Be The Light

“For there is always light,

 if only we’re brave enough to see it

 If only we’re brave enough to be it.”

-- Amanda Gorman January 20, 2021 

Today:

 The eldest elected President took office. 

The first woman, black woman,woman of south Asian heritage elected Vice-President in American history took office.

The youngest poet in history to read at an Inauguration stole the show.

 The first black U.S. Senator in Georgia history took office.

 The first Jewish U.S. Senator from Georgia took office. 

The first Latino U.S. Senator in California history took office. Together they produced a Democratic majority in the Senate, and Chuck Schumer became the first Majority Leader from New York. 

 The U.S. rejoined the Paris Accords, the global effort to address the global climate crisis.

 The U.S. rejoined the WHO in a global effort to address the global covid crisis.

 Laws to prevent evictions and to delay student loan payments during the covid crisis were extended.

 The Keystone pipeline permits were withdrawn, among other reversals of anti-environment policies and regulations, including a moratorium on fossil fuel leases in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.

 Masks and social distancing on federal property, by federal employees, and on airplanes and other interstate travel are now mandated by federal law.

 DACA was bolstered. 

The “Muslim ban” on travel is ended.

 Construction on The Wall is halted.

 Diversity training is back, anti-discrimination policies in the federal government are strengthened, and the notorious 1776 Commission is disbanded.

 All of the Trump cabinet resigned, and several of the worst sub-cabinet officials were fired, including the guy who turned the Voice of America into a Trump shill factory.  Competent and experienced career public servants were appointed to run the various departments until cabinet officers are confirmed.

 So how was your day?

 

It was a day that may have changed everything, and its events will be discussed for a long time. It was also a day that represented a kind of restoration. There was no violence in Washington, and little trouble around the country. Normality seemed radical, and the old cliches suddenly had real meaning.

It was a day of tears, of laughter, of renewed belief, and disbelief that the last four year actually happened, or that they are over.  People spoke of the effect of this day as lifting a thousand pound weight off their hearts, of allowing them to breathe freely for the first time in four years. It was a day to exhale, and maybe to inhale a new spirit, that is also a traditional and aspirational spirit.  Now it's up to the rest of us.

 Of all the details I heard or read today, the one that most struck me was about a certain change to the Oval Office. There are more portraits, photos and so on of particular American political figures and heroes, but the most prominent is a large portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt. It is on the wall directly opposite the Resolute desk, so that every time President Biden sits there, he will be looking into the eyes of FDR.

 Just one comment on events of the day: the networks that didn’t carry the Virtual Parade Across America in the afternoon (instead opting for the chatter of their talking heads) really missed something. It wasn’t as glossy as the evening program but it was more fun, especially the final “Dance Across America.”