Invoking the legacy of Lincoln, 2020 Democratic Presidential Nominee and former Vice President Joe Biden called for the people of the United States to unite and work together to overcome the nation’s difficulties and save the soul of the country.
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Citing Lincoln as a President who “believed in the rescue, redemption, and rededication of the union,” Biden repeated the sixteenth Presidents warning that “a house (the country) divided cannot stand.”
The Democratic Presidential Nominee went on further stating:
“Today, once again, we are a house divided, but that my friends can no longer be. We’re facing too many crises. We have too much work to do. We have too bright a future to have it shipwrecked on the Shoals of anger and hate, and division.”
“As we stand here today, a century and a half later after Gettysburg, we should consider again, what can happen when equal justice is denied, when anger and violence and division are left unchecked. As I look across America today, I’m concerned. The country is in a dangerous place. Our trust in each other is ebbing. Hope seems elusive. Too many Americans see our public life, not as an arena for mediation of our differences, but rather they see it as an occasion for total, unrelenting, partisan warfare.”
The former Vice President, repeating themes said in earlier addresses, pledged to be a President for all Americans and called for:
- “A return to bipartisanship and working together with one another.”
- To build bridges to bring people together, not walls to divide them.
- Proclaiming that there is no place for hatred in the United States.
- Racial justice and Law and Order, saying “I do not believe we have to choose between law and order, and racial justice in America.”
- Getting rid of white nationalist paramilitary groups and looters who use the peaceful protestors for their own fringe ends.
- Everyone to rely on science and knowledge to nationally combat COVID 19 including wearing a mask and adequately social distance. Mr. Biden reminded everyone that “this pandemic is not a red state or blue state issue. This virus doesn’t care whether you live, or where you live, what political party you belong to, it affects us all. It will take anyone’s life. It’s a virus. It’s not a political weapon.”
- Economic and Social Equality where “we cannot and will not accept an economic equation that only favors those who have already got it made; everybody deserves a shot at prosperity.”
Mr. Biden invoked Lincoln again in his closing remarks calling everyone to come together, saying:
“Lincoln said, “The nation is worth fighting for.” So it was. And so it is, together as one nation under God, indivisible. Let us join forces to fight the common foe of injustice and inequality, hate, and fear. Let’s conduct ourselves as Americans who love each other, who love our country, who will not destroy, but will build. We owe it to the dead who were buried here at Gettysburg. We owe that to the living, and to future generations yet to be born. You and I are part of a covenant, a common story of divisions overcome and hope renewed. If we do our part, if we stand together, if we keep faith with the past and with each other, then the divisions of our time will give way to the dreams of a brighter, better future. This is our work. This is our pledge. This is our mission. We can end this era of division. We can end the hate and the fear. We can be what we are at our best, the United States of America. God bless you all. And may God protect our troops. Thank you. We can do this.”
The former Vice Presidents' words are inspiring and poetic. They beckon to an America where the ideals this country is based on could be achieved by all who live here.
The only question or pause readers should consider is that the former party of Lincoln has for decades been agents of obstruction, division, and backwardness. It has existed since the segregationist Dixiecrats found a home in the Republican Party in the 1960s and has become increasingly worse in the Nixon, Ford, Reagan, Bush, and Trump Administrations. They attempted to and/or stymied any forward legislation embraced by the Clinton and Obama Administrations.
Even if they are consigned to electoral exile after the November 3, 2020 elections, they have a 50-year track record that they will do anything to keep the country from moving forward.
Bringing people together and working in a bipartisan fashion should be the goal and aim of a Biden/Harris Administration.
However, they should be prepared to govern alone in case Republicans likely maintain their obstructionist ways.
They should be prepared to use whatever tool in their Executive and Legislative Power (including reconciliation and a relaxing of the filibuster) to advance the People’s Agenda.
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