IN MY OPINION: SOCTATES: "Opinions Without Knowledge are Shameful and Ugly Things"

IN MY OPINION

SOCRATES:
"Haven't you noticed that opinions without knowledge are shameful and ugly things?
The best of them are blind - or do you think that
those who express a true opinion without understanding
are any different from blind people who happen to travel the right road?"

(PLATO's REPUBLIC, Book VI 506c)
PLATO COMPLETE WORKS
Translator: G.M.A. Grube, Revised by C.D.C. Reeve, John M. Cooper, Editor, D.S. Hutchison, Associated Editor,
Hackett Publishing Company, Indianapolis / Cambridge, 1997, p.1127

THE DAY AMERICA STOOD STILL

31/10/2020

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"What is America all about?" "Who are we and what we stand for?" "Who are we as a country, and a people?""Who are we as a nation among the community of nations? And "what is our stand in the world?" These are fundamental questions Americans often ask themselves, especially in time of crisis of national unity. The presidential election on 3 November will reveal American character and soul of the nation.

To the Americans, their presidential election on 3 November 2020 is going to be one great, if not the greatest, exciting and heart-stopping day for their democracy. Not only because of the election result is not easy to predict even in the final week of campaign, but also because of the four years following the election result are clearly predictable, regardless of whoever wins.

Since the election allows for early voting, both by mail and in person, almost 100,000,000 million have already casted their votes by the eve of election day (Ref:CNN 31/10/20). These unusually large number of early voters, 30 million more than the total population of Thailand, is an indication of the awakening of democracy, and that Americans are now seriously aware of what are at stake for their lives and the basic character of the nation. To reinstall Donald Trump as president for the second term obviously means a plunge down the rabbit hole of public health chaos, more COVID-19 infections, hospitalisation, and deaths. According to Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Centre, as of 31 October, the US register 9,098,300 COVID-19 cases and 230,194 deaths, the worst-performing country in the world against the new corona virus pandemic.

To have Donald Trump back in the White House will mean the virus will continue to spread, more people will continue to be infected, and more will die because Trump has no plan to deal with the pandemic other than letting it spread freely and hope for herd immunity after enough people die. The problem is how many is enough. It is never enough for the corona virus which indiscriminately prey on human lives. And the virus does not make a deal with human, including the man who falsely claims to master the art of a deal. It will just continue on its path of destruction of American lives. Donald Trump never followed science, and never had a plan to fight the pandemic. Four more years in the White House will turn the rabbit hole into a "shit hole", his favourite and demeaning term attributed to least-developed countries in Africa and the Caribbean. With the wider spread of COVID-19, together with worsening systemic racism, rising crimes and violence, police brutality, anti-immigration policy, economic retreat to near depression, yes, "the shit hole" is coming to America if Donald Trump wins the second term.

If Joe Biden wins, things will be the opposite of Donald Trump, though it may not return to normal quickly. Biden promises to follow science and protect the people from the pandemic by following the scientific advices from doctors and scientists, especially those from the government own reputable institutions such as the the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases. Biden has a definite plan to contain the pandemic starting with the simple public health measures, now heavily politicised by Donald Trump, such as mask wearing, social and physical distancing, and personal hygiene practice. Business will ease into an acceptable level of normalcy after a period of strict public health measure which will include necessary quarantine. No country in the world can successfully fights COVID-19 without a form of quarantine and shutdown. And then comes the last hope, the COVID-19 vaccines with high degree of safety and efficacy. The vaccination process throughout the US and the world will eventually keep the virus in check in a year or two. President Joe Biden, if elected, will have to follow this strenuous path and it will take time, perhaps the whole of 2021. America should be able to "Build Back Better" beginning early 2022. The economy will gradually improve under the newly elected president Joe Biden. No-one can predict the rosy picture of future America anytime soon. But at least life will return to normal, enough to help pulling the country out of the rabbit hole and move the economy forward.

More important than the war against COVID-19 is the restoration of America the world used to know, its national character and its democracy. Even though both are intertwined, but each can be discussed separately.

"What is America all about?" "Who are we as a country, and a people?" And "who are we as a nation among the community of nations?" "What is our stand in the world?" These are common questions Americans often ask themselves for which the answers define the United States of America and the people themselves. In time of the Trumpian crisis and great doubt, these same questions are being asked again. In a capsule, the United States of America and its people represent freedom and democracy for all - the natives and immigrants alike. America is basically the land of immigrants from all parts of the world since it was discovered as the New World in 1492. Everyone is supposed to be free to pursue his or her dream. The founding fathers declared "that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness."(1), and laid the basic foundation "to from a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity", (2)

These fundamental national characters are now in a confusing state during Donald Trump's first four-years term as president. It's up to the American people to decide if they still want this very bad person back as their president, the man who is well known as a pathological liar, a racist, a misogynist and womaniser, a tax evader, and a man in deep financial trouble under the control of foreign leaders and oligarch creditors. He is known to admire foreign dictators and alienate friends and alliances. His disregard for science and the environmental threat of climate change made him a complete uneducated man in the country where scientists and inventors lead the world in Nobel Prizes and innovation, and hard-working citizens have been diligently working to make their country the richest, most powerful, and the greatest in the world.

A mere four years of Donald Trump as president has made America not so great like it once was. Four more years of Donald Trump will not Make America Great Again. It will lead America down the "shit hole".

Instead, Joe Biden, who fight this election to save the soul of the nation, should be a better suitable leader to snatch America back from Donald Trump and "Build Back Better" America. It is Joe Biden, not Donald Trump, who can and will make America Great Again.

Americans must vote for Joe Biden.
Or you will never be great again!

Somkiat Onwimon
3 September 2020

Note:
(1) The Declaration of Independence (1776)
(2) The Constitution of the United States (1787)

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สมเกียรติ อ่อนวิมล
Somkiat Onwimon
(1948 - 20xx)
lives in Thailand, studied political science and international relations from The University of Delhi (B.A. & M.A.) and The University of Pennsylvania (Ph.D.). He lectured at Chulalongkorn University, and later became a television news 'n documentary reporter-producer-anchorman. He was elected a member of Thailand's 1997 Constitution Drafting Assembly, elected a senator in 2000, and appointed member of the National Legislative Assembly in 2007. Now at his Pak Chong home, he lives a quiet country life of reading, writing, and thinking.

IN MY OPINION

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