A Bold Nonpartisan Election Proposal

The current presidential campaign is not serving the people's interest when the cognitive ability of a single candidate is the most popular topic of the election. We have stopped discussing the salient issues that will impact the future of the 330 million people who inhabit a place we call the United States of America. As Candide expressed in the novel by Voltaire, “le meilleur des mondes possibles,” translated as “in the best of all possible worlds,” the American people deserve to know what each party would do to make their lives better or worse if they are elected!

A Decent Proposal

One nonpartisan proposal is to have Democrats switch the order of their ticket. Kamala Harris would lead the ticket and run for president, and Biden would run as vice president. This would resolve the current stalemate. President Biden is refusing to step down or take a cognitive test to ease the concerns of some voters. Both issues would move off the radar by running a vice presidential candidate.

By running as vice president, President Biden will stay in the White House if the Democrats win so he can save face and move on. Both individuals can privately decide how to allocate responsibilities. The American people have never demanded to know how the duties would be distributed between the President and the VP before an election, and that should not change.

For the Republicans, former President Trump can discuss everything he plans to do if elected to improve the status quo. He can discuss the domestic and international agenda he would bring forth if elected. With this solution, both Presidential candidates can go back to debating the issues that matter and stop arguing about which candidate can physically carry a set of golf clubs that would best serve the interests of the American people.

A Suggestion for the Next Debate

Under the assumption that both political parties are serious about promoting their agenda to the American people, rules can be set up so that moderators would ask questions on issues that impact the American people and not about age.

The moderators should also advise the candidates that the purpose of the debate is to inform voters on both sides of the issue and what each candidate would do if elected and not discuss age. If one candidate spends most of their time discussing age instead of the country's problems, the voters can decide if that is what they want to hear from a candidate.

Summary and Concluding Thoughts

Let’s address the elephant in the room. Yes, this revolutionary idea would face significant political and electoral system hurdles, especially a month before the Democratic Party Convention. However, it is no crazier than dropping President Biden from the national ticket and replacing his name with another candidate. One could argue that this is a compromise and is less revolutionary.

The proposed idea would require Biden to instruct his delegates to support Kamala Harris. This should be more palatable because the President would continue to reside in the White House if the Democrats win the election. And if former President Trump wins the election, we can be happy that this proposal allowed voters to hear more about the issues impacting voters instead of the cognitive ability of the candidates.

We also understand that shifting the focus back to policy issues would largely fall on both political parties, the respective candidates, and the media. We hope these individual stakeholders will do their best to move in this direction for the sake of the American people.

No one should forget that although we are all hearing questions about whether a single candidate has cognitive issues, recent polls reveal that U.S. voters remain concerned about a broad range of policy issues that are not being addressed.

Both political parties need to address the critical issues impacting ordinary Americans' daily lives so that we can confirm that we are living “in the best of all possible worlds.”