Joe Biden, #46th

Now the hard work begins.

The FilAm Editorial

We rejoice in the possibilities of the future with Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. on the cusp of being elected the 46th president of the United States.

The election repudiated a government that is distinctive for its 20,000-plus lies and gaslighting of everything, including injecting bleach to fight coronavirus, and his breathtaking inability to accept responsibility for anything that goes wrong. The people – white, black, and brown – refused to let the country go down a rabbit hole of racism, misogyny, white supremacy, and a corruption that is shameless and pervasive.

Everybody else for Donald Trump are “losers” and “suckers.” His abiding motto appears to be “what’s in it for me?”

Now the hard work begins as we bind the nation’s severe wounds inflicted by what can only be called a banally evil administration.

Covid-19 needs to be vanquished by science-based policies because the toll — almost 250,000 deaths and 10 million cases — has been horrendous. That should be at the top of the Biden agenda. The truism that fixing the disease will revive the economy is basic.

Systemic racism, income inequality, a crushing student debt burden, and repairing our relationship with allies will be among the challenges Biden and his team will face in just the first three months of his term, and may likely keep them preoccupied for the next four years. Like other Democratic presidents who followed disastrous Republican administrations in the 20th  and the 21st centuries, these issues will need to be tackled with urgency to push the country forward and create a more perfect union.

It will have to be done despite the obstructionism and caterwauling of Republican enablers, led by Senator Mitch McConnell, who did nothing to stop the previous administration and behaved like the monkeys who “saw no evil, heard no evil and spoke no evil.” We should work only with those Republicans who placed country above party. There is a place for thoughtful and enlightened conservatism in our society, not the narrow and selfish kind that favors the interests of the wealthy.

Now, let us turn our attention to the sins of the past as committed by Trump, his family and enablers. While it would be understandable that President Biden will have nothing to do with the cases to be filed against his predecessor, the Justice Department and state prosecutors must be allowed a free hand into pursuing whatever charges they believe Trump and his children had engaged in.

There will be insistent cries to “move forward” but accountability demands that Trump et al face up to their responsibilities in their violations of the law. If that means prison, so be it. People easily forget. Reconciliation is wonderful, but it must come hand-in-hand with justice and a willingness to admit fault.

The country is fortunate that its people are vigilant in defending the democracy for which thousands have given their lives to uphold. We came very close to throwing it away along with its promise of equality for all. The Russians will always be lurking and attempting to subvert our democracy; we will not let them.

It is our profound hope that the incoming administration will restore our faith in the simple decency of the American way. For that, we have to thank the millions upon millions of ordinary citizens who took the time and lined up for hours to ensure that our Democracy lives.

This is only the beginning. There is a lot more to repair knowing our country is deeply divided. We took the first step, and that is to remove Donald Trump so we can proceed with rebuilding our institutions, our society, and our nation.

Someone said and we paraphrase: America is great only when its people are good people.

© The FilAm 2020



Leave a Reply

%d bloggers like this: