MAKING PEACE AND UNITY

Today is January 20, 2021, the inauguration of Joe Biden as the 46th President of the United States. Today should be a day of national celebration, an assertion of the unity and oneness of America and Americans. Instead, fully half of America is fearful, angry and afraid.

America is angry because there remain huge issues with the integrity of the last general election and the lingering belief that fraud changed the outcome. Whether the election was stolen is actually beside the point. The burning issue is the failure of those in authority to take steps to assure Americans that the election was, in fact, honest and fair. Lawyer-like language from the former Attorney General and others that there was “insufficient evidence” available to overturn the election did not assuage the suspicions; they are unlikely to disappear or die until a real and legitimate investigation nationwide is conducted.

Americans are afraid because it appears from the announcements of the Biden team that massive changes in public policy are on the way, undoing the clear and indisputable improvements made under President Trump. They are afraid of losing their jobs; watching their 401k and IRA plans disappear; the border being overrun by illegal immigrants; and they are afraid of new international conflicts as the Biden administration unwinds the peace agreements worked out by the Trump administration, most especially in the Middle East.

Americans are fearful because they have watched one Biden ally after another, whether in the media, the sporting world, publishing, or Hollywood make it clear that conservatives, those who had the bad judgement to vote for and support Donald Trump will no longer be welcome. Jobs will not be available or will be terminated. Speech will be silenced [Twitter and Facebook have already made that very clear]. Universities are closing ranks to exclude conservative views and students. Stupid children at elite universities are suggesting the cancellation of degrees already conferred by such universities, as if that were even possible. And, frankly, conservatives now fear that the courts, which ought to provide protection, will fail.

President Biden announced today that he wished to be the president of all Americans, blue and red. He urged that America put away its “uncivil war.” The Ratcatcher joins the President in that wish but doubts its sincerity. President Biden has, within the recent past, referred to Trump supports as idiots; he has implied that they are Nazis. For the sake of argument, not that Ratcatcher actually believes this, assume that all of Mr. Biden’s attacks were actually no more than normal campaign rhetoric, intended to inflame his political allies; his base. Well, it sure worked since representatives of the Democrat Party, the liberal, dishonest media, the social media gods, spokesmen for academia, and the entertainment industry, as well as other commercial businesses have gone out of their way to demonize President Trump and his conservative supporters, including the commencement of a disgraceful and baseless impeachment proceeding.

So it was disappointing today to note that President Biden utterly failed to address any of these divisive actions. For example, he could have begun by calling on members of Congress to stop immediately the groundless and vindictive impeachment proceedings. He could have asked his supporters, those who voted for him and the media, to stop the attacks on Republicans. He might have asked the representatives and Twitter, Facebook, Amazon, and Google, to respect the rights of their users to express views that differ from the overlords of social media. Mr. Biden might have considered reminding the Hollywood elites of the bad old days of Joseph McCarthy and urged them to rid themselves of the practice of Republican witch hunting.

Alas, President Biden passed up all of those peacemaking ideas. As always, actions speak much louder than words. Therefore, we will judge the Biden Administration, and Mr. Biden in particular, by the manner in which he and his allies behave. If peace breaks out and the ad hominem attacks stop; if the cancel culture suddenly stops trying to damage people with whom they disagree, we will be able to congratulate President Biden for making peace.

Ratcatcher has one more respectful request for Mr. Biden. Please ask your Secret Service protectors to take you to the Lincoln Monument; it is not far from the White House. Walk inside, read and contemplate Lincoln’ Second Inaugural Address. Lincoln presided over a badly fractured, torn and bleeding country with divisions appearing more irreparable than those that tear at the fabric of America today. He was the President. His forces had defeated its enemy and destroyed the Confederacy. Lincoln might have gloated as many of President Biden’s allies are doing today. He might have said, “See, we won. Wars, like elections, have consequences. Get over it.”

But Lincoln said, “With malice toward none; with charity for all; . . . let us strive on to finish the work we are in; to bind up the nation's wounds.”

Would that the 46th President could echo those words, mean them, and put into action the steps necessary to bring them about.

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