OP-ED: We’re going back
Within her noble and honorable campaign for president, Kamala Harris’ consistent mantra was “We’re not going back.” She was wrong. We are.
The country is embarking upon a time in which we were overwhelmingly white and Christian, an era in which men expected women to be confined to the bedroom and the kitchen, people of color were openly maligned and segregated from whites, and minorities like members of the LGBTQ community were resigned to remain in the closet.
Whether the vice-president’s loss was due to Joe Biden staying in the race too long, the party thereby choosing to anoint her without a primary election, choosing a deficient running mate rather than Gov. Josh Shapiro, or having multiple prior positions that were out of step with moderate America, this is a moment the country faces ruin and one which I believe it will come to regret.
The electorate denied a victory to a vice-president of good character, goodwill, and integrity. She has fought throughout her political career for those who were struggling and those who were the victims of crime. Kamala Harris is not a criminal, has never been accused of molestation or financial fraud, has not built her life around materialism and a relentless lust for money, and has declined to disparage and mock those who are not like her. This did not stop her detractors from asserting that she is a whore.
The president-elect is someone who has denigrated and maligned members of the military, including those who sacrificed their lives for our country, Gold Star families, the disabled, gay and transgender individuals, women, Jews, Muslims, Palestinians, and of course, anyone else who dared to disagree with him. He has promoted violence against his foes. To the bitter end of this campaign, he was focused on who he hates, who he can tear down, not upon how he can lift us up and serve us as our leader.
We now face a deceitful administration which will:
– Appoint the corrupt and the criminal to key positions.
– Will provide vaccine skeptic and crackpot conspiracy theory advocate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. a prominent place in the country’s health care hierarchy, all but ensuring that we will not be ready for the next pandemic.
= Appoint only radical, right-wing ideologues to the judiciary.
– End all efforts to deal with manmade changes in the climate, which have wrought more frequent, severe, and expensive weather calamities.
– Bully our allies while favoring murderous dictators whom he admires.
– Withdraw support from and force Ukraine to capitulate to the demands of Trump pal, war criminal Vladimir Putin.
– Impose ruinous tariffs and attempt to pass massive tax cuts for everyone, but primarily to the wealthy and prosperous corporations, actions which can be expected to ignite a new round of hyperinflation.
– Pardon and spring from prison his “heroes and great patriots,” all of the criminals who desecrated the Capitol and brutally assaulted the overpowered law enforcement officers who stood in the way of Trump’s efforts to overthrow the government.
– Make it much more difficult if not impossible for immigrants to take up residence here. Trump lackey and close advisor Stephen Miller echoed the credo of the Nazis when he said “America should be for Americans.”
We face a painful period of at least the next four years and after that, it may be too late to save us.
Oren Spiegler is a Peters Township resident.