To everyone who supports President Biden
It doesn't matter if we are talking about President Biden or Donald Trump or Bernie Sanders or Alexandra Occasio-Cortez, a cult-of-personality will not save us.
I saw this on Reddit, a criticism of anyone who supports President Biden:
I don't know how you can look at Hillary Clinton or Joe Biden and think "yeah man they have my best interests at heart". Beyond corrupt, doesn't give a fuck about you, and extremely politician like minded DC bubble kind of people. People in the United States are so simple minded, I swear. You are literally dealing with high rent, inflation, low wages, college debt, medical debt, no paid family leave, drug prices and healthcare constantly being raised, no vacations raised gas prices, etc. And you are all just cool with it.
My response:
First of all, I would never put the blame on any politician, neither right-wing nor left-wing. Politics is the outcome of large-scale institutions, not individual leaders. What is a leader, really? They are a piece of cork on the sea, they can be lifted up by the tide, or they can be dropped down by the tide, but they do not create the tide. A leader is someone who has slightly more power than I do, but not by much.
Second of all, assigning too much credit, good or bad, to a politician contributes to a cult-of-personality that can only make things worse. People on the right put their faith in Trump, people on the left put their faith in Bernie Sanders and Alexandra Occasio-Cortez, but if you believe any of these three individuals can save the USA then you are contributing to the process that is undermining the USA. A cult-of-personality won't save us.
Third of all, I take partial responsibility for how badly things are going. I exist, I participate in the system, I fight but I could probably fight harder, therefore I am partly to blame. Perhaps later I will fight harder, and do more to turn the situation around. Each of us should look for the ways we can contribute something to building larger institutions and thus turning the situation around.
Here I listed some specific institutions that will need to be revived if we are going to save the situation:
Here I suggest some reforms of our political institutions that might open the door to still bolder and larger-scale reforms:
Finally, progressive reformers on the Left need to think about how we can best support those of us who do manage to get elected: