Pictured Above: President Joe Biden was inaugurated on January 20 and focused on promoting political unity in his inauguration speech.
Courtesy of Joe Biden, Courtesy of Alexandria Bishop
By Alexandria Bishop
Courtesy of Alexandria Bishop
Unity. The word that has been repeated time and time again, the hopeful frontier that the Biden administration is promising, and mainstream media is praising.
“But the answer is not to turn inward, to retreat into competing factions, distrusting those who don’t look like you do, or worship the way you do, or don’t get their news from the same sources you do,” President Joe Biden said in his inaugural address.
But unity in what exactly? Biden’s definition of unity in his inaugural address, while admirable, is not what divides us. The United States is a country built by immigrants – many of whom did not look like one another or worship the same religion.
According to the Pew Research Center, race, religion and news sources did not even account for the top five issues for voters. Voters said they were the most concerned with the economy, health care, Supreme Court appointments, COVID-19 and violent crime.
So, what are we unifying around? Biden has neglected to specify what the country is unifying around or how we will be unifying. Are we unifying in the true American fashion; of understanding, respecting and listening to opposing views and ideas? Or perhaps, the more realistic, democracy-ending unity? The kind of unity that means agree or shut up and take a beating.
Former President Donald Trump was banned from Twitter and Facebook on Jan. 8. I don’t believe this would have happened had Republicans retained the Presidency or even the Senate.
In addition to Trump being banned, several other Republicans have been banned and Senator Josh Hawley had his book cancelled.
Then from Jan. 9 to 13, Parler, an independent speech platform, was run through the ringer. First, it was banned from the Google Play store; then, it was completely taken off the internet. These actions were due to claims that the platform was used to plan the horrific attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6.
Yet, as an online open forum, none of the big tech giants are supposed to be held responsible for their actions or inaction, such as when Facebook was not held responsible for being unable to regulate Kenosha militia Facebook groups that resulted in the Kenosha unrest shootings.
I don’t know about you, but I do not remember any of that happening when James Hodgkinson, a Bernie Sanders supporter and volunteer, shot Representative Steve Scalise, a Capitol Police officer, an aide and Matt Mika at a Congressional Charity baseball game back in 2017 or when a Volusia County Republican Party office was shot up in 2018. Sanders was never banned from social media, impeached, or accused of inciting violence, when this supporter attacked congressmen and yelled “this is for health care.”
Unfortunately, the responses from the Biden administration, mainstream media, big tech and most Democrats do not make the ideal, American, version of ‘unity’ attainable. It appears that we are getting the unity of “agree with us and shut up, or else.” Biden himself said “will you shut up, man?” to Trump during the first presidential debate.
In addition to Biden denouncing all Republicans, we also have Senators and ‘news’ anchors who claim to be objective journalists openly calling for people to harm Republicans simply for being Republicans. Why should Republicans feel “safe”?
A nation of immigrants. A nation of dreamers. A nation so diverse it is amazing, given the history of past civilizations, that we have stood united and hopefully will again someday.
What is the fundamental foundation that has united Americans? Individualism – the ability for anyone of any background to come to America for a chance at a better life, respect for your neighbor and live in a society with a basic set of rights.
Our foundation is not identity politics. Aligning with a certain party because they claim to represent your group is dangerous, as history has shown. It is part of how Hitler was able to rise to power, as well as how Britain was able to colonize India.
As we progress as a nation, we need to remember who we are. Yes, we are a nation of diversity and it is beautiful. However, breaking us up into subsections and claiming each division is a minority battling for power will only destroy the nation. I am not saying you cannot hate Trump or Biden, you just cannot preach hate and violence toward an entire party and not expect to destroy our country’s foundation.
