Hey Biden — Get Gangster or Democracy Is Dead
As a godfather of the American Revolution Thomas Paine said, “These are the times that try men’s souls.” “Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom, must…undergo the fatigues of supporting it.” While ensuring American liberties is a thankless task, there is no greater responsibility for patriots and politicians. President Joseph Biden is testing our patience, especially those who believe in civil rights, the U.S. Constitution, and freedom from tyranny.
The time for diplomacy, appeasing gestures, and playing footsie across the aisle and with naysayers in your own party who brazenly flip you the bird is O-V-E-R. It’s time for Biden to either “get gangsta” in his strategic approach, or “get ghost” to make room for someone with the requisite backbone and Sun Tzu skills.
You can’t show up to a gun fight with a feather duster, cosplaying an obsolete game when the rules changed. You can’t be on defense chasing your tail in perpetuity. Biden must go on offense and take no prisoners.
Why? Because the stakes are too high. The essence of our democracy is in jeopardy. The right to vote is the bedrock of our political system based on the people’s right to self-governance. Without unfettered access to the polls, we cease being a country of “one person, one vote.” We’re in imminent threat of becoming a nation ruled by a super minority hellbent on autocratic power grabs — driven by a profound fear and hate of a racially-diverse America.
When facing democracy’s collapse, options become binary. You’re either for democracy or against freedom. There’s no gray area. No nuance. No compromise. If Biden stands with and for the people and Constitution, then he must pivot and adapt. We’ve given his old-timey game enough time. Now he must do what he was elected to do — fight for American democracy and the right to vote.
All the other issues don’t matter — Build Back Better, climate change, police brutality, systemic racism, abortion, tax reform, elevating the middle class, unemployment, healthcare, economic stability, childcare, etc. None of it matters if Americans can’t easily vote, elections are undermined, and White supremacists can storm the Capitol without severe retribution. Nothing else is a priority if Democrats lose Congress because the Insurrection Party and Vanilla Isis finessed a win by barring voters, purging voter rolls, disenfranchising citizens, and gerrymandering to Machiavellian outcomes.
If Biden expects to fulfill his sworn duty to protect the Constitution, then his singular focus must be voting rights, the preservation of our system of government, and harshly punishing those who seek governmental overthrow.
Biden is capable of taking hard stances. He can “get gangsta” when he wants, even when unwarranted. He didn’t flinch nor miss a beat with Afghanistan. Let him exhibit that same degree of unwavering resolve, but this time with those deserving of being in his crosshairs — his domestic enemies.
Joe, it’s time to read the room. Stop treating hostile foes like friends. Everything you assumed about your old chums in Congress and negotiation tactics is out the window. Take heed at how they don’t hesitate to throw you under the bus and stomp on your fresh wounds with a smirk — like when you planned to talk about voting rights and they disrespected you with talk-to-the-hand speeches while you were en route. Grandpa, wake up! Stop fanning the flames by showing weakness. The house is on fire!
Meanwhile, as we sleep on democracy’s decline, Russia, China, Iran, and North Korea are wide awake.
What does “gangsta” look like? Here’s what not getting punked entails.
1. Squeezing tightly on your blockers’ pressure points to secure support and eliminate the filibuster.
2. Demanding accountability for all the insurrectionists and sympathizers in office — including arresting those obstructing justice.
3. Replacing the Attorney General with someone who won’t go soft on seditionists (i.e., not repeat similar post-Civil War mistakes enabling revisionist history, traitors, and racists).
4. Aggressively using Presidential powers, executive orders, and the Department of Justice to protect and enforce voting rights.
5. Ramping up anti-democracy countermeasures from foreign countries and tech companies — including clamping down on social media platforms fueling insurrectionists.
6. Repositioning the debate from merely a race issue to decisive messaging about every American’s right to vote and universal freedoms.
7. Publicly calling out Trojan Horses playing both sides yet standing against democracy — forcing a public binary choice to face backlash when facilitating voter suppression.
Biden needs to harness scrappy street smarts and embrace realism, or else on his watch American democracy is D-E-A-D. If “going to the mattresses” is beyond his depth, then step aside. The Democratic Party is full of strong women and men of all ages — including near octogenarians — willing to play a contemporary game with America’s shapeshifting enemies in a way commensurate with our grave circumstances.
Today, Biden must decide on which side of the binary equation he stands in protecting our republic. The clock is up. If he can’t “get gangsta,” then “get ghost” so our democracy survives.
Author Bio:
Fatimah Gilliam, Esq. is the founder of The Azara Group, a strategy consulting firm specializing in diversity and inclusion, leadership development, and negotiation services for Fortune 500 companies, institutions, and private clients. She started her career on Wall Street as a corporate attorney, worked for Citigroup and the Nobel Peace Prize-winning United Nations World Food Programme, and is a successful entrepreneur. Fatimah is a volunteer attorney for the non-partisan organization Election Protection, and a graduate of Wellesley College, the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University, and Columbia Law School. She is the author of the forthcoming book Race Rules — How to Avoid Offending People & Acting Racist.
