One of my sons is in Paris now, and I’m jealous. Not because he can enjoy the croissants I love, but because he can be part of the celebration in the Place de la République (pictured here) and all over the city of the national election results in which the left beat back the right. It had looked like Marine Le Pen and her neo-fascists were surging, but the people rallied and for now, Voila!
I’ve never been much of a nationalist, but I have always admired our country’s ideals and its pluck. It kept us safe and offered prosperity to those who were willing to work for it. As I’ve gotten older and realized how unequal opportunity can be in our laissez faire society, I’ve also admired the way collectively, through the institutions of what Lyndon Johnson called the Great Society, we have looked after the least fortunate among us.
Lately, like Le Pen’s National Rally party in France, it feels like we have been drifting away from those ideals. Maybe it’s just a periodic pendulum swing, but it feels like more than that. It feels like the quakers want to be cowboys now, packing iron on their hips and daring anyone to challenge their right to judge others by whatever hateful standard might be in fashion for them at the moment.
France is an interesting place for me to love. It’s not as productive or inventive as America. Its current form of socialism means taxes are high. But at least in some areas, like healthcare, it delivers on the promise of socialism, the collective thinking of all pulling together for the common good.
America is all about individualism. If you’re industrious and lucky, you can make it bigger here than anywhere. And for the most part, we work hard. But we are not that great at sharing. For us, “socialist” is as dirty a word as heretic or child abuser.
Don’t get me wrong, in a pinch, I want America in my foxhole. But I’d rather not be in a foxhole at all, which is one of the reasons I’m glad France has resisted the far right. Their policies would make it easier for Putin to continue his land grabs. Europe needs to stand against him, and we need to stand with Europe. The last time we dithered Hitler took over Europe and we had to pull together to go in and clean up the mess. I don’t want to have to do that again, or run the risk that we won’t.
I want to be proud of what my country stands for. That’s not the right wing. We don’t need the Ku Klux Klan back. We can’t survive in today’s interlocked and complex world as isolationists. We can’t just mind our own business and hope the rest of the world doesn’t bother us. We have to be engaged with other nations. We have to be generous with one another. We have to lift our lamp beside the golden door. Then I’ll be proud.
Which brings me to our current distressing political moment. Our Marine Le Pen is Donald Trump. He is even more dangerous than she. He has as much as told us, in his statements about what he wants to accomplish, that it would be a grave mistake for us to elect him again. But now that Joe Biden is showing his age and incapacity, that’s what is going to happen, unless we nominate someone young and vigorous with a chance to beat Trump.
For the good of the country and the free world, President Biden needs to step aside. If he won’t, he should be made to by any lawful, non-violent means necessary. There is a place for him on a pedestal in the garden of people who have been decent U.S. leaders, but not one as the Democratic nominee for President in 2024.
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