The Liberty Daily 
It’s time to crush the kingly concept of an elected official remaining in office for their full term despite evidence of significant cognitive decline. In recent years we’ve seen a parade of politicians and a judge remain in office beyond their ability to serve Americans. In all cases, no action was taken to remedy the problem.
Republicans sounded the alarm on Joe Biden’s dementia, only to be shouted down by his handlers who fraudulently claimed the accusations were purely political in motivation and baseless. The claims were neither political nor baseless.
Biden was kept in place like a king to the detriment of our nation and national security. Responsibility to remove President Biden was squarely on Vice President Harris and Biden’s cabinet according to the 25th Amendment.
Their failure to remove him is nothing short of a soft coup – leaving him in power while they ran the country from behind the scenes, acting in the capacity of President when they were not elected to that role. Democrats allowed this same situation to persist when President Wilson had his stroke. It is not the intent of our Founders or the Constitution to allow others to do the job of an elected or appointed official during a period when their mental faculties are compromised.
Two examples exist in the U.S. Senate: Senators John Fetterman and Dianne Feinstein. In the case of Senator Fetterman, he suffered a stroke during the election cycle and was not removed from the ballot. Democrats elected him. And while his health and cognitive abilities have since improved, it was a head scratcher as to who was doing the job for his constituents while he was cognitively impaired and recovering. (And it was no doubt stressful for him to heal under the pressure to serve in office.) It was made obvious who was behind Senator Dianne Feinstein’s vote decisions in a Senate Appropriations Committee meeting when her staff told her, “Just say aye.” Senator Feinstein paused, looked around confused, and echoed, “just”. The staffer gave her a thumbs up, and the Senator, still dazed, turned to the mic and said, “Aye.” A few chuckles were heard off camera, but this is no laughing matter. When her staff was pressed about the visible cognitive decline of this 90-year old, they were told dismissively it was not an issue. Senator Feinstein passed away 2 months later.
Supreme Court Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has the legitimate right to serve for life according to our Constitution. She battled cancer while on the bench several times, but it was her last battle at age 87 that raised questions about who was really doing her work – her staff or Justice Ginsburg. Many critics said her decisions on the bench was made and written by her staff, and again, this was not the intent of the Founders. Democrats were attempting to hold her seat until the next presidential election to prevent another Trump appointment to the bench.
Finally, we have Texas Congressman Kay Granger who has served since 1997 and, at age 81, has been missing from Congress since July. And, surprise, she was a ranking member of the House Appropriations Committee. The Dallas Express reporter Carlos Turcios discovered Congressman Granger is living in a memory care/ assisted living facility after being found wandering her neighborhood. Granger represents Texas’s 12th District (part of Fort Worth and Weatherford), with just under a million constituents. Let’s put that in perspective. She represents more people in her district than the total populations of 5 other states in the country, and she’s not in Congress to cast a vote. That would be like saying all of Alaska or all Vermont residents don’t have a voice in Congress. Yet her constituents have no mechanism to recall her in this situation. Granger did not seek re-election. Representative-elect Craig Goldman takes her seat Jan 3rd.
THE PATH FORWARD: The 25th Amendment addresses issues with the President. We must prosecute those who act in the capacity of an elected or appointed official and cover up an official’s inability to serve. We must also make it possible for constituents to recall Congressmen discovered to be incapable of serving so constituents continue to have a voice in Congress. A Convention of States would make possible the introduction of a Constitutional amendment to address these scenarios while also implementing term limits for both Congress and the Supreme Court to eliminate the possibility of serving for life, like a king. Eliminating the 17th Amendment would return power to the states to address issues with Senators.
The sooner we restore “service” to the concept of public office, the sooner we’ll return to what the Founders envisioned for our country while eliminating a lot of the abuse of power that extended time in office produces.
