What VP Biden and the Democratic Party Offers

 What VP Biden and the Democratic Party Offers

Over the past year, concerns have been raised about Joe Biden’s capacity to meet the rigors of an intense political campaign as well as that of governing as the nation’s chief executive for the next four years. These have included questions over his cognitive acuity, given what some view as a visible decline in mental capacities due to the inevitable factor of aging. This negative assumption, based on a pejorative view of ageism, has not gone unchallenged. Other commentary has focused on Biden’s continuing relevance in light of the broad array of issues favored by the progressive constituency of the Democratic Party, as argued by Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders and their supporters. These issues have been mitigated by Biden’s willingness to engage in critical dialogue with both of these senators and to make modifications in his policy proposals accordingly.

It was not until Biden’s capstone victory in the South Carolina primary on March 15 and his overwhelming victory in the Super Saturday primaries that it became clear that Biden would become the Democratic candidate for president. This was a reality that all of his primary opponents not only accepted, but, embraced, based on his genuine capacity to exude empathy, rooted in the fundamental integrity of his character, sharpened through the pain of much personal loss, as well as his collaborative approach in building consensus throughout the Democratic Party.

I believe what motivates Biden is his sense of the historical potential of this moment in repositioning this nation to achieve some of its nearer-term aspirations in the creation of a more equitable society through the combined effort of effective governance and a long-term citizenry-based mobilization focused on ushering in meaningful social and economic reform designed to meet the challenges of our time. In polar opposite to the current occupant of the White House, Biden possesses an extraordinary gift of reaching out to others and of helping the nation heal from its collective griefs and losses. In this, Biden has the capacity to embrace something of the anguish this nation is experiencing over the COVID-19 tragedy and the enduring legacy of racism that begs for national reconciliation. On these grounds, alone, this would make him a highly competent president, one that is surely needed at this time. 

The critical issues of our time include the capacity to effectively address public health crises, such as the existing, coronavirus pandemic and health care reform, in which the current administration has utterly failed to step up to the challenge. On the pandemic, this was due in no small measure because the president drastically slashed the budget of the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in 2018 and eliminated the head of global health security from the National Security Council, responsible for tracking international pandemics. Such evisceration is emblematic of the many other centers and departments, including the State Department, the Environmental Protective Agency, the Department of Education, and the Department of Housing and Urban Development. Add to that the debasement of the Department of Justice unleashed by the constitutionally challenged, William Barr and the contrast could not be starker with what a Biden administration has to offer.

In his deeply-rooted aspiration to bring honor to the office of the President of the United States, one of the primary contributions of a Biden term would be to restore the integrity and purpose of the administrative operations of the federal government, which, as a result of Trump’s nihilism, has become both derailed and corrupted at least at the higher managerial and political ends. Such restructuring would set the platform to orient governmental policy to focus on the critical issues this nation will need to face in the next two decades. 

At the top of the list is the need for a full-forced effort to tackle the human created environmental degradation of our planet which threatens the very existence of our collective life on planet earth. The problem of global warming is the most immediate of the environmental problems that needs to be addressed, but so is the destruction of natural ecosystems such as the Amazon forest and the increased extinction of many species. Even if only modest environmental reforms are enacted in the next four years, a Biden administration can set the table for re-prioritizing this issue for a longer-term amelioration, which to ignore, will only come at a great price, one that should be categorically rejected.

Space limitations preclude a discussion of the need for a sustainable and equitable health care policy, sensible reforms in the areas of immigration and gun control, a strategic, internationally focused foreign policy, a long-term infrastructure investment plan, and adequate jobs development and educational systems for setting the country aright for the next two decades. At this point and time, the Democratic Party is the best and only political party able to set the table to restore hope in a worthwhile direction for the near-term future. May it rise to the occasion, for not do so is to lose a great thing.

2020

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