Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Home
Latter-day Saint
Back to Politics

Back to Politics

Last updated on: August 15, 2020 at 11:00 pm by Dan Peterson

Back to Politics 2020-08-15T23:00:02-06:00 Dan Peterson

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

The official portrait of Senator Kamala Harris (D-CA)

The uniform silence out there surrounding the question of what I think about Joe Biden’s vice presidential selection proves to me that, although millions of Americanos desperately want to know my thoughts, they’re all too intimidated and too shy to ask. So, out of kindness and an earnest desire to end the misery of anticipation, I will briefly share here some of my views.

It may not have escaped some of you that I’m not an especially enthusiastic fan of Mr. Donald J. Trump. Several, though, have concluded from that fact that I’m intending to vote for Joe Biden on 3 November 2020. But that is not true. I have never voted for Joe Biden and I won’t vote for Mr. Biden this time, either. I’m resigned to being melancholy on 4 November. I can support neither of them, and, whoever wins, I’ll be discouraged.

Right now, I think it very likely that Joe Biden will win the presidency in November. He will almost certainly interpret that as a mandate for leftward change — his vice presidential pick seems to suggest that he holds that view — but I believe that such an interpretation will be quite wrong. If he wins, he will win because he’s not Trump, because many people in the country (myself very much included) yearn for a return to something approaching normalcy. He will not win because the electorate dreams of a lurch to more regulations, more racial identity politics, greater and more centralized federal power, left-leaning judges, gender-neutral pronouns, an end to women’s athletic programs, removing the faces on Mount Rushmore, and forcing cake decorators and orders of nuns to celebrate progressive views of sexuality.

As it is, Joe Biden leads because he represents a generic challenger to our very ungeneric president. To the extent that he individuates himself, he risks losing his lead. If he’s seen as too leftish, for example, or too incoherent and mentally challenged, he could still lose. Even against Mr. Trump.

And there are plenty of policy reasons why people should worry about Mr. Biden. Here’s just one of them:

“Joe Biden’s tough road ahead on religious freedom: Joe Biden’s supporters believe he’ll protect people of faith. Why do many conservative voters disagree?”

In that light, this is interesting:

“Biden Plays the Catholic Card: His campaign’s ‘faith outreach’ effort falls short.”

***

It also strikes me as unlikely that Mr. Biden will serve more than a single term. It’s not inconceivable that he won’t even finish his first term.

Mr. Donald J. Trump was the oldest American president on his first Inauguration Day, taking office at 70 years of age. Joe Biden will be 78 years old on Inauguration Day 2021. And there are grounds for being concerned about his mental fitness.

So his choice of a vice presidential running mate may prove unusually important. In choosing Kamala Harris, he may well have chosen the next president of the United States. He has almost certainly selected the next Democratic presidential nominee — and probably already for 2024, not just for 2028.

I was very disappointed, in that light, when it became apparent that Mr. Biden had limited his list of possible vice presidential running mates to black women. Not because, as my more deranged critics will hasten to declare, I’m a misogynist who is also opposed to uppity black people daring to exit the plantation. (For what it’s worth, I was a big Margaret Thatcher fan, I love the writing of Thomas Sowell, and I would happily support Condoleeza Rice for the presidency. If, as seems likely, Senator Harris becomes our next vice president, I will regard her race and gender as indicating a step forward — in that regard). With this potentially very consequential selection, however, I wanted Mr. Biden to choose the best qualified person from the largest possible pool of candidates, regardless of gender or color. The way he’ gone about it seems to me quite unserious.

But he’s done what he’s done. And, truth be told, had I been Joe Biden, and had I been choosing from a candidate group artificially limited to (progressive) black women, Kamala Harris would have been my choice, as well. I’m not even slightly surprised by his having picked her.

Electorally speaking, I would have had only one reservation. But it’s a fairly big one: When she was a candidate in her own right for the Democratic presidential nomination, she seemed a very, very serious prospect. I thought she might take it. Like Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ), though, who also looked really good in theory, she absolutely fizzled. Her campaign went basically nowhere. And, if I were in Joe Biden’s position, I would be more than a little bit concerned about why that happened — and about whether it will happen again.

***

Finally, here are some other thoughts on Senator Harris that resonated (ominously) with me:

“Is Kamala Harris as Safe a VP Pick as She Seems? Thinking through the California senator’s strengths and weaknesses.”

“On Kamala Harris”

“Kamala Harris’s Former Press Secretary Is Twitter’s Top Censor”

“Kamala Harris’s Relentless Pursuit of Power: There is no power Harris has held that she hasn’t abused.”

“Kamala Harris’s Anti-Catholic Bigotry”

Posted from Seaside, Oregon

Previous Post

August 12, 2020

Revision 3.10 "The Death of Muhammad"

Next Post

August 12, 2020 "Producing Ancient Scripture — Thomas Wayment on Joseph Smith’s Use of Adam Clarke in the JST" (plus Stephen Smoot on B. H. Roberts and the Book of Mormon)

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 March 2014 August 2013 February 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Whose bones were to be carried from Egypt back to Canaan?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jacob Levi Joseph Benjamin