Concern For The Future.
Change often brings about renewed feelings of optimism and pride among people. The inauguration of President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris has done that for millions of Americans. Now, it’s no secret that the last four years have been full of immense highs and lows for every American, regardless of whether you identify as a Republican, or as a Democrat. I don’t think there is a single open-minded person in this country that wishes for nothing but success from President Biden and his new administration, especially when we are still in the midst of a once-in-a-generation global health crisis that has taken hundreds of thousands of Americans away from their friends and families far too soon. I join in hoping for nothing but a swift recovery from this pandemic, and for the President to truly adhere to his call for unity, but it is also vehemently important that we try to reflect on what brought us the last four years, and why a “return to normalcy” might not be the best thing for America moving forwards.
If you’re reading this post looking to disagree with me because I’m a Republican, then this simply isn’t the post for you. Go to your partisan website and read the voices of individuals that allow you to be at ease within your pre-established echo chamber. For everyone else, I wanna start this off by stating the obvious; there is no place for racism, white supremacy, or bigotry in America today. Whether that rhetoric comes from our elected officials or our friends and family, it should never be acceptable. With that being said, I don’t believe it was those ideas that brought us Donald Trump. Do those individuals exist? Of course they do, but they don’t just exist within the Republican party or on the American right. The issues that have led to the disunion within America today run far deeper than being the fault of either the Republican or Democratic party. The real problems are the socio-economic policies that have been propagated by the establishment leadership of both parties in Washington D.C. for the last thirty years. It was members of both parties that supported trade deals that shipped millions of American jobs overseas so that corporations could pay workers lower wages, it was members of both parties that voted in favor of the Iraq war, a conflict that is still going on today and is now the longest war in American history, it was members of both parties that through multiple administrations and Congresses laid the groundwork of economic policy that led to the great recession, and it is members of both parties that line their pockets with campaign contributions from special interest groups and big corporations every election cycle so that their interests are reflected in the policy decisions of the federal government.
For the people that voted for Donald Trump, many of them made that decision because they were legitimately suffering under the leadership of both parties. Donald Trump defeated Hillary Clinton because he actually ran on populist messaging, and it resonated with millions of Americans, including many of whom also voted for President Obama in 2008 and 2012. Of course, after four years it’s become clear to most people that Donald Trump was a wolf in sheep’s clothing. Campaigning on populist rhetoric and then governing as an establishment Republican while sprinkling in the messaging of “Drain The Swamp” in speeches or tweets. And yet, one of his last acts as President was rescinding an executive order barring White House officials from serving as lobbyists for five years.
Doesn’t get more swampy than that.
The fear I have for the next four years is not that President Biden will be some “socialist” dictator, beholden to the will of people like Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, as many Republicans have tried to embarrassingly claim. My real fear is that everything will go back to normal, a Washington D.C. that returns to “business as usual” while doing nothing to stop the floor from falling out from under millions of Americans. Republicans will once again yell about the debt and deficits (something that seem to always forget about once they’re actually in power), and Democrats will fawn over President Biden’s calls for a more united America and blush over his “Presidential” demeanor.
I believe all of us have a responsibility to hold his feet to the fire, and to not accept a mainstream media that lets the Biden administration do whatever they please because he isn’t Donald Trump. Plenty of Democrats are going to love the things he does, and that’s totally fine, he’s going to govern as a centrist Democrat. But I think it’s also important that we have a discussion of how we got to this point, and why we’re still incredibly divided as a nation, even with Donald Trump now largely gone from the public discord.
Just some food for thought.
