Hope - Not a Bad Thing...

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I wish America and its people well and hope with all sincerity that the incoming Biden administration will be allowed to be a force for good in the coming years. Listening to his inaugural address, the poetic contribution of Amanda Gorman and the benediction delivered by the Rev. Sylvester Beaman, I was struck by the hope and frankly, relief expressed; as if  the country was waking from a nightmare that had threatened to become a Groundhog Day of abnormality, inexorably sucking sense and fairness out of the lives, not just of Americans but countless people throughout the world: administrations across the globe founded on blatant untruths and the self-interest of the powerful.

I’m not so naive that I view this handover as an augury of the Promised Land; but I do feel that not all politicians are so abjectly corrupt that politics and democracy are de facto redundant concepts: that way lies the kind of open warfare that Trump, not always tacitly and more often than not explicitly, espoused and promoted. That President Biden is set to sign seventeen executive orders this afternoon, reversing many of Trump’s divisive and destructive policies: on climate change, the pandemic and social support for affected businesses, and a raft of others; is timely and to be honest, fundamental to healing the wounds created during the last four years of administrative mayhem.

Let’s celebrate the inauguration of Biden, Harris, et al. and join them in that hope and that other nations similarly afflicted by populist insanity will follow suit and opt for more measured government in the near future. I would also hope, in Biden’s case, that the House and the Senate will at least give the man an even break during, at least, his first term: let him prove his mettle and just leave party differences behind in the service of the people; not just of the United States, but the peoples of all nations. Our idiot government here in the UK really does need a good and shining example to follow at this very odd, febrile and distinctly fragile time in our collective history. It's time for rebuttal. It's time for reset. It's time for reckoning.

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