The Democrats’ third convention night was an extended display of the party’s religious-like promise of soulful and economic salvation by politics alone.
Sen. Joe Biden began his speech with a biblical invocation:
Give people light.
Those are words for our time. The current president has cloaked America in darkness for much too long. Too much anger. Too much fear. Too much division.
Here and now, I give you my word: If you entrust me with the presidency, I will draw on the best of us not the worst. I will be an ally of the light not of the darkness.
The first speaker opened the events with a progressive prayer. “Encouraged by this promise that a new creation can come from chaos: Let us pray,” preached Sister Simone Campbell, who continued:
Oh Divine Spirit, during the weeks and months ahead, stir our hearts and minds that we might fight for a vision that is worthy of you and your call to honor the dignity of all of your creation. A vision of who we are as a people grounded in community and care for all, especially the most marginalized. A vision that cares for our earth and heals the planet, a vision that in structural racism, bigotry, and sexism so rife now in our nation and in our history. A vision that ensures hungry people are fed, children are nourished, immigrants are welcomed. Oh Spirit, breathe in us and our leaders a new resolve … A new community that can, with your help, realize this new promise that we affirm tonight. So with profound hope, let We the People say, Amen.
“For Joe, faith isn’t a proper political tool,” said Sen. Chris Coons (D-DE), who then offered a progressive catechism of salvation through faith in government works:
Joe’s faith is really about our future, about a world with less suffering and more justice, where we’re better stewards of creation, or we have a more just immigration policy, and where we call out and confront the Original Sins of this nation, the sins of slavery and racism. Joe knows these are central issues in this election, and for him, they’re rooted in faith.
Joe knows that it’s faith that sustains so many ordinary Americans who do extraordinary things: Nurses who brave infection, firefighters who run into burning buildings, teachers working overtime. Especially now, they all deserve a servant leader who knows the dignity of work, who sees them, respects them, fights for them. We need a president who brings people of all faiths together to tackle our challenges, rebuild our country, and restore our humanity. Someone who knows we’re called to do justice, love, mercy, and walk humbly with our God. Joe Biden will be that President. Joe’s always known this race is a battle for the soul of our country, and he’s right.
Joe believes: He believes in both the greatness and the goodness of this country, he believes in us, and in what we can do together.
Speakers did not offer the persuasion needed to convert faithless voters. Instead, they delivered the exhortation needed to turn out the believers.
“The arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends toward justice,” intoned reverential author Jon Meacham, under studio lights that were stronger than those preferred by Rep. Pat Roberts. At 4:05 in his sermon, Meacham said:
Bending that arc requires all of us. It requires ‘We the people.’ And it requires a president of the United States with empathy, grace, a big heart, and an open mind. Joe Biden will be such a president. With our voices and our votes, Let us now write the next chapter of the American story. One of hope, of love, of justice. If we do so, we might just save our country, and our souls.
For Democrats, the voting booth is holy ground. “Voting is sacred, my people know that,” said the next celebrant, Rep. Debra Haaland (D-NM).
“Our most sacred democratic exercise [is] voting,” said Biden. Also, “Social Security is a sacred obligation, a sacred promise made,” he declared.
“Soul” got three mentions in Biden’s speech. Unexplained “Dark” was invoked seven times. “Light” got nine mentions, plus one use to evoke Nazis (“Remember seeing those neo-Nazis and Klansmen and white supremacists coming out of the fields with lighted torches? Veins bulging?”).
Biden’s ending passage summarized the party’s Manichean vision of an end-times battle between its progressive light and the Trumpian dark:
Light is more powerful than dark. This is our moment. This is our mission.
May history be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here tonight as love and hope and light joined in the battle for the soul of the nation. And this is a battle that we, together, will win.
Democrats' 2nd convention night included a video that says foreign migrants have a moral right to cross into the US to get free healthcare.
I can't see any swing voters – including Latinos – wanting their hospitals to put myriad foreigners before locals. https://t.co/8nPxuQTWkN— Neil Munro (@NeilMunroDC) August 20, 2020
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