Joe Biden had another “foot-in-mouth” moment a few days ago when he agreed to a radio interview with a gentleman who goes by the modest name of “Charlamagne tha God.” What most of us have heard is what Biden said more than seventeen minutes into the interview, “If you have a problem figuring out whether you’re for me or Trump, then you ain’t black.” Charlamagne, who is African-American, did not cheer Biden on, instead he said, “It don’t have nothing to do with Trump. It has to do with the fact I want something for my community.”

There are so many ways to take this exchange. It’s possible that what Biden said would have gone largely unnoticed in the decade of the 1960s. The 1960 presidential election was when African-Americans took a commanding step away from the Republican Party (the party of Lincoln) and began voting in huge numbers for Democrats. Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society was largely responsible for this migration. But by 1970, the term “politically correct” came into our lexicon.[1] Such a comment by Biden or anyone would then have been unacceptable.

Regardless of how accurate Biden’s statement about African-Americans voting Democratic might be (approximately 93%), it certainly did not apply to all African-Americans and it assuredly was not politically correct. Generally, it is progressives who are tossing out the allegations of someone or something not being politically correct, but in the case of Biden’s words, conservatives joyfully jump to impugn both Biden’s words and his sentiments.

Biden will pay a price with conservatives for his words, particularly with the millions of African-Americans who do not identify with the Democratic Party. But he also pays a price with segments of his Democratic base because critical thinking, a skill that helps define many Democrats, rarely includes sweeping generalizations.

Some might say that Biden makes mistakes in his use of language because he is frequently over-energetic, or even hyper. That may be, and at his age (77; 78 by Election Day), it is unlikely that he will develop any more self-control than he already has. So, here are two suggestions as to how Joe Biden can minimize making mis-statements that come back to bite him:

1. Be careful to whom he grants interviews. He does better when his energy and intensity is low, so it would behoove him to limit his interviews to reporters and other members of the media who are especially subdued and restrained in their manner.
2. Stop the bragging. In his interview with Charlamagne, he dwelled on his accomplishments. This can be unseemly, especially to political introverts and others who measure words carefully. Biden needs to work with advisors to help him identify when he goes into “bragging mode.” The best way for him to avoid blowing his own horn is for him to focus on the future rather than his past. Let others promote his accomplishments. Biden should be the messenger for rational and empathetic policies in the future; essentially the opposite of everything that comes out of the Trump Administration.

Donald Trump is probably chomping at the bit to debate Biden. Trump always aims at the jugular, and the way to combat that is with calm reasoning and well-placed sarcasm. Biden has to avoid the boorishness of bragging and the echo chamber of laundry lists about this and that. Barack Obama may not have been the world’s best debater, but he never lost his cool. If Biden can stay calm, he will avoid doing anything that is self-defeating.

Whether we’re talking politics, sports, or any other kind of game, the wise competitor knows to never defeat oneself. Joe Biden has yet to show that he can avoid undermining himself. Let his interview with Charlamagne stand as a reminder that he needs to chill, or be as Trump would say, “low-energy.”

[1] William Safire states that the first recorded use of the term “politically correct” in the modern sense was by Toni Code Bambara in the 1970 anthology The Black Woman.

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The lack of a comprehensive, government-provided safety net in America means that non-profits have to resort to bragging and begging to provide many basic services. The political season crystallizes this issue better than anything, but in a society with as much capitalism as America, it’s apparent almost everywhere.

You might think that bragging and begging are opposites, but they have a symbiotic relationship. Just look at the pitch from virtually any politician. First they tell you how great they are; then they want your money. Some are so brazen that they forget to brag; they just beg for the money.

The United States leans much more towards capitalism on the socialist – capitalist spectrum.

Non-profit organizations play a very large role in trying to fill the gaps in what government does not provide, everything from feeding the hungry to making available basic health care services for women. Because non-profits do not have the power of taxation, they are forced to raise most of their money through donations. Very few contributions come unsolicited, so this means that by default, non-profits need to ask.

The world of soliciting donations among non-profits is extremely competitive. Citizens who have the means to contribute must ask themselves questions such as, “Should I give to the food pantry or to the art museum or the symphony? Should I give to a local hospital or to a national organization seeking a cure to cancer?” Where political questions are involved, one might ask, “should I give to an organization that supports my views on reproductive choice, or should I give to a candidate of my choice?”

In some countries, most or all of these goods and services are paid by the government. For instance, in Norway, two-thirds of revenues of political parties comes from the government. In the United States, the fabric of the safety net is woven so loosely that individuals would be left to starve to death if it were not for the work of food pantries. In times of economic hardship, donations to food banks diminish, and they cannot meet the demand. This happens despite the best efforts of food pantries to appeal to the kindness, the generosity, and the concern of the American people.

Food banks or shelters for the homeless can go wanting while colleges and universities with endowments in the billions are hauling in more largesse from citizens than ever.

This is where the bragging is most apparent. Colleges and universities as well as other large charitable organizations such as hospitals or the American Red Cross spend tens of millions of dollars to shout out the message of their accomplishments. Whether their successes are real or imagined does not matter, they have a story to tell and the better they tell it, the more money they will take in.

It’s a two-step process. As the non-profits are touting their accomplishments, they are actively engaged in seeking more money for their coffers. We have to ask why, in a country that spends far more on health care than any other country, hospitals are constantly asking for more money. Before they can come begging, they have to arm themselves with the fanciest of brochures, television advertisements, and invitations to galas where they rake in money like a political candidate.

Not only does the United States provide less in necessary social services to citizens than most other industrialized nations, but we have what must be the largest Venn Diagram of the brag-osphere and beg-osphere. What does it say about the pleasantness of our society when we are saturated with so much bragging and begging? While it’s unfair to expect that an individual or organization will never engage in bragging or begging, we clearly have it in excess.

It is the currency of so much of our realm. It would be inappropriate for me to ask organizations to unilaterally “cease and desist.” However, it’s important that we are aware of how our culture is so tainted by the phenomenon.

If we look on the political spectrum, we find that once again it is Republicans who bear the greatest measure of responsibility for the situation in which we find ourselves. If the federal government was empowered to cover the basic needs of all individual citizens in the country, there would be far less bragging and begging. All of this is just one more reason why our society requires fundamental and structural change. We are fortunate that progressives are trying to move us in a direction of more justice and less blathering.

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