The Election! The Election! The upcoming election is on everyone's mind. Will we be able to save democracy, or will we allow this nation to fall into the Trump rabbit hole where everything we relied on is up for grabs?
You would think that this dilemma is apparent to everyone who is even vaguely aware of politics in the US.
We also are aware of our tenuous hold on any kind of objective reality, partially through a failure of the mainstream media, partially because of a plethora of political spin-masters, partially because of an entire array of alternate realities presented to us daily, piped directly into our ears and/or through our eyes from our ubiquitous screens.
Through all that mist and haze, it is still relatively clear that Donald Trump is offering a very different version of this country than any we have seen since our Revolutionary War.
Given those likely stark options in the upcoming elections of November 2024, you would think that the priorities for the Biden administration would be crystal clear, and that their priorities and political expediencies would place his support of democracy front and center.
That is what has me so confused and concerned. Somehow in the mind of the Biden administration, our proxy war with Russia in Ukraine, our continuing confrontation with China over Taiwan and, most recently, our blind support of Netanyahu and Israel regarding the destruction of a trapped people in Gaza, that verges on genocide, have become a higher priority than garnering support of democracy. All of these issues, no matter how people view them, would seemingly be less important than strengthening our support for democracy at home.
China and Russia are a costly distraction from the core issues of saving democracy at home. But Gaza and Israel and our exorbitant support of these dastardly acts are hurting the electoral support of Joe Biden at a time when he, and we, need to have him laser-focused on strengthening democracy at home, by encouraging open discussion of an international issue that we have become so deeply mired in.
I watch daily to see more cities, states, organizations and individuals line up to support a cease-fire, not to mention almost universal international support for that cease-fire on a purely humanitarian basis. Not only does the Biden administration seem to be stubbornly willing to hold their position at all costs, but they are also losing their support, the very support needed to sustain democracy in this nation.
Holding present-day Israel up as the perfect model of 21st-century governance seems like another rabbit-hole that Biden is leading us toward.
What in the world is going on? Has this administration lost its political compass, or has it just given it to Netanyahu to follow his direction?
Can we afford to lose even a few votes over our questionable position on this humanitarian issue?
