A nation in chaos, a Presidency in ruins, impeachment in the headlines, criminal charges speculated, a failed administration, and a former Vice President now sits in the oval office. The year is 1974, the Cold War is in deep winter and former Vice President Ford, now President Ford faces a decision that will forever define his legacy.
In the wake of the infamous Watergate Scandal President Nixon is facing the very real possibility of a criminal trial. A trial that would put the integrity of the United States in jeopardy at a time when the world is split between the United States and Russia. Ford, fearing that a public trial would do irreversible damage to the country, made the politically suicidal decision to pardon Nixon of all past criminal actions and spared Nixon the public humiliation. In his statement to the nation Ford made his case for Nixon’s pardon, “…the tranquility to which this nation has been restored by the events of recent weeks could be irreparably lost by the prospects of bringing to trial a former President of the United States.”
In pardoning Nixon, the man that Ford had served under, he was viewed by the nation as corrupt and it would cost him the efficacy of his Presidency and a second term in office. But thankfully the long term effect was indeed unity. Ford, decades later, would be recognized and awarded by President Clinton the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Today, President Biden is in a similar situation as Ford. The previous Presidency has been marred by scandal and impeachment. Biden has pledged in his inaugural address to bring unity to the nation.
“Without unity there is no peace, only bitterness and fury. No progress, only exhausting outrage. No nation, only a state of chaos. This is our historic moment, crisis and challenge and unity is the path forward.”
President Biden promises to seek out unity in our nation. As a Christian, I am inclined to believe that it is every Christian’s duty to seek the welfare of all, and therefore I join the President in his desire to seek unity. However, Biden’s very address betrays his true intentions.
“No progress, only exhausting outrage”
Whenever the word progress is used by members of the left you can rest assured that the tenants of Progressivism are going to be invoked. Since the materialism of 19th century and European philosophy emerged in American politics, this idea of progress on the political left has only ever been the kind of self-interested progress that promises humanity’s path is on an upward trajectory, ever onward, to never ending, scientific, technological, glory. In reality that progress has only ever been at the expense of the common man. Unfortunately, already, the President is signalling his own vision of what our nation’s new unity is going to look like.
Is this surprising? In the first Presidential debate, it was President Biden who told the sitting President of the United States to “…shut up man.”. And Trump is after all just a stand in for the average American. David Gelernter in his opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, The Real Reason They Hate Trump writes,
“Mr. Trump reminds us who the average American really is. Not the average male American, or the average white American. We know for sure that, come 2020, intellectuals will be dumbfounded at the number of women and blacks who will vote for Mr. Trump. He might be realigning the political map: plain average Americans of every type vs. fancy ones.”
In his own way, President Biden was telling the average American, “…will you shut up man?”
Perhaps, that’s exactly the type of unity Biden has in mind. When seventy five million Americans voted for the conservative ticket, they were met with a President who will not only tell them to shut up but meet them with an ultimatum. Get on board with Progress or be swept away. If any conservatives thought otherwise they could see their President keeping them at a distance with 20,000 Armed Troops.
If that wasn’t enough Biden has given the country a clear prerogative to what the next four years are going to look like. According to CBS News Biden’s day one agenda includes
- Immigration: Send bill to Congress “for legislative immigration reform that will modernize our immigration system and give nearly 11 million undocumented immigrants a roadmap to citizenship;”
- Climate change: Sign executive order to formulate plan to achieve 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions by 2050;
- Transgender rights: Repeal transgender military ban enacted by President Trump; Mr. Biden would also restore Obama-era guidance for transgender students in schools, to protect “students’ access to sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity;” and
- Environment: Enact an executive order “to conserve 30% of America’s lands and waters by 2030.”
Out of these, which actions put forth by the Bidden-Harris administration will bring unity to America?
Climate Change, Transgender Rights, and Land Conservation are in no way unifying measures. If Biden’s intentions are to stoke the fury of the far right then he is on the right path. These actions are commitments to policies that are radically progressive.
And it is not just the far right that Biden is ostracizing.
Conservatives can shoulder the added burdens of the Left’s economic policies and move forward with their lives as best as they can even as they fear future disaster. But what they cannot abide, what is intolerable, is that their most sincerely held beliefs are in fact being called out as moral evils.
But what they cannot abide, what is intolerable, is that their most sincerely held beliefs are in fact being called out as moral evils.
As a father I am immediately dismayed by President Biden’s prerogative to protect, “…’students’ access to sports, bathrooms, and locker rooms in accordance with their gender identity.” Such mandates disregard the safety and well being of my own daughter as they rewrite moral norms to accommodate the demands of the Sexual Revolution. How can I as a father protect my own child from what I believe to be a distressing degree of immorality if the government itself is opposed to my own deeply held and sincere beliefs?
Certainly, if President Biden wishes to bring healing to our country he must prevent the invasion of the far left’s radical social agenda from making its way into the most private areas of our lives. In so doing Biden may find himself at odds with the radical left but if Biden isn’t a lying dog-faced pony solider he must make sacrifices for the good of the country.
President Ford made the hard decision to effectively end his political career by pardoning Nixon. But in the process he helped heal a disillusioned nation. Biden can do the same but he must concede ground to the seventy-five million who are feeling more and more that their voice is not being heard. Otherwise, the division in America will only solidify and future generations will find themselves in the Not-So United States of America. That is a fate that we all wish to avoid.
THE MIND AND HEART 