We Screwed Up! Turn Around!

The driver facing the situation shown here finds himself in a real pickle: no turns allowed, but going straight isn’t an option either.  It appears (though that can’t be true) that his only option is to back up.

The United States is in a similar jam.  It’s taken a terrible beating economically, medically, socially, legally, and morally, and now must reverse course.

Now, assume that Biden is inaugurated next January and ask yourself what you would do and say to the world if you were he.  Speaking for myself, I would boldly reverse course on essentially everything we’re doing, and make bold public statements to that effect.  In particular, I would:

• Restore our faith in our intelligence agencies, and do what is necessary to stop the destructive influence of enemy states like Russia.

• Re-establish the Iranian peace agreement.

• Rejoin the Paris Accord, and renew our activities aimed at reducing emissions and improving environmental stewardship more generally.

• Restore the 100+ environmental regulations that have been eviscerated or completely removed.

• Re-establish policy-making based on science, vs. opinion, politics and religion.  Among other things, this means fashioning the pandemic response according to the directions of public health experts, taking the direction that has brought success to the entire rest of the world.

• Mend relationships with our allies, and do what we can to stop the further slaughter of the Kurds in Northern Syria.

• Release the children held in prisons at the southern border, and cease our Quixotic efforts to build the wall.

• Reform our laws associated with immigration, so as to make them fair and enforceable.

• To whatever degree possible, restore some level of honesty and transparency to government (understanding that it was never perfect, nor will it ever be).

• Re-establish rule of law as the guiding principle in our justice system and overall governance.

Once each of these is in motion, I would simply apologize to the world.  This seems like the obvious step to take, until one realizes that the United States isn’t good at saying that it’s sorry; in fact, we very seldom do it, regardless of how egregious our behavior, internationally and domestically.  It wasn’t until 2009 that we deemed it the correct time to apologize to the Native Americans for the 350 years of treachery and savagery we waged on their people.

Easy or not, it has to be done.  I would say, simply, “Look, we’re sorry. We took a wrong turn, and we wound up in a position that required backing up–and so that’s exactly what we’re doing. I’m well aware that it appeared to many that the U.S. was on its way to becoming a failed state, but I can assure you, we’ve nipped that in the bud.”

I’d continue, “In addition, it’s worth noting that a great deal of good has come from this.  Not only have we learned a hard lesson about electing people of horrific character and ethics, but we’ve also begun making huge progress in establishing racial equality.  I hope you’ll accept these words of humility and contrition and move on from here.  Tomorrow is a new day.”