The Joe Biden I knew and now disagree with

Years ago many doubted the dreams of Joseph R. Biden, Jr. when he said when asked that his primary goal in life was to be the president of the United States of America.

I didn’t…. And then Beau Biden, (real name Joseph R. Biden, III, also another Syracuse University College of Law grad) said “Promise Me Dad” to his father before he passed away in 2017.

Then the book with that title came out shortly thereafter  and old cynical libertarian anarcho-capitalist Dick Boddie read it and had some positive hope for the future of America.

That was based on at least three things, none of which seem now have any fundamentally logical rationale:

1) I knew him as a personal friend many years ago, and knowing a POTUS personally happens to relatively few.

2) Joe was not Donald Trump.

3) Maybe by some fortuitous glitch, he and I might have an opportunity to sit and talk, one on one, as friends and colleagues, one day.

But then came The Donald, the pandemic and now the “new normal” of imminent inflation, “woke” insanity, red hate versus blue hate, the rejection of individuality, prideful intolerance and ignorance, mindless groupthink, and regretfully too misinformation, censorship, and angst.

Joe Biden, or more correct, Joseph R. Biden, Jr. and I go way back, from our initial meeting and friendship at Syracuse Law School in 1967. We first met when I arrived for the fall orientation that year. He as entering his third or last year, and I was returning from a five year sabbatical.

1967 was a good year at Syracuse Law, with moot court and Moot Court (Honors) Board, social gatherings, where Joe and I were generally the only two or three voices in any debate regarding what is now called “social justice.” I was a political “liberal” at that time, having never actually really read or understood an economics book.  So we’d be in constant debates with the conservatives and others back then.

I regret that we have not been in touch as often as I wish we had over the years, but we were in touch back in 1995 when I was the inaugural Director of Admissions at the new Chapman University School of Law here in Orange. Joe helped me with some questions regarding the Dean of Widener Law School where he taught, and said dean’s involvement with our ABA accreditation at Chapman that directly affected my position.

In 2017, I had the pleasure of being in Cambridge, Massachusetts for our granddaughter’s graduation from Harvard, where Joe was the speaker the day before, for Senior Day. I must say, he was at the top of his game, and moved me to want to greet him. But the Secret Service stared me down and wouldn’t let me even get close. That day Joe  was treated like a rock star, and I clearly sensed what eventually actually occurred. He’s president.

In spite of politics and the totally mystifying incorrect blue and red labeling of the bipartisan Party’s sub groups, and the things said against Joe’s character and son Hunter, I like Joe for still being an “authentic” person after all of these years. He’s slow, but so am I now. And Joe is such a welcome contrast and tremendous relief for me, from the constant daily barrage of static by the Tweet King narcissist, of no facts, no truth, no shame.

But know that I do understand that Joe’s Santa Clause economics, based on Keynesian myths and a bit of Crazy Karl, are seriously dangerous and destructive to all who are not inside the political power venues. President Biden and millions of Americans could really benefit from heeding the warnings of Milton Friedman, Frederic Bastiat, Murray Rothbard, Ron Paul, Thomas Sowell and countless others regarding dramatic catastrophic deficit-spending fueled expansions of already bloated and debt-burdened governments, and interventions in the economy.

Free-market and limited government policies have consistently proven to be sound and beneficial to all who take time to actually understand capitalism, economics, markets, “the invisible hand,” and all.  Joe clearly doesn’t get it with any or all of this, or is not allowed to.

Regarding foreign policy, I hope he sticks to his plan to sneak away from the killing field and money pit of Afghanistan that the United States has been bogged down in for 20 years. But most of all I hope that Joe Biden does not repeat the typical neocon “policing the world for democracy” policy that President Barack Obama continued.

From the inception of our nation, several Founders warned of the pitfalls of intervening in the affairs of other nations, especially without a treaty, but even with one. The enormous death tolls, the devastating economic costs, and angst resulting should be an incentive to not repeat the same old failed interventionist policies.

Way back in the beginning, Thomas Jefferson suggested, “Peace, commerce, and honest friendship with all nations – entangling alliances with none.”

History has proven his warnings to be valid over and over again.

Frederic Bastiat observed that “When goods cross borders, armies will not.”  This policy appears to me to be a good thing for most. I hope President Biden recognizes this.

And finally, you need to keep your eyes wide open, since inflation has been known to follow every Santa Clause government in American and world history.  I’m sorry my friend and former law school colleague, POTUS Joe, appears to not understand this.

Richard Boddie is a member of the Southern California News Group’s editorial board.