One can and should include in their group of friends and acquaintances those with whom they disagree and treat them with civility. Accepting with congeniality those whose principles and actions are abhorrent is not of civility because thought and action that does harm to others is civilly unacceptable, cause for those engaged in such to be vehemently criticized if not shunned. If the good of democracy is based in the hope that those participating will inevitably do what is good and what is right in regard to how people are treated, then a decent person’s obligation is to insure that the voices of those who are not decent people, who speak or act in ways that are intolerable for the cause of the humane society, are never dignified. The man or woman who does dignify those who are inhumane does injustice to those who suffer by the inhumanity. In the case of Joe Biden, he gave aid and comfort and, worse, the right to maintain and exercise power over others, to those who, by their words and actions, did grievous harm to others, amongst them the children who suffered greatly by the laws and their enforcement promoted by some in politics who he embraced.
Civility has its limits. There is a point at which civility itself becomes abhorrent because what it produces is incivility, legitimizes as regular and acceptable the kind of hatred that is racism and bigotry. For civility and to “get things done,” Joe Biden put a shine on ugliness of the worst kind. He was distant to the effect, shaking hands with those intent on evil that affected profoundly good numbers of his fellow citizens. He accepted as legitimate and worthy of respect horrible human beings who he, by his acceptance of them, helped to allow them to influence the way in which a nation was governed.
How important is this to understanding the man who is Joe Biden? Should this single aspect of his history be allowed to overshadow a long career in which he did do well at doing good, at doing what is right? I think that it can be looked upon in the context of his being a get along kind of guy, getting along with Joe being getting along well enough to preserve a system that has served him and his family well while not serving well millions of others who do not thrive because that system necessitates that only some can do well so there is enough to constantly please the self-serving and selfish. He got along with the abhorrent in order to keep the peace and to keep the peace he lent approval to those who should have been disavowed for their treachery, their crimes against humanity.
In my mind this alone is a fatal flaw in the character not only of Joe Biden but also many of those who are “moderate” in their politics, who see America as great despite the problematic ways it has historically treated good numbers of human beings who live within its borders and good numbers of people outside those border who it has been willing to sacrifice in order to give more to those who have too much. Injustice in America, the America of those who are members of the ruling class—there is most definitely a ruling class in the United States—is a price they are willing to have other people pay so that they can live a good life made possible, in good part by those injustices, by the suffering of others.
The upcoming election should not be about which party one support or about which candidate one supports but about what the United States of America should be and who its government and economy should serve. It must be about justice and the riddance of injustice. This means that the good old that Joe and the centrists like so much needs to be attacked, demolished so that a government that is truly for the people—all people and not just a few—can be established. Joe is one amongst several of the candidates before us who thrive by the status quo no matter how hurtful and harmful it is to others. We cannot abide by a good old Joe no more for the goodness of Joe is but an illusion.
