Letter from Chip Northrup

‘A Buffoon and a Dotard’

All of America’s major allies are parliamentary democracies. In such a system, the leader of the ruling party, the prime minister, must address parliament and debate issues without a teleprompter. Open debate effectively precludes them from ranting on about the opposition party “killing live babies.” A morning-after fact-check is unnecessary. If the party leader is incapable of being effective in open debate, new elections are held and they are replaced. Under such a system, both Trump and Biden would be replaced. Without teleprompters, they appear for what they are: a buffoon and a dotard.

In a parliamentary democracy, Biden would stand down as the head of his party and let the party members choose a new leader. But in a president, we are voting for a team, not a one-man-show. So we are voting for either the Democratic Team or for Trump’s team—which pointedly no longer includes 40 of his administration’s 44 highest ranking officials. The Supreme Court has ruled that a president can be a crook. The solution for that is to not elect crooks president.

If your personal teleprompter is cable news, it will spoon feed you the answer you want to hear. If your personal teleprompter is social media, it will algorithmically re-enforce whatever biases you may have. I read books and newspapers—like the Freeman’s Journal, which has presented all viewpoints to literate people since 1808.

Chip Northrup
Cooperstown