Democracy 2024: # 47

I do not really think I am going to write all that much this week. It is Thanksgiving Weekend, which brings a couple days off of work, lots of food, a ton of football to watch, some sales at stores, and a chance to reflect on how fortunate we are to be Americans. Things seem uneasy here at home, and there is much to be concerned about in regards to our society. However, when considering all the turmoil around the world, we are pretty lucky after all. We should also not forget that we are in a better place in regards to a virus and how we approached Thanksgiving 2020 and 2021.

For many generations, Thanksgiving has meant a lot to Americans. I believe we should be keeping in mind those that for whatever reason or circumstance are new to America, and may have just gone through their first or second Thanksgiving having come to our shores from places like Afghanistan, Ukraine, and Venezuela. America must do more to physically protect its own borders, but we should never cease to be unwelcoming to those who sacrifice so much to try to come here legally or those who have a genuine claim as refugees. There was an incident at the border with Canada this week in which a car blew up, and many people, understandably on edge, came to an immediate conclusion that it was an act of terrorism. This was of course amplified in the media. It turns out that this accident, which took the lives of a husband and wife, were not terrorism related. We should be thankful of that and not disappointed that a political talking point may be lost.

The last couple of days have seen images of Israeli women and children, who were brutally kidnapped by Hamas being returned to their country. Foreign workers who were taken within Israel have also been returned. I am beyond relieved for those particular hostages and their loved ones. From what images we have seen, they seem to be doing well, as least physically. Still, I cannot look at it as a true "feel good" story.

For one thing, it appears that some of the hostages, especially military aged men will never be released. Nothing can ever undo the evil that was done to the people inside of Israel. I am also disappointed that thus far no American citizen has been released. There are said to be three women and children who would fit in the category of who might be released, so hopefully that will happen tomorrow. How can we ever trust Hamas to "do the right thing?" Clearly, that is not their motivation. They were just desperate for whatever pause in the Israeli onslaught they could get and that is a big reason for concern. It ought to feel horrible to have to "negotiate with terrorists" but Israel has been having to do that for generations now. In return for every innocent hostage, Israel is having to release three Palestinian fighters who were imprisoned. These are women and teenagers, so they are not the worst of the worst, but still this all feels very uneasy and might encourage bad actors around the world to be motivated to kidnap people in the future. This "deal" was cut with Qatar (hardly a friend of the United States or Israel) as the middleman and the Biden Administration has been heavily involved as well. The refusal to release any Americans as part of this deal, (at least thus far) might or might not be a deliberate attempt to embarrass President Biden and to create anger within America. You can be certain that in our sad political environment, the political opponents of Biden and his party will never pass up an opportunity to pounce. If the roles were reversed, Democrats would be doing the same. All I can say as a citizen is that everyone should just hope that some Americans are home very soon. I have no doubt that Joe Biden has been trying to make that happen, just as any American President would. Still, I hope this President and this Administration, fights all urges, political or otherwise, to go wobbly on the essential task of providing American leadership on what continues to be and will continue to be a "War on Terror" which began in 2001, as much as many on both the left and right would prefer to forget.

Of course, the 2024 Presidential race inches forward. There may not really be much to substantively analyze in regards to the horse race(s) until the new year. Joe Biden turned 81 this week, and I hope it was a Happy Birthday, but the fact that Joe Biden is 81 continues to be the main factor of the election this cycle. One cannot ignore the polls that show that Biden vs  Donald Trump is basically a 50-50 proposition at this time.At the same time, a "generic Republican" would be well ahead of Biden and a "generic Democrat" would be well ahead of Trump. There is little reason why so many Americans want an additional choice, even as the party tribalists and the political insiders scoff at the very concept of democracy, even as they claim that "democracy itself" might come to an end if the general election turns out a certain way. In regards to the main issue of the election, I maintain that Joe Biden seeking a second term was always a bad idea, and he should have come to that conclusion (at least privately) from the start. In 2020, he may have been the only Democrat who could have won against Trump and in 2024, he might be the only one who could lose to him.

Finally, let me preface this by saying that I believe free speech and expression, including the right to protest and demonstrate is the unalienable right of every American. That does not mean that political extremism and disorderly behavior cannot be criticized or recognized as a societal problem. We have been seeing a lot of protests the last few weeks, especially in major American cities. Throngs of people are taking to the streets and waving Palestinian flags while chanting such genocidal slogans as "From the River to the Sea" and "Infitada Revolution is the only solution." Those people have been accosting Americans at subway stations and during Black Friday shopping and during Thanksgiving Day parades.

Putting aside the fact that Joe Biden and Democrats would seemingly need the votes of young leftists who are currently protesting against them to win elections, there is another factor. As we have seen over the last 50 years plus, there is a backlash in "Middle America" that always develops against left-wing demonstrators who are seen as out of control and causing chaos. When this happened in the summer of 2020, the political dynamics changes and Trump came far closer to reelection than many expected. Republicans below him on the ballot did better than expected.

Now, we are seeing these things again. In 2020, Trump was President and thus responsible, at least in some way for the "chaos." Now, a different President and different party holds power. You can put aside whatever you might think about 91 indictments and every action and utterance of Donald Trump that ought to completely disqualify him from receiving the vote of any right-thinking American. If people keep taking to the streets of America waving Palestinian flags and getting in the face of whomever they can find, you can start planning for Trump's second Inauguration.