“Most Americans want to live their lives in freedom and in peace.” That is about the only thing Sarah Huckabee Sanders got right in her rebuttal of Biden’s State of the Union address. And even here, one must cavil at her use of “most.” One would think that ALL Americans want this, but for Sanders, it’s okay that there are exceptions to this rule. Biden was more inclusive, saying, “We all want the same thing. Neighborhoods free of violence. Law enforcement who earn the community’s trust. Our children coming home safely. Equal protection under the law.” All Americans, not just most Americans. Sanders frames Biden’s hopes as “crazy,” as “woke.” Why is it too much to ask that all of us, no matter who we are, where we live, where we come from, what color our skin, live in freedom and in peace? Clearly, Biden wants to share. Sanders, and the Republicans, would hoard.
Sanders insists that Republicans will “educate, not indoctrinate,” conveniently ignoring DeSantis’ “Anti-Woke Law” and his push to control educational curriculum and speech that would make any white person feel “guilt or anguish or any other form of psychological distress.” Now who’s the snowflake? Sanders also ignores her own first moves as governor to prohibit (censor) the word “Latinx” and to prohibit the teaching of critical race theory in schools, as well as the wave of conservative local school boards who seek to ban books they deem inappropriate. Indoctrination appears to be in the eye of the Republican beholder - it’s only indoctrination if it’s not Republican indoctrination.
Biden stressed that he wants to “finish the job” of recovering from the pandemic and its consequences. An affordable minimum wage. Affordable child care. Paid sick leave. Share the wealth that would allow everyone, all of us, to live free from violence and discrimination; to have the freedom (that same word Sanders so blithely bandies about) to choose how to live our lives. That shouldn’t be “woke” fantasy. That shouldn’t be crazy. Yet Sanders insists Biden is “unfit to serve as commander in chief.” As the Republican mouthpiece, it is chilling to see Sanders advocate this Republican slide into conservative authoritarianism thinly disguised as “normal” and as “love of country.” Whose country? As Sanders so tellingly states, “Most Americans,” with few qualms about condoning and supporting the exclusion of any who do not embrace this political and religious agenda. Hoarding that freedom for themselves. Now that’s crazy.