Reflections on decency
For an hour, Pres. Biden laid out all the struggles we've gone through, and the struggles we will face. Unlike the former guy, who would then go on to say that only he could fix it, Pres. Biden again and again turned to the idea that the American people can overcome any barrier to which they set their efforts. He was trying to instill the message—much as former president Barack Obama attempted—that we are the change we seek. We are the government, not some distant politicians in Washington. The power is within our hands to, indeed, continue to perfect our Union. It always has been, and it's the only way in which anything has ever gotten better.
He couched our troubles in optimism. He, like Abraham Lincoln, called on the better angels of our nature. This Republic is worth fighting for. Our neighbors—of all colors, of all creeds, of all genders and gender identities—are worth supporting and uplifting. No one succeeds unless we all succeed. His proposals called for nothing less than wrenching the country into a modern, 21st century welfare state, where individuals will have the support they need to pursue and achieve their dreams. No, he's not going to turn us into Scandinavia. The "Scandinavian Miracle" was possible only because of a homogenous (read: white) society. Read the news, and now that those countries have an influx of non-white immigrants, they're rethinking the entire model, and closing their doors. The one thing the US knows about is how to be a multi-ethnic, multi-racial republic. We can never be Scandinavia, but we can be something different, and better, with hard experience under our belts. We can show the world that a democracy can be raucous and full of difference and still take care of all its people.
It's this basic decency which has been missing for so long. And I don't mean just over the previous four years. Too many Americans—and let's be frank, too many white Americans—have hard hearts. They refuse to see that this country was founded to benefit them, and suppress those not like them. As they see the Union being perfected, they take that as an affront, and as an existential threat. This hard-heartedness can't but seep into our politics and our culture. The elevation of the individual above any societal or communal obligations. The adulation of "strength". The idea that some people are simply fated to be poor; it's a divine plan, and we shouldn't meddle with it. A coldness and a hardness pervades us. Thus, when we see a Joe Biden, who has not given in to that despair, who believes that not only can we be better, but we must be better if we're to survive, it's as if a cleansing wind has come through, blowing away the muck and revealing blue skies.
Being mired in hate is no way to go through life. It saps you, and makes you less human. It's also much more work than being decent, being kind, lifting up your brother and sister. Kindness is as light as a feather; hatred burdens you with boulders. And we have, once again, a man in office who understands this. His successes over his first hundred days are due, in part, to this temperament. The former guy accomplished nothing because he saw others as beneath him. Pres. Biden sees others as made in the image of God.
It's early days. We'll see if the majority of this country is ready to face and ride the inflection point at which we sit. But, every once in a while, the right person at the right time rises up to give the rest of his fellow human beings guidance, to give them an example. There is providence in a sparrow's fall. May we be wise enough to do what must be done.