Politics, Character, and Why I Can't Stop Writing about it

A conversation I often have with myself goes something like this:

"Nils, you're gonna write less about politics. It's a polarizing topic that makes some people shy away from your writing."

And I nod to myself, thinking that this is very smart.

And then;

…Stuff happens to remind me why I write about current events, and I can't help myself.

Politics matters because it reflects on us, as a society, who we are and what we value. Though I have my own biases, I strive not to write from a partisan lens but one of civic obligation.

Civics matter. Civility matters, and dialogue between citizens, particularly those with differing views, matters. It’s not about being right but about the common dedication to the welfare of each other, sometimes at the cost of our own. Civic virtue is what ultimately allows a democracy and nation to flourish, not just casting a ballot.

Reasonable people can reasonably disagree, and the cornerstone of democracy is dialogue— voting is, of course, important too!— but engaging in discourse to help shape and mold our ideas is the key to making it all work.

For those uninterested, I’ll be looking to create mailing list segments so you can opt-out. Once opted out, you’ll still receive all the other good stuff, minus the politics and civics.

For those interested, read on for some thoughts on President Joe Biden’s speech at the DNC last week.

On Monday night, President Joe Biden gave one of his best speeches this year. If you haven't yet, you should listen to or watch the whole thing. It’s good civics and a better way to understand candidates and politicians than filtering it through social media clips or your favorite pundit.

It’s part victory lap, part reflection on civic duty, democracy, character, and putting responsibility before ambitions.

Let’s start with the Victory lap. The most significant policy accomplishment of the Biden/Harris Administration is at the very least, the following 5:

1. The Infrastructure Bill is the most significant investment in America’s crumbling infrastructure in history. 1.2 trillion dollars for roads, bridges, airports, public transit, the energy grid, and broadband internet access.

2. The (unfortunately named) Inflation Reduction Act is the largest investment in greening the grid in US history. it aims to modernize the power grid, enable more solar/wind, and help prepare communities to be climate resilient because it is gonna get real fucking bad over the next decade. It also allows Medicare to negotiate drug prices and caps insulin costs, which is a considerable gain, and will make it harder for big pharma to exploit the program.

3. The third major policy win, in my view, is the CHIPS Act. CHIPS aims to bring manufacturing back home, specifically of the semi-conductor variety. This is good national security policy, and for further reading, a book frequently recommended to me can be found here.

4. The safer Communities Act is about enhancing background checks, mental healthcare support, and preventing guns from falling into the hands of people who are not well. It does not go far enough in my view, but it’s one of the most significant piece of gun control legislation passed since Columbia v. Heller.

5. Did you know that Donald Trump declined to visit the cemetery in France where US Marines were buried? They were losers and suckers. He didn’t do much for’em either. Joe Biden signed the PACT Act, which extends VA Benefits and addresses longstanding coverage gaps for Agent Orange, burn pits, and other toxic substances veterans were exposed to during service. I had a professor in college who was exposed to Agent Orange, and it’s pretty messed up how long it took to ensure proper coverage.

So those are, in my view, the most notable policy wins.

But the biggest take away from the speech wasn’t the victory lap, it was on the substance of the person and his values.

I’ve been a long-time follower and sometimes an admirer of Biden. I was in that small bucket of people who had preferred if he’d run in 2016 over Hillary, and I continue to believe that Trump would have lost had he done so. That has not stopped me from being critical in the past.

But one thing that has never escaped me is that if you say one thing of Joe Biden, say he has good intentions. Say he was, and is, a committed public servant with deep wells of empathy, particularly for the grieving.

Joe Biden’s decency is a common theme repeated by peers from both sides of the aisle, and it is a theme he spoke to last Monday night, so if you do not watch the whole thing, I hope you read the last few paragraphs from his speech encapsulating this. We tend to expect perfection from our public servants, and anything less than absolute purity to our ideology is unacceptable. That any misstep or mistake along the way is unforgivable. And Biden has undoubtedly made mistakes.

However, he also possesses a fundamental trait critical for a successful presidency: character and a desire to do right by not just the people who elected him but every American.

Ultimately, a president's most crucial job is not passing legislation or issuing executive orders. It is to represent the ideal of America both abroad and at home, to show character and the sort of person one may want to be. To provide a vision of hope, prosperity, and a portrayal of character and virtue. He is by no means a Cato— no one is a Cato, besides Cato. 

But he is a person who wrestled with the conflict between one's ambitions and doing the right thing— and ultimately, the latter won out. If one knows nothing else about Joe Biden, one should know that he willingly stepped aside from another shot at the Job that was ostensibly his lifelong dream because he believed… he recognized, he was not the best person to defeat a grave threat to the future of the US Republic.

Given what we know about American politics, is there a greater, more straightforward display of character for a public servant? And doesn’t seeing decency in your leaders inspire you to want to be decent yourself?

How someone leads, conducts themselves, and speaks to us and others matters more in our leaders than any one policy proposal because the examples set by those at the top inspire us to act in accordance.