climate, political divisions become almost impossible to bridge, which dissuades elected officials with differing viewpoints from deliberating together.

    end quotes

    Sound like Joe Biden, anyone?

    And what am I saying, of course it does!

    That description fits Joe Biden like a well-made tailored suit!

    Returning to the Blue Review, we have more, to wit:

    When language is debased, and conventions governing honest discourse weaken, demonstrably false claims presented as “alternative facts” increasingly contaminate policy discussions.

    “What you are seeing,” demagogues tell the populace, “is not what is happening.”

    “Truth,” their apologists assert, “isn’t truth.”

    Deliberately employed to sow doubt about what to believe, incessant falsehoods overwhelm listeners and beget resignation, inducing people to live public life as passive subjects rather than as active participants.

    In this environment of uncertainty and suspicion, civic trust erodes and the normative pillars of democracy — tolerance, forbearance, and compromise — crumble.

    America’s founders recognized that modern demagogues, like their ancient predecessors, posed a serious problem for democratic governance.

    Armed with beguiling words but bereft of realistic plans for solving social and economic problems, demagogues hope to capitalize on the chaos they provoke.

    Writing in Federalist No. 68, Alexander Hamilton cautioned against any “man unprincipled in private life” and “bold in his temper” who would “throw affairs into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind’.”

    Rather than embodying what the Greeks called sōphrosunē — discretion and self-control — such a person, Hamilton feared, would act impulsively and “fall in with all the nonsense of the zealots of the day.”

    The founders believed that the Hellenic world’s experience with demagogues was worth pondering because the ancients wrestled with questions about the advantages and drawbacks of rule by the one, the few, and the many.

    Demagogues would occasionally gain power in democratic political systems, the Greeks acknowledged; nevertheless, no matter how entrenched such aspiring tyrants might seem, their footing remained insecure.

    Deep-seated character flaws ultimately would trip them up.

    Individuals who unendingly boast of their intelligence and wealth, who traffic in malice and divisiveness, and who bully and humiliate others, show symptoms of hybris — unbridled arrogance.

    “All arrogance will reap a harvest rich in tears,” warned the tragedian Aeschylus.

    Those suffering from hybris lack the capacities for empathy and introspection.

    Callous and unreflective, they succumb to atē, the commission of an outrageous, morally blind act that leads to their fall, or nemesis.

    “A man’s character,” concluded the philosopher Heracleitus, “is his fate.”

    end quotes

    And there for the moment with that description of where we now are as a nation and as a people under Joe Biden, I will again rest.

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