The Inauguration of President Biden: Some Thoughts From Last Week

            I am writing this a little over 24 hours after President Biden has been sworn into office and a series of executive actions and policies are being reversed.  Criminals previously in control of government departments are being dismissed and the first of a handful of candidates are being reviewed for confirmation into cabinet positions.

            My mood is akin to the relief felt by the survivors of a slasher movie just before the masked killer jumps up from his prone state for another attack on the hapless sex positive teenagers that think it is all over… Maybe my cynicism is too much.  I know, logically that the future is marching on, but I am also acutely aware that Donald Trump did not storm the capital by himself January 6^th, which will end up being some sort of parody holiday in the future akin to 4-20 or May the 5^th.

             No matter how orange he is, Donald Trump will not magically turn back into a racist pumpkin just because the clock struck 12 yesterday.  The various crooks and schemers that he gave power and influence are still skulking in the shadows, they did not turn back into mice.  Things are still bad.  Trump was not only a culmination of a great many awful things in this country, he was just the latest and he will not be the last.

            It is troubling that Joe Biden ran on the “Build Back Better” slogan that is… nakedly synonymous to the phrase “Make Great Again” and no one seems to care.  Both political parties ran on a message of returning to a prelapsarian past.  And when the restoration of the relatively not-evil political party only takes you back 4 years to the same paradigm that led to the rise of the fascist pumpkin to begin with I have to ask why everyone is so relieved.

           Why is everyone so relieved?

           There is so much pageantry and performative “change”.  You would have thought that a young woman reading a poem had cured Covid for all the people weeping over it.  I get it, I do.  It is not for nothing that the first non-white VP is a thing, a woman likely to be running for President in 4 years.  That is good in the nebulous way all breaking down of color barriers are good.  But that doesn’t actually fix the underlying alienation and toxic bullshit that gave birth to the QAnon death cult or the Nazis-in-all-but-name jerk offs like the Proud Boys or the Boogaloos.

             I actually expected worse.  I had expected the capital to be attacked.  I had expected mass shootings in the inner city on election day as a small army of white nationalists would make the drive to non-white areas and stop voting.  I expected assassinations of Democrats and moderate Republicans.  I expected state capitals to be attacked, the logical escalation of the various “protests” that took place over Covid last year which I said at the time signaled to white nationalists that they would not be treated harshly by law enforcement.

            I am thankful that many of my doom saying did not happen.  But to call back to my horror movie monster metaphor from earlier, it is not that the masked killer is about to get up for one last attack, instead the camera is panning from the house full of sobbing survivors out into the dark of the woods where an entire cadre of masked killers stands in waiting for some unseen signal at which time to strike.

             The sequel to this horror show is going into pre-production as we speak.  And it looks like this franchise will have legs.

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My Sad and Frustrated Acceptance of Joe Biden

            A few weeks ago numerous people were calling for Senator Bernie Sanders to drop out and fall into line behind Biden.  Because contrary to them saying they want to be the Democratic nominee (Democrat being taken from the word “Democracy”) the idea of everyone voting just struck them as a pointless ritual before appointing Joe Biden as the nominee.

I want everyone to take a good long look at the states (in light grey) that haven’t even had the chance to vote in their primaries yet. pic.twitter.com/Fe5UYGhbRj

— Melanie Gill Man (@melgillman) April 8, 2020

            To understand a few things about Joe Biden I would recommend this video from last year that actually called on Joe Biden to primary Donald Trump, as Joe was actually more of a liberal 80’s Republican than a Democrat.

            Regardless, it was during the calls for Bernie to stop running that I wrote a little diatribe on some news article, or a comment section, or wherever.  And anticipating someone dropping out I decided to keep the text and just tune up that instead of writing something entirely original.

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            Even if Bernie does not get 1 vote more, you should still want the process to run its course completely.  It builds engagement, calling on people to do their part, and have their voice heard.  Even if Bernie does not win, him winning delegates illuminates how different demographics feel and signals to Democrats what they should prioritize in the future.

            A primary that is run to completion puts information out into the public, so the public has time to process and find the nuance to it.  For instance, Bernie saying that Cuba has good healthcare and literacy programs being twisted to say he was praising autocracy in the most bad faith horseshit I can recall happening in my lifetime.  Or… You know… The rumors of deteriorating mental health and Rape Accusations that have come out about Biden.

            Beyond anything else... In a democracy you want people to VOTE.  It creates legitimacy for the candidate and the system.

Yeah, I would not have expected the position of "Voting is Good" to be so controversial.

            The more Bernie talks about his policy stances the more normalized they become.  The more likely they will be mainstream in the future.  Every day he is in the race is another day getting us all closer to universal healthcare, living wages, and many-many-many other important reforms.  It was why I liked Andrew Yang running on Universal Basic Income, and why I wanted Pete Buttigieg to run if for no other reason than having a Gay Man doing so well in this contest does crack these sorts of glass ceilings.

            People talk about how the Democratic debates were crowded.  They would call them clown cars.  But they were also diverse.  Full of candidates with a variety of perspectives, personal histories, and (in many cases stupid) ideas (seriously, Kamala Harris’ plan for debt forgiveness reads as a parody of means testing in America).

Can’t wait to hear crowds chant “STUDENT LOAN DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAM FOR PELL GRANT RECIPIENTS WHO START A BUSINESS THAT OPERATES FOR THREE YEARS IN DISADVANTAGED COMMUNITIES! STUDENT LOAN DEBT FORGIVENESS PROGRAM FOR PELL GRANT RECIPIENTS WHO START A BUSINESS THAT OPERATES...” https://t.co/FRkNUszr4s

— Andrew Littlefield (@FSUAndrew) July 28, 2019

            Joe Biden is the sort of boringly “competent” old elected official that is running entirely on a return to the pre-Trump world.  He is and would be better than Trump.  I will begrudgingly vote for him.  I will allow this regressive and boring message that basically boils down to “Make America Great Again” in blue font.  So that now both major political parties in the United States will be crowing about some pre-lapsarian vision of America.  One hailing back to when whites ruled it, and the other hailing back 4 years to when whites ruled the country, but a black guy was president.

            You know what we got out of the pre-Trump world?  Trump.  You know what we will get out of a return to the pre-Trump world?  Another “Trump”, and the next time it will be someone who is canny enough to know what being president can really do.  It won’t be some dullard who just wants to spend his days playing golf knowing he is making a killing selling ball-caps and bumper stickers.  It will be someone with real sinister motivations and it is not something that can be thwarted by Joe Biden’s plan of conceding to the Republicans before the debate even begins.

            Bernie was running on more than that.  And you all should be glad for it.  He is not pulling the party apart.  He is not leading an army of trolls.  He is doing what he has been doing for decades.  He is advocating for programs that are good for people.  He is being mostly right on most things, which is a hell of a lot better than Joe.

            I am legitimately sad that Joe Biden is going to be the nominee.

            If you aren't, then from my perspective you live in a world where gruel is a full meal.

            That is what Joe is offering.

            Gruel.

            And hell… Trump may still win.

Joe Biden is officially the Democratic Nominee for President

Congratulations President Trump!

pic.twitter.com/NHPfInicMx

— Graham Allen (@GrahamAllen_1) April 8, 2020

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            If you like or hate this please take the time to comment, share on Twitter (click that link to follow me), Tumblr, or Facebook, and otherwise distribute my opinion to the world.  I would appreciate it.