INTO THE “BIDEN ERA”

Very quickly a number of public issues pushed forward as America turned in new directions in the new Biden Era.

The rush for the American borders.  Not surprisingly, America is a very attractive destination for those Central Americans – and a huge number of Haitians – wanting to escape the poverty, crime, horrible hurricanes, and more recently the Covid-19 pandemic.  But is America itself ready to accept a flood of such people, a flood that would certainly change deeply the very social-cultural character of the nation?

Biden, in his run for the presidency, made it very clear that he and the Democratic Party were strongly in favor of opening its doors to just such a flood of people … claiming humanitarian motives in doing so.  The Republicans, backed by a strong Trump resolve, were highly opposed … advocating instead more walls and tighter restrictions designed to slow up and possibly even halt an apparent flood.

And of course this supposedly placed Biden and the Democrats on superior moral ground as the more “humane” party … in comparison to the “inhumane” nature of the Republican position.  But in fact, those that understood the politics behind both positions in this debate also understood that the Democrats were looking forward to a grand increase in their electoral support by bringing these immigrants into the American political process – probably with quick amnesty for them as “illegals,” followed up by an equally speedy naturalization process.

It is well understood by both parties that these immigrants come from a culture that promised welfare (socialism) in return for their support … and that these immigrants, by political instinct, would certainly be receptive to the same offering in their newly adopted homeland.  In short, they are most likely to vote Democrat if given the choice … and both parties know this.

But one fact is inescapable, namely, that it is the supposed humane character of Central American Socialism that is the reason their economies failed, most cruelly in Honduras … but bad elsewhere in Central America.  And with this economic collapse has gone the collapse of the moral foundations of these societies… as the people scramble for whatever material support they can find, even if it comes violently.  Thus an exploding crime rate has also accompanied this economic collapse in those countries.

Guatemalan soldiers attempting to restrain a caravan of Hondurans heading north to America … through Guatemala – January 2021

The rights and duties of the American voter.  Another issue which follows the lines of the immigration debate is this matter of how much discipline does the American voting process need in order to maintain its integrity (the Republicans) or the broadness of its reach (the Democrats).  It is well-known that many American residents do not vote, for various reasons.  The Democrats suspect that those non-voters would likely be Democratic Party voters if they would but just turn out.  Therefore it becomes imperative for the Democrats to make the vote as easy as possible for everyone.  And Covid-19 certainly strengthened that position, with the sending out of ballots that could simply be mailed in, well ahead of voting day, and even in some cases in an allotted time period after that date.  The Republicans fought this move, claiming that mailed-in votes have no way of being authenticated as to who it was that actually voted … and how many times they might have voted, and what ultimately happened to those mailed-in ballots.

Trump even went on to claim that he had lost the vote in a number of states because of the ease by which fraud was brought into the new voting dynamic … although he could offer no actual evidence for this claim.  But it did raise the question:  what can be done to preserve the integrity of the vote?

Republicans want the vote to be done the old way:  at a voting station, by a person on record as eligible to vote in that district, and with proper identification, usually just a driver’s license … although identification cards are supposedly available everywhere for non-driving adults.  Democrats answer that such restrictions are designed merely to discourage the nervous voter (supposedly a Democratic Party voter) and thus should be disallowed by law, which the Democrats are working on getting put through (again, principally by way of the federal courts).

This became such an emotional issue that even corporate America jumped in on it … with the state of Georgia finding itself at the center of a deeply emotional battle over its tightening the disciplines of voting in that state.  Georgia’s new standards were actually no more restrictive than, say for instance, New Jersey’s … except that New Jersey is generally considered to be a reliably Democratic Party state, whatever the disciplines, and Georgia is something of a critical swing state.  Thus there was a call by Democrats to boycott Coca-Cola and Delta Airlines, headquartered in Georgia … in order to bring pressure to bear on Georgia to back down on its new identification requirements for voting in that state.

Protesters on the steps of the Georgia State Capital – Atlanta – March 8, 2021

Protesters calling for a boycott of Delta Airlines (headquartered in Atlanta) – March 25, 2021
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Likewise the All-Star baseball games were pulled out of Georgia as punishment for the state’s new rulings … and American Airlines and Dell went on record in their loud opposition to the Georgia voting issue.

