Biden’s Election Will Bring Back Credibility to Governance

 

It has just been announced that Joseph R. Biden will become the 46^th President of the United States.  Over the next few days, there will be many analyses of this moment in history.  At this time, I would like to make just one observation.  Although President-elect Biden may still have many problems passing policy with a divided Congress, it will be comforting to see an administration that has credibility again.   Whenever I would look for credible medical sources for information, especially during this pandemic, I would often seek out government institutions like the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.   Recently, I was distrusting anything that came out of the CDC with the censorship by the current Trump administration that the news media were reporting.  It was beginning to be increasingly difficult to know what to believe on their website. Credibility is important; truth and its search are important; facts are important; science is important.  Most importantly, they are the virtues and skills that we pass on to our students.  I often wonder what our students have learned from what they experienced over the last four years.

Note: November 26th Update.   The CDC is currently sending out good advice for the holidays with warnings not to travel during the recent surge of Covid19.  Still millions are ignoring the warning.   What explains this reckless and defiant behavior in the face of such stark reality.  Even the U.S. Supreme Court is devaluing human lives with their new rulings that prioritized actions based on religious freedom over public health concerns.