Joe Biden is not going to pursue unity in office. And that's not even what we need.

President Joe Biden made unity the theme of his inaugural address.

However, he does not plan to pursue a unity agenda. And unity is the wrong lesson to learn from the Donald Trump period.

A unity agenda would consist of advancing policies on which there is a broad consensus and putting aside partisan proposals for which there is not such a consensus.

That Biden does not plan to pursue a unity agenda is amply documented by the COVID-19 response plan he issued even before being sworn in. The total bill for the plan is an eye-watering $1.9 trillion in additional federal debt.

There is consensus on COVID spending

On COVID-19, there would be a broad consensus on spending directly related to managing the disease. Given how much is already being spent, there’s reason to question how much more can be productively deployed. But few would begrudge some wastage in getting vaccines distributed and helping hospitals and medical personnel cope.

However, direct COVID-19 spending constitutes just $160 billion of the $1.9 trillion Biden proposes to borrow.

There would be a smaller, but still wide, consensus on providing additional financial assistance to individuals unemployed during the pandemic.

There are those who believe, with justification, that elevated unemployment payments delay returns to the workforce. But given the pandemic’s economic wreckage among low-income workers and continuing economic uncertainty, relieving the financial stress of individuals is arguably worth a slower return to workplace participation.

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However, the higher unemployment payments in Biden’s plan only constitute $350 billion of the total.

That is what a unity agenda would consist of. A $510 billion plan, not a $1.9 trillion plan.

But not on issuing more stimulus checks

There is no broad consensus on the rest of the Biden COVID-19 plan. In fact, there is sharp disagreement and opposition.

The Biden plan assumes that the economy still needs major federal government stimulus. So, he proposes an additional $1,400 check for everyone making less than $75,000 a year, or double that for joint filers. These checks bear no relationship to economic need or harm.

It’s just dough distributed indiscriminately.

Biden proposes to spend more on this stimulus distribution, $465 billion, than on either direct COVID-19 management or increased financial assistance for the unemployed.

There is strong disagreement that this stimulus is necessary or will be effective. The economy is doing surprising well despite the pandemic. As vaccinations roll out, it should improve organically. And past experience indicates that a substantial portion of such one-time rebates isn’t spent but get used to augment savings or reduce debt.

An in-your-face partisan move

Biden also proposes to spend more on bailing out state and local governments, $350 billion, than on direct COVID-19 management. The need, and wisdom, of such a bailout is hotly disputed, and delayed enacting the last COVID-19 legislation until it was abandoned.

Biden also proposes to increase the federal minimum wage to $15 an hour in the guise of being a COVID-19 response. That’s an in-your-face partisan move.

None of this, however, should be a surprise. American democracy isn’t a search for unity, or the lowest common policy denominator. American democracy is a competitive enterprise. Politicians compete to hold office. In office, they compete to get their policy ideas enacted.

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Compromise doesn’t occur because it is virtuous in its own right. It occurs because the majority party runs short on votes.

Unity isn’t what is required to repair American democracy. Nor is its often called-for cousin, civility. American politics have always been characterized by demagoguery and demonization of political opponents. Trump was singularly offensive in this regard – but in degree, not kind.

What we really need to fix our nation

The health of American democracy doesn’t depend on unity or civility. It depends on the competition occurring on the basis of widely accepted rules of engagement. There are rules for the conduct of elections. There are rules for the enacting of policy.

These rules are subject to change, but change within the rules themselves.

This is where Trump’s assault on American democracy took place, and where the true post-Trump lesson is to be found. An election was conducted according to the rules. Biden won. Trump tried to overturn the democratic outcome through anti-democratic means. And a wide swath of Republican officials and officeholders were complicit in the plot.

Repairing American democracy isn’t up to Biden, who didn’t damage it. And it won’t be repaired through nice, albeit ephemeral, pledges of unity.

It is up to Republicans to own up to what they did. Or voters to turn their backs on them, and a new conservative party to arise.

Robert Robb is a columnist at the Arizona Republic, where this column originally appeared. Follow him on Twitter: @RJRobb

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This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Joe Biden won't pursue unity. And that's not even what we need