Congress of course jumped into the issue with its “For the People Act” (H.R.1), passed in the House along purely party lines, 220-210 … but held up in the Senate, not able to secure a majority there,  The idea of this bill was to take away from the states their constitutional right to determine their own voting procedures, and give that right over to a federal commission … as if federal commissions were never politically partisan!  Also, it eliminated all identity checks … making it possible for even illegal immigrants to vote.  It is easily understandable therefore why the Democrats supported this measure and the Republicans opposed it.

Nancy Pelosi explaining H.R. 1 (For the People Act)

And ultimately, it would be yet another step in ending the checks and balances system of the American Constitution, giving federal authorities in Washington yet another major piece of power by which to govern the country.

Making Washington, D.C. a new “state.”  In early January of 2021, a bill was introduced with 202 co-sponsors (Democrats, naturally) to create a new state entitled “Washington, Douglass Commonwealth” (named after Frederick Douglass), with two voting Senators and one Representative allotted it, members of the Democratic Party to be sure.  Whether this would require amending the Constitution (changing the provisions of the 23rd Amendment) or not was debatable, and how the American voting public at large stood on this matter also seemed debatable – depending of course on whose poll you consulted.  Of course, Biden and Harris were also supporters of this action … though it seemed to gain no ground with the passing of time.

“Reforming” the Supreme Court.  There has been much anger among Democrats over the fact that Trump was able to nominate three individuals to the Supreme Court, ending the small majority that the Left-leaning justices once commanded.  Consequently, the Democrats have put forward the idea of “reforming” the Supreme Court … by adding four more justices to the bench, that is, by “packing” the Court with Biden nominees – something designed to swing the Court back to the Left politically.  Roosevelt attempted such a “reform” in 1937 … and it backfired greatly – not even Roosevelt’s Democratic Party allies willing to go down this road when it appeared clearly that the American people were convinced that such “reform” was merely another form of political authoritarianism that Roosevelt was increasingly being accused of … at a time, the 1930s, when authoritarianism seemed to be a general trend around the world.  

Remembering the Roosevelt episode, Biden moved cautiously on the matter, merely setting up a 36-member commission to “study” the issue carefully (April 2021).  The Commission submitted its recommendations that same December.  But ultimately, not much came of the effort.

Biden taking a new tack on the matter, again calling for reforms of the Supreme Court (18-year term limit, a new code of conduct) – July 2024 (soon after his decision to step down from the 2024 presidential race).

Biden’s Supreme Court appointment. When Stephen Breyer retired from the Supreme Court in 2022, most unsurprisingly, Biden looked to yet another “woman of color,” Ketanji Brown Jackson, to fill his vacated position … although it simply amounted to the replacing of one political Leftist with another of the same political outlook.

The debate over High-tech’s censoring of internet communications.  Not surprising, considering the cultural power they command, some of internet’s biggest communities have jumped into the political arena.   A former president of the United States, Trump, was banned from having any further public voice by Facebook, Google, Apple, Amazon, and a number of other internet biggies … for political-moral reasons of their own.  But they do have the power.  And they are most willing to use it.

This in turn raises some deeply serious questions.  As anyone should know, a person, group, society, or whatever, can easily find any reason it wants – and justify it morally any way it wants – in order to manipulate and control the public voice.  In short, these major sources of the public voice are completely free to shape and control that voice any way they want.

But such unlimited power inevitably leads to self-justifying tyranny.  And for a free society such as America has proudly seen itself to be (relatively so, anyway), such control raises all kinds of questions … and fears.  And questions and fears can go in most any direction.

What can America do to keep the public conversation open – and within bounds – and without the conversation referees (Facebook, etc.) deciding which part of the conversation they are going to allow and which part are they going to shut down?

This is only going to be an even more important matter in the fast-developing world ahead of us.  And yet no one seems to have any good ideas on the matter.  All that is heard is just more ideology, supported by clever moral argument.  But it needs clarification and broad agreement in America … before such unashamedly authoritarian powers as China and Russia take a larger hand in the world of internet communication.

The Federal state’s growing share of the American economy.  Biden and the Democrats pushed hard for a multi-trillion-dollar federal “infrastructure” program put forward by the Democrat-controlled House – which the Senate did its best (complements of a Democrat and Republican balance in the number of seats each holds in the Senate) to pare down in size … to avoid a further expansion of the government’s debt – growing rapidly and with no seeming restraint.

Biden claimed he would bring a $3.5 trillion budget closer to a balance by enacting new corporate taxes, raising the rate from 21% to 28% of corporate earnings … with the Republicans replying that to maintain corporate profitability, companies would be required to raise the prices of their goods and services to cover the new tax expenses, thus adding to an inflation rate that is already growing rapidly.

