Only One Constitution Can Survive
The upcoming June 27 debate between Joe Biden and Donald Trump is fascinating on several levels, even before it's happened. We have never before had a current president debate a former president. In addition, the debate is unusually early, and will be conducted without a live audience—two factors that, according to some analysts, reveal deep concerns among White House staff. If Biden flops, the speculation goes, Democrats might still have time to replace him on the ticket.
We've also never had a debate in which the two major candidates had a combined age of 158. Although both men have strong support among the most devoted voters in their base, some Americans are less than thrilled with these two "well-seasoned" options. Last week one of us saw a man at the gym wearing a t-shirt that said, "America 2024: Anyone Under 80." (Biden is 81; Trump is "only" 77.)
However similar they may be in age, Trump and Biden could hardly be more different in their attitudes and beliefs about the meaning of America and the state of the country. Some voters may be unhappy with their options, but there is no doubt the two candidates do represent a clear and dramatic choice. In fact, the divisions in our country have not been so stark since the Civil War. It is hard to see how the nation can continue to be split on so many fundamental questions of morality, culture, economics, and foreign policy.
If the United States is to remain peaceful and united, it seems that we must, as Lincoln once said, "become all one thing, or all the other."
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