The Big Speech

I have thoughts on the Big Speech:

This is the context of President Joe Biden’s speech. It should be understood as a forthright effort to make clear the stakes that face America – and by extension, the world. Biden has worked in American politics for 50 years, during most of which he has enjoyed the reputation of a moderate reformer with a predilection for bipartisanship. What has changed in 2022 is that one political party believes in democracy, while the other does not. The willingness of the GOP to tolerate and even celebrate anti-democratic authoritarians within its ranks is undoubtedly a relevant consideration for midterm voters, and it is not wrong for the president to emphasize the stakes. Democratic systems can wither in any number of ways. The presence of enthusiastic authoritarians on the ballot cannot be laughed away and should not be ignored.