You do not need to be over 50 to see today’s parallels with the US of the 1970s. That decade offers an instantly recognisable meme of rising inflation, political drift, spiralling crime and ominous geopolitics. Nor do you need to equate Joe Biden with the hapless Jimmy Carter, whose presidency deserves higher marks than history has given it. There is no Ronald Reagan on the sidelines. After Biden comes the deluge of a resurgent Donald Trump, or a kindred figure. Biden’s goal must be to avoid a Cartesian fate.
你不需要年過五十,就能看出如今的美國與1970年代的相似之處。那個年代擁有當下很熟悉的迷因:通脹上升、政治變遷、犯罪率激增和不祥的地緣政治。你也不需要將喬?拜登(Joe Biden)與倒霉的吉米?卡特(Jimmy Carter)相提并論,歷史對后者任內功過的評價太低了。現在在一旁等候的不是羅納德?里根(Ronald Reagan)。拜登之后會是東山再起的唐納德?特朗普(Donald Trump)——或是一個類似人物——掀起的浪潮。拜登的目標必須是避免卡特的命運。