Joe Biden stood on the steps of the Capitol today and took the oath of office. The images will be broadcast as proof that the system still works. But look closer. Twenty-five thousand National Guard troops lined the streets. Razor wire fenced off the core of Washington. Checkpoints controlled every block.
This wasn’t the peaceful transfer of power we celebrate in textbooks. This was a ceremony fortified like a war zone. You don’t need soldiers and barricades when your democracy is healthy. You need them when people no longer trust the system or each other.
The danger is normalization. If we come to accept inaugurations under guard, democracy becomes less a civic ritual than a hostage situation. The true test isn’t whether Biden can govern. It’s whether we, as a nation, can rebuild enough trust that the next oath doesn’t need rifles watching over it.