Furthermore, the Republicans wanted the Democrats to cut back on their “infrastructure” shift to this larger governmental role in managing or controlling the American economy … claiming that the Biden plan simply moved the country closer to Socialism.  But the Democrats answered that these measures were badly needed … in order to move to a “carbon-free” energy world, improve local water-treatment operations, improve American education, and increase welfare support (the latter very important especially if the Democrats are going to be welcoming masses of immigrants to the country).

The Republicans of course indicated that they were willing to support about 30% of that figure … focused solely on “physical infrastructure,” such as roads and bridges.

Meanwhile, Democrats complained about how unfair it was that the Republicans were employing the filibuster rule to stall action on the program … even though they certainly were big supporters of the filibuster when the Republicans previously held the majority in the Senate.  There always exists the possibility of getting around the filibuster by employing special “budgetary” techniques.  But even then, with a 50-50 vote split in the Senate (which however Vice President Harris could break with her vote), trying to get around this opposition set a precedent that the Democrats realized that they might regret in the future.

In short, “infrastructure” was/is about ideology and politics … and not just about material development of the nation’s physical infrastructure by the federal government – which itself had only very limited constitutional support prior to Roosevelt’s New Deal and Johnson’s Great Society.

By the end of 2023 it had hit the remarkable figure of $33 trillion, with $1 trillion being added to it every three months at that point. Something drastic needed to be done to slow down this fiscal horror. But what?

The last time federal spending was brought under control was during the years of the Clinton Administration (1990s) …  thanks to the strangle-hold the conservative Republican leader Gingrich had on government spending (which was not at all appreciated at the time by either the Democrats in Congress or the Liberal press!)

The Left-Right split in America deepens as the Supreme Court takes on the matter of Roe v. Wade.

Protesters gather outside Kavanaugh’s Maryland home – May 18, 2022.  Someone had revealed that the Supreme Court was about to overturn Roe v. Wade
National Review

Angry pro-abortion protesters in front of the Supreme Court building – June 24, 2022
The Mainichi – Japan’s National Daily

Democratic Reps. Nydia Velazquez, Ilhan Omar, Jackie Speier, Carolyn Maloney, and Alma Adams march from the Capitol to the Supreme Court to protest Roe v. Wade decision …  and to be arrested (along with 11 other Congresswomen) – July 19, 2022
CNN

Going after Trump.  The anti-Trump movement in Congress continued … led by Congress’s House Select Committee (created in July of 2021) which was investigating the January 6th events … and which was trying to come up with criminal charges against Trump (fraud, criminal conspiracy) which would put him out of political business and possibly even away in prison.

The Nancy-Pelosi-appointed House Committee is made up of 7 Democrats and 2 Republicans.  One of the Republicans is Liz Cheney … who, for personal reasons, clearly wants to see Trump put away … and the other is Adam Kinzinger … the only two Republicans willing to serve on the committee.

Serious charges (which include prison terms) were also aimed at Trump officials for “contempt of Congress”  when they have been ignoring the committee’s subpoenas demanding their appearance before the committee.

The committee submitted its January-6th report in December of 2022 calling for the Department of Justice to bring criminal charges against Trump.  Special Counsel Jack Smith then began to put together just such a case … although when Trump was elected president in 2024 Smith brought the proceedings to an end (but only after releasing documents and findings calling for such a case) − in conformity to the Department of Justice’s policy of not prosecuting a sitting president.

The beginnings of another Christian New Awakening … at Asbury University?  A massive Christian revival developed at Asbury University in Kentucky … starting up in February of 2023 and by that fall involving thousands of students.  From there this spirit of Christian revival quickly spread to other college campuses.

It seems that Gen Z youth are not buying the secular worldview passed on to them by their Gen X parents … and Boomer grandparents before them.  They have seen exactly how much personal happiness, personal worth, personal sense of purpose that a very greedy secular world can offer people … and are not buying the secular legacy.

Somehow they are turning back to the approach to life by which American generations prior to their Boomer grandparents went at life:  following a personal sense of God’s leading spiritually through faith in Christ … and by way of the Truth of Biblical Scripture.  They are hungry for such Truth, such purpose, such “connectedness” to the larger world – the “way” that earlier Americans lived by … and brought America to greatness.

We will see where all this takes America as it moves on to other – time-tested – strategies than the ones crippling America today.

The beginnings of another Christian New Awakening … at Asbury University?