To succeed in creating an inclusive and united nation, hateful ideologies must be relegated to the dustbin of history.
President Joe Biden was inaugurated Wednesday morning. In any other circumstance, this would be a historic but banal observance of the American democratic process.
Just weeks ago, demonstrators laid siege the Capitol as lawmakers worked to confirm the electoral vote. For the past four years, a cancer has been growing within the GOP, one that some Republicans and Democrats alike have been warning about, like canaries in the coal mine of the American political system. The warnings have been coming true for a while, but they finally exploded earlier this month.
Many in our country cry out for unity. President Joe Biden hammered in that point with his speech at the inauguration. There is indeed a necessity for unity to come, but we must be careful not to rush the process. The American public should not condone peace between liberalism and fascism. There cannot be reconciliation between truth and falsehood.
Americans are shaken. Biden, if he hopes to be an impactful leader in this “winter of peril,” as the president put it, needs to know where to stand strong, and differentiate between Americans and those who seek to disrupt our democratic process.
It seems as if President Biden understands this, addressing such concerns speaking from the Capitol.
“I know speaking of unity can sound to some like a foolish fantasy these days,” Biden said on Inauguration Day. “I know the forces that divide us are deep and they are real, but I also know they are not new. Our history has been a constant struggle between the American ideal that we’re all created equal and the harsh, ugly reality that racism, nativism, fear, demonization have long torn us apart. The battle is perennial and victory is never assured.”
The battle between the America promised within the Constitution and the America experienced by the public is still raging, and we hope that this next presidential administration fights to make the American ideal a reality. As Americans, we must unite against disunity, but not at the expense of accepting hatred and bigotry. Those attributes must never become accepted as the norm within American politics — despite how they have proliferated during recent years.
President Biden had this to say Wednesday morning, during his speech.
“And we must meet this moment as the United States of America. If we do that, I guarantee you we will not fail. We have never, ever, ever, ever failed in America when we’ve acted together.”
We, as the editorial board, hope this next president can succeed in bringing the country’s best together and bringing a peaceful unity after years of division.
