Why I Chose Biden And What I Want From Him

Given the historical significance of the 2020 election for President of the United States, I felt it was OK to go a bit off the mission of posting nerd articles and write up my opinions about and wishes for the new Biden administration.

On voting for Joe Biden
I didn’t vote for Joe Biden, I voted for the policies and platforms that come with a Democratic candidate win. Biden was arguably the worst choice of all the Democratic primary contenders. But he was the choice, and his election brings back a belief in education, in science, in compassion, in justice, etc., to the White House.

Yes, life will be much better for my friends that are not in the old white male demographic that I am in. But it will not be better enough unless we continue to push for things like Medicare for All, systemic racism elimination, legal system reform from the police on up, and more. The country will still need to be constantly reminded that Black Lives Matter.

On unity, healing and forgiveness
The divisions between the right and left in this country don’t need to be eliminated, but eventually we will need to come up with a way to work together. The problem is, most of the people who voted for Trump aren’t even remotely interested in working with Biden or anyone not a Trump supporter like them. You can’t “heal” your relationship with people who don’t acknowledge an injury. You can’t “forgive” people who don’t acknowledge they’ve done anything that needs forgiveness. Their eyes need to be opened first. And that only applies to those Trump supporters that were caught up in the lies and bullshit. The real core racists are beyond redemption, and trying to “unite” with them will be seen by them as nothing but vindication of their assumption that the other side is “weak.” Because to them empathy is weakness. And that will empower them to continue to do horrible, racist, violent things.

On letting Trump off the hook
No. Hell, no. This isn’t a retribution thing (OK, not just a retribution thing), it is about sending the crystal clear message to Russia and other powers that meddling in our elections is not to be tolerated. Sure, there are plenty of things to prosecute Trump for, but the Russian meddling has to be priority No. 1, and the investigation has to continue to bring anyone involved to justice.

Not prosecuting Trump and his cronies tied to Russia would be telling Putin and anyone else who wanted to mess with our electoral process that they can continue without concern for retribution. It would send any criminally disposed U.S. politicians that same message, and open the floodgate for foreign meddling on behalf of any candidate who felt it was OK to accept it.

Action plan
1) While still on the inauguration platform, name an Acting AG and re-open the Russia investigation. If you have enough evidence to start arrests, start putting people in handcuffs. And don’t stop until every last treasonous cockroach is brought to light.

2) Name Pete Buttigieg as Communications Director and task him with hiring comms staff that are all as capable of going on Fox News and being as clear, blunt and rational as he was the month prior to the election. Then get them on Fox News. Every. Single. Day. Fight the lies and bullshit.

3) If the Covid Task Force is No. 1, then No. 2. needs to be a Task Force focused on reforming the legal system from police though judiciary to prisons. One big goal is to reverse three decades of drug arrests and sentencing policies aimed squarely at Black populations.

4) Immediately declare the KKK, the Proud Boys, the American Nazi Party and any other group, militia, etc. that promotes white supremacy as domestic terrorist organizations. Then start the arrests. The prisons will have space once all those brothers busted for an ounce of weed have been released.

5) Start fighting for Medicare for All. When every other developed country (and many less developed) has some version of free healthcare, the argument that our government can’t be trusted to handle something that complex is saying Americans are just too stupid to do what Slovenia does. Or Cyprus. Or, you know Canada, Australia, the UK …

Let’s all enjoy this moment of sweet relief. Bask in the knowledge that the nightmare state has ended. Then let’s get back to work to ensure that the Biden administration is actively trying to fix the Trump mess and not just gloss over it in the name of “unity.”

(Feature photo credit: Gage Skidmore)