Through a Glass, Darkly
Paul, the Apostle
To see though a glass (mirror) darkly, in the view of Apostle Paul, meant that the truth of the world was obscured from us due to the manifestations of humans and their actions. In his biblical view, when the end times come, the glass would clear and all that was hidden would be revealed to us. It has certainly seemed to be the end of times these past four long years. Many on the right have been praying for an actual apocalypse that would sweep them off to their heavenly reward, and the rest of us 74,000,000+ off to hell.
The End Times of Trump have come and are almost gone.
With that recognition sinking into our battle-weary psyches, things ARE looking a bit clearer. Yes, we have a long tail of a recovery from so many of the ills that were inflicted upon us; we must deal, now, with CoVid, we must inject help into our severely damaged economy, we must protect and expand healthcare for all Americans, and we must guard against and rail against inequities that the rest of the 70,000,000+ would love to see inflicted on us (and themselves but that is a bit of crazy that is too far for this piece). So, we begin with today.
tRump has not and may not concede. What to do, what to do?
Our incoming POTUS-elect and FLOTUS-elect are already doing it. They are ignoring all the noise and bluster that has and will come at them and already are hard at work planning, scheduling, vetting (there is a forgotten word that I nominate for the Word of The Year in Webster’s for 2021), and getting back to the basics of good governance.
POTUS-elect has a stack of Signing Statements (which should actually be outlawed but only after we have used them to right the ship of state) all lined up and ready to sign “on day one” as everyone loves to intone. A good start.
If we know anything about POTUS-elect, and we know a lot, he has already begun substantive discussions about how to re-engage the US into the critical components of world order that the last occupant tossed into the dustbin; The Paris Climate Accords, The WHO, the CDC, the Iran nuclear agreements, and on and on. They are going to happen, soon; Day One, Two, Three and onward.
Yet there needs to be a clarion call to change right now. After the last four years of watching the cesspool of Washington grow into a sewage containment hazardous waste site with no plan for abatement attached, this would be a great place to start. There will be and already are immediate vacancies, whether from the “you’re fired” chief of state or from the “I’m retaining counsel to keep me out of prison” gang, we should immediately be gearing up to upgrade the caliber of our public offices, elected and appointed, again; Day One….or before. But there is one amazing, critical, easy, unspoken thing that in the POTUS-elect could announce today that would take any wind out of tRump’s sails and really relegate him to the ashcan of historical mistakes. It would also throw a gauntlet down before he starts to degrade any more institutions on his way out. A charge that would show, clearly, that the new guys in town mean business.
“One of the deep secrets of life is that all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others.”
Lewis Carroll
Let’s take a page from Alice in Wonderland and “do for others”. The last bank heist of an inaugural threw 107 million dollars into the hands of a party-planner friend of Melania’s. A fat lot of good it did anyone except her. If POTUS-elect wants a statement presidency then start with a statesman’s act. Cancel the inauguration. There’s a pandemic raging in our country, tRump will do anything to disrupt and disgrace himself before and leading up to January 20th so why not?
Cancel the Inauguration
Lewis Carroll; “all that is really worth the doing is what we do for others,” And so, we could really make a dent in the “doing for other’s” philosophy if the inaugural committee switched gears, announced an approved platform of programs that tRump, Betsy DeVoss, and the rest of the pig-stye-porkers have gutted and abandoned, and made them the recipients of some righteous retribution in the form of real money for real programs for real, human, people.
Protect the thousands of workers it would take to stage and secure this gaudy self-aggrandizing event; the Secret Service, the DC Police and crowd control folks, the transportation systems full of over-crowded patrons and workers, all of that would be righteous and right in the doing.
But most of all it is both a gift and a middle finger to the outgoing president and his minions. The gift would be to save tRump from having to be literally forced to stand on the Capital steps looking like a five-year-old who just wet his pants in the school graduation. The Chief Justice could swear in the new administration in the Oval with only family looking on, safely, masked, example-setters all. Thank yous and congratulations all around and then Joe Biden, with Kamala by his side, could dive into that stack of signing statements and begin, again, to really run a country.
That would be Day One