Democracy Really Has Prevailed. So Far.

Well, I'm wrong so far. 45 didn't do the unthinkable. He didn't attack some country in his last days in office.

And the unthinkable didn't happen during the inauguration. The insurrectionists chickened out, as was likely. They have the 'courage of their convictions' only when they outnumber and/or outgun their opponents, and that wasn't going to happen today. That's what cowards do--slink away when everyone knows about them.

Yes, 45 pardoned and commuted the sentences of many who didn't deserve it. But we kind of knew that was going to happen. He took the one shot he had left, the one last trashing of democracy and took advantage of it.

Whether he descends to utter ignominy is yet to be seen. He's talking about forming some kind of new political party, but he won't be participating much in that. He'll leave that to someone else. He's too lazy to put any energy into it. He'll make the speeches and half-truths and innuendoes, because that's the only thing he's been good at. Not the sticky, challenging tasks of organizing, though. He'll just yell at someone.

He's got a problem, though. A legal and criminal problem. That's how democracy will prevail, as President Biden suggested it has, if it indeed does so. He deserves his day in court. So do those he's hurt.

He needs to be rejected from public office forever. He is poison, and its eradication won't be easy. But to begin, he must be convicted of the simple impeachment charge of insurrection. That can be done. He can be turned away.

In the meantime, some things have to come down: the additional barricades surrounding the White House; the horrible, embarrassing, unnecessary border wall; the banning of migrants from certain Arab countries; getting back on board with the Paris Climate Accords. The United States has to be a welcoming, gentler place again. Yes, the immigration situation is challenging, but even Bush-43 wanted a more humane approach, and that's three presidents ago now.

Find those kids, too: over 600 of them. What a tragedy. What a horrible legacy. Get them back to their families.

Get some money into the hands of people who are at the edge of their savings. We can discuss deficit spending later. Stop posturing. Save this economy.

Get the pandemic under control. Stop promising and make a plan. Give guidance from the top. Don't throw up your hands and say it's a state problem. Get the damn vaccines out there. Businesses will recover as soon as people know they can get out there. It'll be amazing how fast it'll go. Beyond that, we're all tired of masks.

Schools, too. Leave nothing undone. Get the kids back in there. The pandemic is injurious in more than one way, and this is one of the worst. 

The undermining of public education in the name of religiosity must also stop. We are a secular state. We need to stay that way. Religion is at its best when it is not politicized, when it's allowed to flourish in its proper place in our culture.

Stay the hell off of Twitter and Facebook. Don't even use it to say good things. Let that be the purview of the press secretary, who should lead the way out of Camp Falsehood.

Just tell the truth, said Senator Mitt Romney, a Republican whose moderation can scarcely be recognized within his realm. We can handle it. Heaven knows, at this point, any bad news can't surpass the good that will happen.

Beyond the revelations that staffers will produce in the coming days, we know too well the damage Biden's predecessor has done to our system and its effectiveness. Just turning that around will take time. We must be patient and yet insistent: This perversion of government cannot happen again.

We have an opportunity, a small window, to turn this country around. Let's go for it. Democracy has prevailed, so far. Let's make it work again.

Good luck, Mr. President. I wouldn't worry about being a great president. Just be one, not an awful facsimile.

May your healing powers be great. I have a picture of you and Dr. Biden with me on my wall from the last time you tried to get the job you now have. It's been up there, wherever I've traveled, ever since it was taken. It's good to have it there, meaning more than it ever has.

Onward. At long last.

Be well. Be careful. Wear a mask. One day closer to a vaccine. With some luck, I'll see you down the road.

Mister Mark