The banality of virtue

Ordinarily I would be outraged. Of the British broadsheets (i.e., non-tabloids, which I loathe), The Guardian has long been one of my go to sources for balanced news. But their headline dealing with Joe Biden’s pardon of his son Hunter sidestepped their ordinarily equitable reporting: “With his pardon of son Hunter, Joe Biden delivers a heartfelt hypocrisy.” While the interior of the article did feebly deal with the indisputable fact that Hunter Biden had been relentlessly and unfairly persecuted strictly for political reasons by partisan hacks, it made no mention of the gallery of actual rogues and actual criminals pardoned by Trump. To call it “hypocrisy” is itself hypocrisy. I call it exasperating restraint.

But as I say, I am not outraged. I no longer care. I no longer give a shit. My reaction is best summarized by a meme of my own creation that I posted to my Facebook page: “I have no plans to explain, rationalize or justify Hunter Biden’s pardon to MAGA. MAGA can go f*ck itself.”

Sure, Hunter Biden didn’t try to beat to death Capitol Police with flags, fire extinguishers and their own shields. He didn’t try to overthrow a free and fair election. He didn’t visit four years of chaos and horror on the American people. I know all that. I get it. Republicans are the ones who are hypocrites. Sure, I see that. Who cares?

In the final analysis, does any of that matter? We are going to get castigated by MAGA and assisted by the mainstream media NO MATTER WHAT WE DO. Our reaction to the election didn’t matter because, as far as they are ever concerned, it was the wrong one. If we are sad, we get pilloried for being wimpy, if we are angry we get condemned for overreacting, if we are neutral we’re accused of being complacent. Meanwhile the reincarnation of Adolf Hitler is coming to power. What difference does it make how we react or what we do? As long as we’re going to get attacked, we might as well do something they can truly attack us for.

Joe Biden will get criticised no matter who he pardons, even though he is constitutionally permitted to exercise his power to pardon anyone as he sees fit. I agree with Biden’s pardon of his son. Anything less would have been a monstrous dereliction of duty as a President, let alone as a father. I think it was high time the system worked in favour of justice for a change. My problem is with what he did afterwards. Biden went to Angola.

Now, I understand Angola’s importance as a counterbalance to China’s influence on the African continent. Under normal circumstances it was a shrewd and strategic move. It would have smoothed the way for any incoming administration. But this isn’t just any incoming administration. This isn’t business as usual. The man who will next occupy the Oval Office is a goddamned criminal, a lunatic, a Bond Villain bent on destroying America. This is Armageddon. Biden is behaving as if everything is normal. It isn’t.

Is Biden’s genial reaction to Trump the result of PTSD from the devastating trauma of having to surrender his presidency to an imbecile? Perhaps. But I actually think it’s something else. I think we are victims of our own fair play, and Biden is no different. We have gone too far with this high minded business. We embody the very banality of virtue.

Sometimes more, much more is required, no matter how ordinarily distasteful it might be. Sometimes the only possible reaction we can have to outrage is to become outrageous ourselves. Extraordinary measures are required right now. What kind of extraordinary measures, you ask? The same kind Neville Chamberlain should have used at Munich. The same kind Abraham Lincoln used during the American Civil War to ensure the survival of the Union.

Now, I understand that Joe Biden wouldn’t do what I would do were I president of the United States. If I were the current occupant of the Oval Office, Donald Trump would never set foot in it ever again. I would do what was necessary to fulfill my oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States,” up to and including breaking the law. I understand that my solution is off the table, and I am resigned to that eventuality.

But there are other things Biden can do. He can do what Keith Olbermann suggested, and turn out pardons on an industrial scale. He could establish an 800 number that anyone who qualifies as a potential enemy of Trump, any journalist, any politician, any public figure, can call and get a pardon. I personally have published more than 2,000 anti-Trump articles, so I would definitely get in that line.

Next, Biden can work night and day for the remainder of his term to pack the judiciary with federal judges. He can anticipate some of Trump’s more ridiculous moves and fortify the Executive Branch against them. America is in the throes of a domestic crisis unlike any it has ever known. It could be fatal. Biden needs to concentrate on domestic issues. This is no time for foreign policy.

As to the rest of us, the days of being polite are over. We are at full scale cultural war. This is a social battle for the soul of the nation, and our enemies are legion. We cannot afford the luxury of the banality of virtue. When you’re fighting monsters you sometimes must use monstrous tactics. We may even be called upon to become monsters ourselves. In the midst of it all, brothers and sisters, take care of yourselves, and if you can, take care of someone else too.