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The Hill We Climb: Amanda Gorman delivers inspirational inaugural poem

Posted by Correspondent | Jan 21, 2021 |

As the nation’s first national youth poet laureate, Amanda Gorman made history on January 20 as the youngest inaugural poet in U.S. history. Gorman summoned images dire and triumphant as she called out to the world “even as we grieved, we grew” during the inauguration of President Joe Biden. The 22-year-old referenced everything from Biblical scripture to “Hamilton,” and at times echoed the oratory of John F. Kennedy and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. The poem’s very title, “The Hill We Climb,” suggested both labor and transcendence. Milwaukee Independent · Amanda Gorman reads "The Hill We Climb" at...

Writing an American story of hope: Our politicians often failed us but the American people did not

Posted by Heather Cox Richardson | Jan 21, 2021 |

“Where can we find light in this never-ending shade?” America’s 22-year-old poet laureate Amanda Gorman asked today as she spoke at the inauguration of the 46th president of the United States: Joseph Robinette Biden, Jr. For the past four years we have lived under an administration that advanced policies based on bullying; a fantasy of a lost, white, Christian America; and disinformation. We have endured the gutting of our government as the president either left positions empty or replaced career officials with political operatives, corruption, the rise of white supremacists into positions of power, the destruction of our international...

Ending this Uncivil War: Unity is impossible without accountability

Posted by YES! | Jan 21, 2021 |

President Joseph R. Biden Jr. took the oath of office shortly before noon Eastern time on January 20, and in his low-key manner ended an era in which the evil in the U.S. government could not be underestimated, and started a new one that promises to be better. It is now up to Biden and his incoming team to make sure they use their powers for good. Simply not being a mendacious and corrupt would-be autocrat is an awfully low bar to reach. The times call for inspired leadership and an aggressive platform of reform. There have already been...

Life in Hell: A look back at the gift of moral damnation that Trump gave our imperfect nation

Posted by Heather Cox Richardson | Jan 20, 2021 |

On January 20, 2017, Trump took the oath of office and gave his “American Carnage” speech describing America as a hellscape, and we were off to the races. Trump vowed he would smash norms and boundaries to “drain the swamp.” He filled positions in his administration with political operatives and appointed his son-in-law Jared Kushner to manage so many projects it would have been funny if it weren’t so deadly serious. The policies the administration advanced were usually hastily and poorly conceived; when the courts overturned them, Trump complained of “the Deep State.” Days after he took office, he...

Why we cannot enjoy nice things: A resentful political party that poisoned a peaceful transition of power

Posted by John Pavlovitz | Jan 20, 2021

This week we are inaugurating a president who has received a historic number of votes, winning by a staggering seven million. We are inaugurating a brilliant woman of color as his Vice President. Together, they have assembled the most diverse Administration this nation has ever seen, one that for the first time is beginning to accurately reflect the nation it will serve and represent. 81 million Americans should be able to rejoice in these days, but we cannot. This should be a moment of collective jubilation, but it is not. We should all be exhaling now but we are...

The election makes the president: Ritual efficacy and the public pageantry wrapped in inaugurations

Posted by TheConversation | Jan 20, 2021 |

By Dimitris Xygalatas, Associate Professor of Anthropology and Psychological Sciences, University of Connecticut As one president’s term ends and another begins, there is a ceremony. Its importance is one of symbolism rather than substance. The Constitution is clear: On January 20, there will be a transfer of power. There is no mention of an inauguration. By definition, ritual acts have no direct effect on the world. A ceremonial event is one that symbolically affirms something that happens by other, more direct means. In this case, the election – not the inauguration – makes the president, although an oath is...