Passing the Torch
Saving Democracy
The torch of American democracy has been carried and kept burning for nearly 250 years by those who have served this nation within the government; some perhaps more nobly than others, but all kept the flame burning. The elected president has always been the most important torch bearer, and each president has passed the torch on to each newly elected president over those years. And for that we are all grateful. Joe Biden has spent most of his adult life serving the nation within Congress and then in the executive branch as Vice President and recently as President. His contributions have been supportive of democracy and in service to the citizens of this nation. His legacy is a proud one.
President Biden
President Biden has served well as a standard bearer, not only for this nation, but also for the Democratic Party. He recognized that it was time to hand the campaign torch off to someone else, in this case his Vice President, Kamala Harris, to lead that Democratic Party effectively in this election year and thereafter, potentially, in the Presidency. In the process he has removed the issue of his long-term health and, to some degree, the taint of legal issues, i.e. the Hunter Biden Case, from any kind of equivalency with the Trump legal issues. He also knew he had serious unfinished business to attend to, namely, to protect the nation from the potential threats to American democracy after the recent Supreme Court ruling about presidential immunity.
Kamala Harris
The candidacy of Kamala Harris will not only require the Republican Party to refocus and recalibrate their campaign, but it will also allow the Democrats to focus more clearly on the domestic issues at the very heart of the upcoming elections. This, of course, includes the potential threats to the democratic principles which have been the hallmark of the nation. Such threats are not only voiced by Donald Trump but are also at the heart of so much of the now infamous Project 2025 that proposes to restructure the nation based on very undemocratic and alien principles of governance.
Supreme Court-Presidential Immunity Ruling
The recent Supreme Court ruling expanding the immunity of a sitting president, shielding him from much of what, in the past, may have been seen to constitute the "high crimes and misdemeanors" that might have led to impeachment. This, by itself, has redefined and greatly expanded the power of the Executive Branch and the Presidency, far beyond anything in the past. This has replaced the "balance of powers" inherent in the democratic structure of our governance, with a very powerful executive branch, far outweighing the other two branches, and putting nearly all the final power in the hands of a sitting president, should he/she decide to use it. This potentially is a government serving at the pleasure of a sitting president, a very frightening proposition in what, up to now, has been a democracy.
It is hard not to see this recent ruling as clearly supporting and favoring the views of Donald Trump regarding immunity within his presidency. This ruling of the overwhelming power of the presidency would allow any of his actions while president to be seen as being above restraint or reproach, including his support of the January 6th insurrection at the Capitol and his attempts to declare the 2020 election a fraud. One can only wonder what might be in store for this nation in any second Donald Trump presidency.
The Catch
However, the Supreme Court, even with its powerful conservative majority, including several Trump appointees, miscalculated. The Court forgot that, from the moment it made the ruling, it gave all that expanded power to any sitting president. This means that President Biden now has those expanded powers at his disposal for the next six months to establish ways to prevent any future abuses of those powers that would undermine American democracy. He has time to safeguard democracy and save the American legacy.
This passing of the campaign torch to his Vice President, Kamala Harris, allows the President to use all his time and energy to focus the last months of his presidency on shoring up the democratic traditions of the nation and finishing his legacy of serving the citizens of this nation in fitting style. It also provides the Democratic Party an excellent opportunity to retain the presidency in the 2024 election.
