On Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden was sworn into the office of U.S. President along with his vice president, Kamala Harris. The inaugural ceremony represented the start of a new era in politics, yet many families wonder what it entails for them. As the election season came to an end, the Democratic Party found itself in control of the presidency, the House of Representatives and the Senate.
Some students, such as sophomore Gracie Tow, focus hopefully on the Biden administration.
“I am looking forward to more social justice and less border control,” said Tow.
One of the issues that has grown in necessity and popularity is the hyper-partisan attitude that can be seen all throughout politics in America.
“It’s going to increase [hyper-partisanism],” said junior Joe Wages. “I don’t think any presidency at this point is going to decrease any type of partisanism. I watched the president’s inauguration earlier, and I appreciate the message of unity and trying to reach out, but I won’t believe it until I see action.”
Tow agrees saying, “I think that, no matter if Biden or Trump were president right now, [the parties] would still disagree, and there would be a lot of conflict anyway.”
Many families and students are worried about the Biden presidency because of the policies he plans to enact. The Biden administration has outlined many issues they wish to address, such as passing increased stimulus checks, rejoining the Paris Climate Accord, passing the Green New Deal, recalling tax cuts, and reversing the minimum wage.
Some wonder whether these policies will help or hurt the average TKA family.
“It may be difficult for some who have parents in healthcare or colleges, but I think it will be great for the students,” said Tow.
Policies, such as the increase of the minimum wage, hold the potential for the loss of student jobs. When small businesses are required to pay employees more, they are unable to employ the same number of workers as usual.
In addition, as the minimum wage grows, companies tend to raise prices to offset increased costs. Inflation will rise with the wage increases, threatening the possibility of voiding any paycheck growth.
“It is going to get a little bit tougher,” said Wages. “The good thing is that, here in Georgia, we still have a Republican government, so I don’t expect any civil rights are going to be clamped down on yet, but, economically, it will get tougher. I expect, if you work in a smaller store or a small business... some will lose their jobs.”
With the Democratic Party controlling both the executive and legislative branches, the party now has single-party rule. Some fear this because of the unbridled change one party can implement without opposition in a short period of time.
“We have started down a really bad road, and I think the culmination of that was the [storming] of the Capitol on Jan. 6,” said Wages. “I think that was almost a point of no return. It is just going to get worse from here.”
The new Biden administration may lead to changes that conflict with the values of The King’s Academy families when one considers policies, potential single-party rule and hyper-partisanism. Despite this, our community can rely on the bond of Christ to create unity where politics will always fail.
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