Our biggest task in the New Year: End the chaos
Any deep thinkers who want to attempt an essay on how things will go in the year 2021 would do well to narrow their focus somewhat and just limit themselves to the matter of how we’ll get through the next three weeks. The dignified, predictable and uplifting ceremonies that normally accompany our peaceable transfer of power are now subject to the grudges, whims and contagious fantasizing of one angry man. January may contain a whole year’s worth of trouble in itself.
Should we get through that, however, there is, next, the challenge of containing and fighting the COVID-19 scourge throughout the world. At the same time come the usual concerns: China, Russia, nuclear weapons, climate change. And then there are such perennial issues as immigration, gun violence and race relations. But assuming that we weather whatever disruptive mischief might be on the horizon this month, and that the government is allowed to do what democratic republics are supposed to do — hand over power to the freely and honestly elected winner of the last election — then there is one primary job before all of us this year: Stop the chaos.
Disorder, turmoil, uncertainty, lies and misinformation are all marks of dictatorships and authoritarian regimes. Bureaus, departments and ministries are set against one another. Power is delegated to compliant minions, whose one goal is to please the leader. Large parts of a nation’s wealth are funneled into the coffers of cronies. Confusion is deliberately created as to who is in charge of what, and personal pledges of loyalty to the leader are demanded. Efforts are made to turn the judiciary into a servant of the regime. Collegial ties with democratic allies are neglected, and new ones are formed with various bosses and presidents-for-life.
To what extent the Trump administration has been guilty of any or all of these things can be debated, but the president’s post-election behavior — pardoning unpardonable offenses and maligning state officials for performing their election duties honestly and in accord with the law - is beyond argument; it is disgusting.
President-elect Joe Biden clearly recognizes the job before him and has the temperament for it. One word often often used in speaking of him is “decent.” But the same adjective has been applied to several other presidents of recent memory, who were not re-elected. What Biden must deal with is the legacy of a classic demagogue, someone who seizes on people’s discontent and assures them there are simple answers for it, usually involving plots, conspiracies and the behavior of “others”: minorities, foreigners, the media, whatever.
The incoming president will have a huge task before him. His primary tool should be an old one, somewhat in disuse at the White House in recent times: the truth.