On Tuesday, February 21, Vivek Ramaswamy threw his hat into the ring early in the race for the 2024 nomination, becoming the third Republican to enter the presidential primary, after Donald trump and a still-in-her-prime Nikki Haley.

A president in his prime and on his game is a good thing for him and the country.

Here's some important trivia: when Theodore Roosevelt (26th president of the United States) took the oath of office in 1901, he became the youngest person (age 42) ever sworn in as president.  When Joseph Biden, Jr. (46th president) took the oath in 2021, he became the oldest (age 78).

Thirty-seven-year-old Vivek Ramaswamy could become the youngest president ever.

Roosevelt spoke softly and carried a big stick.  He is known for charging up Kettle Hill in Cuba and for hunting big game — you have to go to Africa to shoot elephants.

Biden is known for walking stiffly.  His big shtick is touching women inappropriately.  Working diligently to strengthen the hand of credit card firms against consumers for much of his career in the Senate, it's little wonder that credit card giant MBNA was his largest contributor.  Biden was a pauper for much of his career in politics, unlike Roosevelt, whose dad died when he was 20, leaving him $65,000 (equivalent to $1,825,155 in 2021).  "Here's How Much Joe Biden Is Worth (2021): "an estimated 8 million."  How did he acquire $8 million?  Speaking engagements?  He's no Obama, no Clinton.

The truism "you can't get rich in politics unless you're a crook," mostly attributed to President Harry S. Truman, makes me wonder.

Biden was not a hunter per se, but he named his second son Hunter.  Could it be that he sent him out into the world — ultimately, China, Russia, Ukraine, etc. — to bag big money, by selling influence over Joseph for the good of his family, if not his country?

Ramaswamy is a multimillionaire.  How did Vivek Ramaswamy make his money?  The answer is outside politics and fair and square, apparently.  This bodes well for an honorable career in politics.  More power to him.  

In an editorial, Ramaswamy called for making the border secure, eliminating affirmative action "across the American economy," and establishing economic independence from China, "the greatest external threat to America."

To put America first, we need to rediscover what America is. That's why I am running for president. I am launching not only a political campaign but a cultural movement to create a new American Dream — one that is not only about money but about the unapologetic pursuit of excellence[.] ... [I]t is about reviving a national identity.

He hopes to end ESG and diversity, inclusion, and equity (DIE) and put merit back in America.

Is a revival on a gigantic scale (from Kentucky to the White House) too much to hope for?  Probably.  The only men fit to captain the ship of state — benevolent, powerful men "who have access to the Form of the Good," or God — don't exist in Washington.  There are only men spouting the state-sponsored orthodoxy of wokeism, via protected categories in state and federal "non-discrimination" laws, which include gender self-identification. 

Looking for arguments for and against DIE, I found a bad one "for" online.  Here it is:

Some have said that instituting the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) in the workplace, out of compulsion, results in mediocrity, not meritocracy. However, in the absence of diversity and inclusion, it is exceedingly difficult in most human endeavors to proclaim that someone or something merits designation as 'the best.' In other words, without diversity and inclu­sion, meritocracy itself is a meritless myth, and any merit bestowed cannot be deemed equitable.

I take issue with "any merit bestowed cannot be deemed equitable."  A smile can be bestowed, but the idea that merit can be bestowed is ridiculous.  Merit, by definition the quality of being particularly good or worthy, is earned.  Being particularly good at something — composing and playing music, for instance — makes a person worthy of receiving honor.  For his particularly good "services to music," Paul McCartney was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II.  This is a great honor indeed.  How did he become so good, so deserving?  Practice, practice, practice.  For years.  There's no other way to make beautiful music.

Imagine President Ramaswamy asking an adviser to help him fill his Cabinet with the best candidates possible.  He starts with secretary of transportation.  I see the adviser giving the president a list of light-skinned gay men.  Then I see an annoyed president asking for a longer list.  So the adviser comes back with a list of light-skinned gay men who can fill potholes.  And then I see the president saying "you're fired" and making it clear to a prospective adviser that he is looking for a list of the best candidates, without regard to sex, skin color, race, or sexual orientation because it's an important job, and we don't discriminate or make a distinction on the basis of one group, rather than according to merit only in A-MERIT-CA.

Trump made leftists explode with anger; they will collapse inward and self-destruct over a whiz of an intellectual.

It's going to take a miracle or another Reagan.  Stranger things have happened.  "Tear down this wall," and by God, the Soviet Union went out where it belonged — into the ash heap of history.  To my utter amazement.

Let's send Biden and wokeism into the ash heap of history.  May the best man win.

Image: Vivek Ramaswamy.  Credit: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.