A Mandate to Prevent Corruption
Please share this post, if this is a letter you would want the President to read.
Dear President Biden:
This year’s record voter turnout should fill us with alarm instead of joy. It is the kind of turnout we would get on the brink of civil war. It is the kind of voter turnout we would get before a rise in assassination attempts. If our nation were healthy, then voter turnout would not be so high. I agree with you that this is a time to focus on unity and healing.
I also agree with you that the purpose of politics is to solve problems, rather than to wage civil wars, but I do not agree that the voters gave you a mandate to unify over COVID, the economy, healthcare, climate change, or systemic racism. There were too many votes against you and other Democrats to evidence unity about how to address these issues. It is unfortunate that you cannot avoid these issues, because these are issues likely to divide us further. In support of your vision for unity, I want to point-out that the results of the election do imply a mandate to unify over a different issue: corruption.
Concern about corruption is the only issue that brought record numbers of voters to the ballot box from both sides. Some voters were concerned that Trump is incurably corrupt, while others were concerned that socialism is likely to become corrupt and that your party will set America on the path of socialism. We might have been able to unify behind either government (or a third option) were it not for evidence of corruption. And, until expectations of corruption are addressed, we may be unable to unify around any other large modern social challenge.
Had there not been record turnout on both sides, one might make a plausible case to dismiss many of the accusations about corruption as false or exaggerated. However, it is only via vulnerability to corruption that false accusations can split our country. We can debate whether the corruption lies in politicians, laws, or media, etc., but concern about corruption is clearly justified.
When conservatives complain about abortion, school-choice, taxes and deficit, second amendment rights, regulation, immigration, and law and order, they are letting these buzzwords channel their concern about moral /religious corruption, political corruption, and corruption caused by identity politics. When liberals complain about homophobia, an imbalanced Supreme Court, the electoral system, classism, equal pay, and systemic racism, they are letting these buzzwords channel their concern about moral/religious corruption, political corruption, and corruption caused by unregulated capitalism with entrenched class gaps. None of these issues would be hot issues without distrust in the government, businesses, nonprofits, churches and/or schools, so they are all faces of the central issue of our vulnerability to corruption. Disagreement about which areas are more urgent can be resolved by negotiating legislation to address multiple areas together.
The reason why corruption is not a divisive issue for voters is that leaders do not offer justifications for corruption as they do for policy positions. Voters have been given reasons to demand social distancing (e.g. to reduce transmission) and reasons to reject social distancing (e.g. because God is pleased by non-distanced forms of worship), but, when asked, “Is there any reason why your competitors should be allowed to engage in corrupt practice X?” leaders say, “No,” then hope no one notices when they are guilty of it themselves. They may seek forgiveness for specific acts of corruption, but most leaders do not deny corruption is wrong, and that makes reducing general vulnerability to corruption an issue around which voters can unify.
Please do not let the pandemic and resulting recession distract us from uniting around your mandate to reduce America’s vulnerability to corruption. America is big enough to fight on multiple fronts simultaneously. Furthermore, COVID-19 and its recession are just the beginning of a problem which may destroy America if this mandate is ignored. Every country on Earth now knows that America will implode if anyone engineers a contagion that is lethal to only one race, age group, or other social division (e.g. risk takers). Forget about inspiring terror — our enemies now know that they can destroy America by aggravating our division, and that they can escape retribution by “accidentally” releasing the contagion in a less-vulnerable nation, letting Americans be the ones to bring it to America. You have inherited a military with a proven weakness for such biological and social warfare, and any attempt to increase its capabilities in these areas will backfire into division so long as we expect our government to someday become corrupt and turn those capabilities against its own citizens.
As our future Commander-in-Chief, please begin to unify us right now — even before taking office — around restoring the viability of our military by convening a bipartisan commission of scholars to list strategies to reduce America’s vulnerability to corruption (and perhaps strategies to advance our ability to test and refine such proposals). The commission will need experts in political science and in sociologies of journalism, business, religion, science, and education because political corruption has become symbiotic with corruption in these other areas. It would be frightening for our military to meddle in our domestic affairs, so this research best not be commissioned at any lower level of command.
There is no denying that America exhibits symptoms of a genuine social health problem that we should not expect to disappear magically. Failure to consult sociologists about diagnosis and treatment options at this point would be tantamount to refusing to consult a doctor about a growing tumor. The elderly sometimes ignore their symptoms and resign themselves to death, but America still has a long future ahead of us. As President, you are America’s primary care physician of social health, and it is your duty to consult with specialists to develop a health plan that includes treating causes (sadly, a recession is just a symptom).
There is real evidence that socialism and American government in its current form are both vulnerable to corruption. You must address this evidence. Just like a President in a pandemic should schedule regular communications to the public about the pandemic, you should schedule regular communications to the public about how you are monitoring our social health (multiple measures might satisfy more perspectives), what’s your schedule (e.g. deadlines for developing plans or meeting milestones), and what you’ve learned so far about America’s current vulnerability and prospects for future security. Please guard against corrupting these communications by selectively reporting favorable measures (your commission might suggest strategies for similarly achieving objectivity when reporting the State of the Union).
I know that the mess you have inherited frightens politicians because its complexity aligns poorly with the patience of voters, but you can task your commission to list milestones and evidence regarding what deadlines would be reasonable. The challenge of climate change has a similar problem with patience, so apply what we’ve learned there, perhaps by adding experts on environmental planning to your commission.
Your predecessor was elected with a “Drain the swamp” mandate to reduce vulnerability to corruption, you were elected with the same mandate, and I expect your successor will have it as well. It is a long-haul issue. Systematic racism is just one example of how vulnerability to corruption can take decades to resolve fully. Because you have compassion for the trauma we experience with extreme regime change, you will want to give us a legacy that includes a plan to protect America from corruption even after you leave office.
Trump failed to raise general awareness of any plan more sophisticated and long-lasting than “You can trust me, so just shift power my way.” Please don’t repeat that mistake by making your publicized plan merely your personal commitment to good character. And don’t repeat whatever mistake made “Drain the swamp” so popular. I pray you feel a responsibility to ensure that America learns from our mistakes.
Respectfully yours,
Chris
