Fifty years ago, upon taking the oath of office after the resignation of his predecessor Richard Nixon, President Gerald Ford addressed the nation. Just as he had assumed the role of vice president after the resignation of Spiro Agnew, Ford took the reins of power for the remainder of Nixon’s term only to lose reelection in the 1976 campaign.
Halfway through his Inaugural speech on Aug. 9, 1974, Ford uttered a line that seems too presumptuous in retrospect: “My fellow Americans,” he said “our long national nightmare is over.”
A half century and the stunning political events of July 21, 2024, later many will perhaps think that Ford’s line comes from a parallel world, some place where the bluster of a well-written statement meant to assuage troubled Americans only serves to further trouble them. Are nightmares ever over, or do they just assume new shapes?
We are now at a point, just months from the presidential election, in which, at press time, no clear candidate has emerged for the Democratic party. Vice President Kamala Harris appears likely to take the spot. We hope this moment does not pass in a hasty rush that leads the American people from feeling further detached from the political machine that has gotten us in the predicament in the first place. We hope this can be a time of reflection, of assessing our values as a nation, and of political involvement, rather than one of sprinting to the finish line, running in deadly fear, only to forget who we are as a people and as a world super power.
When President Joe Biden ended his announcement over the weekend, telling the world he was stepping out of the 2024 campaign, he ended, with: “…there is nothing America can’t do – when we do it together…”
It’s no secret that we live in volatile times, and a lot can happen in the next four years. Just look at recent history: We had the Covid pandemic, the Jan. 6, 2021 insurrection attempt by former President Trump supporters; the ongoing war on Ukraine; the October Hamas attacks on Israel and the following bombardment of Palestinians made possible by U.S. support in money and deadly weapons that’s likely responsible, by one estimate published in Lancet recently, for around 186,000 Palestinian deaths; the June 27 disastrous Democratic performance at the first presidential debate; the July 13 assassination attempt on Trump; and the frequent mass shootings that have become so common in America.
Now, who will we select to lead the nation?
While Democrats sort out their candidate, Trump, a known quantity, continues talk of mass deportation of undocumented immigrants, travel bans, retribution and “draining the swamp.”
True, we have many unknowns. We have much to fret and fear over who will be in charge at the White House. Some may feel detached and a sense of resignation. But here’s what we do know and can do: while party machines and big money fountains will likely plow past the will of the common person, we still can use our votes and our words and actions to demand an America that’s safer, more tolerant, kinder and better at home and for the world. And we can only get there if instead of feeling indifferent or driven by fears and prejudices, we are driven by a desire to make good for all.
