Yes, democracy has prevailed in America.
And accompanying it the powerful force for service to the American commonweal and the world:
COMPETENCE
In the first 48 hours after the Inauguration, President Joseph Biden Jr. undertook a remarkable exercise of presidential authority. Among the initiatives:
Signed 27 Executive Orders, each addressing a vital national issue.
– Began the process of rejoining The Paris Agreement on climate control.
Presented nominations for cabinet executives to the U.S. Senate.
Reached out to foreign-leader allies – and received encouraging messages from them.
Committed to, and began, daily press conferences.
Inducted about a thousand administration staffers in a virtual ceremony from the White House.
(Even established a new POTUS Twitter account, as did the Vice President)
In all these and other actions, the objective: restore truth, transparency, realism, candor, optimism and authenticity to the Office of the President.
But not to be overlooked: The common denominator: COMPETENCE.
A timely analysis of why this is critically important:
“The Can-Do Power – America’s Advantage and Biden’s Chance”
By Samantha Power – Biden choice for Director of USAID and former U.S. representative at The United Nations. FOREIGN AFFAIRS January/February 2021
Key excerpts:
“Today, the fact that fewer people identify the United States as capable of solving big problems should be a major concern for those who believe that U.S. leadership must play a central role in tackling climate change and other shared global problems whose solutions demand both expertise and coalition building …
“Restoring American leadership, accordingly, must include the more basic task of showing that the United States is a capable problem solver once more …
“This means less rhetorical emphasis on the abstract cause of ‘the ‘liberal international order’ and more practical demonstrations of the United States’ distinctive ability to deliver on issues that matter right now in the lives of hundreds of millions of people.
“Three areas ripe for such leadership are the following: spearheading global COVID-19 distribution, ramping up educational opportunities in the United States for foreign students, and waging a high-profile fight against corruption at home and abroad.” [Ms. Power estimates the annual cost of such corruption in 2019 at $4 trillion, five percent of global GDP.]
Democracy and Competence – what the world needs now .