{"id":6423,"date":"2021-01-08T21:10:48","date_gmt":"2021-01-08T21:10:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.radiofree.org\/?p=147940"},"modified":"2021-01-08T21:10:48","modified_gmt":"2021-01-08T21:10:48","slug":"bryan-bruce-the-hope-that-arises-in-spite-of-the-chaotic-pro-trump-storm","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/radiofree.asia\/2021\/01\/08\/bryan-bruce-the-hope-that-arises-in-spite-of-the-chaotic-pro-trump-storm\/","title":{"rendered":"Bryan Bruce: The hope that arises in spite of the chaotic pro-Trump storm"},"content":{"rendered":"
COMMENTARY:<\/strong> By Bryan Bruce<\/em><\/p>\n On Wednesday, from behind a wall of bulletproof glass, outgoing US President Donald Trump told a crowd of his supporters to be brave and incited them to march on the Capitol Buildings<\/a> where the electoral college votes were being counted.<\/p>\n They stormed it and in the chaos many were injured and five people – including a police officer<\/a> – died.<\/p>\n The mayhem Trump encouraged and the grandstanding of some Republican senators on the floor of the Senate, however, only delayed the inevitable.<\/p>\n The votes were finally counted. Joe Biden will be the next President of the United States come January 20 and charged with the responsibility of governing a nation politically divided and ravaged by a deadly pandemic.<\/p>\n Why should we, here in New Zealand, concern ourselves with what happened this week in America?<\/p>\n Three answers<\/strong> So where is the hope?<\/p>\n It lies in what also happened earlier that day in the USA.<\/p>\n When the votes were counted in the Georgia run-offs, Raphael Warnock became the first Black American<\/a> in that state to be elected as a senator for that state and, along with Jon Ossoff, it gives the Democrats the control of the Senate as well as Congress.<\/p>\n Mandate for progressive policies<\/strong> Here in New Zealand Jacinda Ardern leads a government that has a mandate to introduce progressive policies in our own country and narrow the gap between the rich and the poor and thereby improve the lives of the majority of New Zealanders.<\/p>\n We can\u2019t do anything about what happens in America but we can do everything about what happens in our own country.<\/p>\n We need to accelerate our thinking about how to be more self-sustaining as a country and foster the idea of sharing the nation\u2019s wealth instead of the selfishness promoted over the last 30 years of neoliberal economic policies.<\/p>\n And we need to keep the Ardern government on task by giving praise when praise is due and speaking up when we see fault and injustice.<\/p>\n\n
\nThe answers to that deceptively simple question could fill a book, but this is a Facebook post so I\u2019ll offer you just three.<\/p>\n\n
\nSo the Biden administration now has a mandate to introduce progressive policies that will improve the lives of a great many of his fellow Americans.<\/p>\n