by obvious truths. Social media will restrict content
that promotes violence or criminal acts. Rationality
was imposed by those with power in the business
world who realized that a successful economy requires
a civil society.
Heroes emerged far from Washington. Some state
governors faced the coronavirus with tough actions.
Frontline workers stayed on the job in nightmarish
conditions. Local election volunteers and officials,
many of them Republicans, faithfully counted ballots
and certified the results. Trump then publicly
called them nasty names, urged them to find votes
that didn’t exist and, when they refused, remained
silent about the death threats they received. They
were ordinary Americans who nevertheless bravely
stepped up to do and say what many politicians in
Washington didn’t dare.
Will President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala
Harris be equally courageous? They’ve pledged
to reinstate daily press briefings, to consider
diverse opinions and not to announce major policy
decisions via surprise tweets. That seems promising,
although their initial personnel choices indicate a
nostalgic preference for veterans of the Obama and
Clinton administrations with limited regard for new
or competing views, progressive or conservative.
So it’s still too early to say, but their starting
point is to tell the truth always, good news or bad
news, to the tens of millions of Americans who will
believe them and the other tens of millions who
won’t. That’s exactly what Washington needs now.
So does America.
vapaaehtoiset
”Volunteers don’t get paid, not because they’re worthless,
but because they’re priceless.”
– Sherry Anderson
SAM MAGAZINE 1/21 | 17