Where We Are Now Under Biden

 James Corden from The Late, Late Show performed a parody about Biden replacing Trump from the musical Les Misérables using the song One Day More. In that parody, Corden sings the following to describe what life will be under Biden. It goes, 'politics are dull again.' And that is pretty much the current state of things.

Of course there is news  from the political front. The Biden Administration has already overseen an increase in the production level of the vaccines, has authorized a military strike in the Middle East, has given the Saudi Prince responsible for the death of Jamal Khashoggi a free 'get out of jail' card based on the past principle that he was 'too big to fail,' and has passed a $1.9 trillion Covid relief package. But with all of that activity, there is a drop in the political drama in which these things occurred. And that drop is due to the change in personality type of the President. President Trump craved fanfare and accolades, President Biden seems not to. Thus, politics have become dull again.

Of course there are other subjects to talk about, but we should note that Biden's approach to some issues tends to be reductionistic in that his focus becomes centered on fewer and fewer issues. That has been the case with the Covid relief package. Biden was so focused on getting relief to the American people that the issue of the deficit was all but ignored. The problem with ignoring the deficit is that it can become so great that it can seriously threaten our economy.

Biden's reductionism is not new. Most drastic changes used to solve large problems are reductionistic in that they focus so much on avoiding the icebergs from the one problem that they risk sailing into the icebergs from other problems. As mentioned above, Biden was so focused on passing the relief package that he trivialized, or even ignored, the icebergs that come with the rapidly growing deficit.

Regardless of how appropriate the Covid relief package is, the fact is that we have other issues to navigate. And if the only way we solve our problems is to employ reductionism, unwanted side effects could become larger and larger until we actually sail into one or more icebergs that come from other issues and problems.

One method Biden could use to avoid the reductionistic approach is to be willing to collaborate with reasonable Republicans. Biden had that chance before proposing his Covid relief package. After all, there were reasonable Republicans who were trying to responsibly reduce the final price of the package. But Biden would have no part in that. Again, getting the dollar value his team had picked was too important to consider what problems could arise from the price of the bill. And part of that is because Biden has campaigned and entered the office with a kind hero complex where he is going to accomplish what is necessary to rescue the American people from Trumpism. Such a complex makes it more natural for one to use the 'my way or the highway' approach to problem solving.

In a sense, Biden's approach to the Covid relief package is helping to maintain the deep divisions that currently infect our nation. That impedes on Biden's promise to be a uniter.  And failing to unite both elected officials and the people carries with it its own set of icebergs that endanger our journey.