Moving Forward in Biden’s America
November 8th, 2016, marked a turning point for the United States and the Republican Party. In the span of one election they transitioned from the party of conservative values into the supportive apparatus of the most authoritarian president this country has seen in generations. The raw reactive energy surrounding President Trump's election was harnessed by the Republican leaders to secure their power for years to come - despite their fading demographic core. Four years of bad-faith politicking have led us to this moment: writing now, on the eve of the election, I’m consumed by existential stress over the future of our country.
Unfortunately, it would be irresponsible to expect a Biden win in 2020 to be a similarly significant turning point. The tensions that manifested themselves on that fateful day four years ago have only since grown stronger; putting Joe and Kamala in the White House will not be the end of political contention, and it certainly won’t be the end of Trumpist conservatism. Even with a blue wave sworn in come January, the actions of Trump and his administration will continue to haunt the country for potentially decades, through foreign policy setbacks, the hundreds of conservative justices pushed into federal courts (including the now three new Supreme Court Justices), and the emboldened “cultural warriors” who constituted his base.
So how, then, are we to move forward in Biden’s America?
As a left-wing Democrat, it’s tempting for me to demand immediate action towards lofty goals. Given that Democrats could potentially control both Congress and the Presidency, it may seem that reformed welfare, single-payer healthcare, and even state-funded higher education are tantalizingly close. We must be able to look past this temptation, however, and prioritize the long-term health of democracy and our country. What good are any progressive programs if they alienate the moderate vote and further antagonize right-wing citizens? We could be setting ourselves up for Obamacare 2.0: a plan with great potential, so thoroughly picked over and demonized as to leave it a bureaucratic shell of itself.
For the long-term health of the country, we need to prioritize reformation over retribution. Therein lies the gift of a moderate like Biden: we have the chance to calm a violently oscillating political pendulum. We have the chance to bring America together and to move America forward.
Don’t get me wrong: in today’s political game, it would be foolish to use an entire term of office as a healing period without attempting any significant reform. We especially must take advantage of voting booth victories to reverse the anti-democratic efforts of the last several years. The Republican Party’s future success relies on stacking the courts, restricting access to the vote, and generally discouraging young and minority citizens from political engagement. We must resist these efforts. Judicial reform and complete re-enfranchisement are issues that cannot wait for a healthier country, but rather are the methods by which we can heal the malignant partisanship of our political space.
At this moment, America's destiny is of our own choosing. If America has chosen Biden to lead this country forward, as I believe they will, then there is hope yet for the institutions of our republic. We will have rejected the xenophobic, reactionary, anti-intellectualism of Trump and replaced it with the decency, political perspicacity, and wisdom of President Biden. In electing Joe Biden, we will have unequivocally demonstrated that the promise of America lives on, that, though our flaws may seem limitless, so too is the progress we have made. And for as far as we have come, there is work yet to be done.