Trigger warning for sexual assault.
Dear Reader,
We at The Prog are celebrating President Trump’s defeat in the 2020 elections. Under his watch, America saw a spike in hate crimes, a rapprochement with dictators, a withdrawal from the Paris Climate Accord, a draconian border policy that has raked in enormous profits for private prisons, and the deaths of over 200,000 people from Covid-19. These are, of course, only a few of the disastrous effects of the Trump presidency. But that is not to say that we welcome Joe Biden’s presidency. We should never lose sight of who Biden is and what his presidency will mean for the world.
First and foremost, Biden and Harris’s records on race and incarceration are abysmal. It should be stated that Biden now supports the passage of the SAFE Justice Act, a proposed piece of legislation that aims to introduce prison reforms on a federal level such as requiring regular fiscal reports, offering treatment for those with drug addiction, and focusing sentencing on those deemed to be repeat offenders for violent crimes. However, although the SAFE Justice Act might go far in reducing the destruction of America’s racist prison system, it does nothing to reduce police militarization or to fundamentally change the way we approach imprisoning our own. Moreover, it addresses a problem that Biden himself exacerbated with the Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994, a law he largely wrote and helped to pass that funneled $16 billion to prison construction, instituted “three-strikes” sentencing, vastly expanded the reach of the death penalty, and strengthened policing. The Vice President-elect, meanwhile, has continuously pushed for “tougher” measures in her career as a prosecutor; to give just one egregious example, Harris fought in 2015 to keep Michelle Norsworthy, a transgender woman, in a men’s prison and to deny her a name change and surgery. The liberal reforms they currently push are not enough to undo their own carceral policies. Nor is their militarism restricted to the domestic front. Notably, Biden fully supported the Iraq War, is likely to reinstate the CIA’s importance in government, and is preparing for a deeply jingoist cabinet. Thus, while Biden may be able to restore our good relations with allies, it will entail the usual extension of the American empire’s reach.
We should view the Biden administration’s climate change plans with a similar suspicion. Although Biden claims to want to “achieve a 100% clean energy economy and net-zero emissions no later than 2050,” his plans go no further than pollution limits and “using the Federal government procurement system”—an enormous “Buy Green”-type solution; he refuses to ban fracking, which he could most realistically achieve by restricting the industry until it becomes unprofitable. Although he plans to spend $2 trillion on clean energy, we should remember that the problem of climate change is far bigger than Biden seems to be willing to admit: Bernie Sanders, for instance, was prepared to pour $16 trillion in what would have essentially amounted to a green economy—as imperfect as that may be, it is way ahead of Biden’s thinking. And let’s keep in mind that whatever parts of Trump’s destructive climate policies Biden could undo through executive orders will have to answer to a conservative Supreme Court.
Finally, we must remember the credible sexual assault allegation made against Biden last year. Tara Reade, a former staff assistant in Biden’s Senate office, claims that he held her against a wall and penetrated her with his fingers; she confided in her friends at the time and her story has not changed. Biden denies that he ever assaulted Reade, and there has not been a pattern of similar behavior established. That said, seven other women have spoken out about being touched inappropriately by Biden.
The list goes on indefinitely. Choosing a President should never be a lesser of two evils. And yet it always is. While electoral politics allows us to work with what we have, it is not ultimately a way to enact meaningful change. For a true democracy, we need to fight against capitalism. We need to stand up to each and every person in charge of the American war machine, each and every apologist for the police. We need to be at the forefront of a new, revitalized socialist movement.
In solidarity,
The Editors of the Prog
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