The 2020 election cycle has already begun and 11 major Democrats have announced their candidacy.
The field is expected to get even more crowded with several high-profile politicians such as former Rep. Beto O’Rourke, Sen. Sherrod Brown and recent progressive star Stacey Abrams still considering a bid.
Former Vice President Joe Biden, who has been in the lead of nearly every primary poll, is also expected to decide on a bid for the presidency soon.
As Vice President, Biden was a role model. He spoke from the heart, which, even though landed him in trouble sometimes, was very endearing. He was a man of strong morals during his time in office.
For example, in May 2012, Biden stated that he was “very comfortable” with same-sex marriage. This was in contrast to President Obama’s position on the subject, which was “evolving.” The statement of Biden’s position came as a shock to the rest of the administration.
Biden was less concerned about the politics of his position and instead focused on what was right. Prior to this, he had a good record of backing civil rights for the LGBT community.
While Biden is a respectable man with good morals, he does not have what it takes to make the radical changes this country needs. Biden has a long history of being a moderate often touting his history of working with Republicans.
The problem is that some issues plaguing this country, such as wealth and income inequality, run very deep.
In May 2018, Biden gave a speech at the Brookings Institution, a Washington-based think tank, and discussed the problem of wealth inequality. In his speech, he unsurprisingly suggested some middle-of-the-road solutions to this problem.
Biden proposed investing more in infrastructure to create jobs, changing the tax code to favor low-income families instead of investors and banning non-compete contracts. These proposals are great and would definitely help out the middle-class but it’s not the type of radical change this country needs.
Instead, we need a candidate who will fight for the Green New Deal, the proposal that would completely overhaul the economy and energy infrastructure to create hundreds of thousands of clean energy jobs. We also need someone who will force billionaires to pay their fair share in taxes by closing tax loopholes and increasing tax rates on the ultra wealthy.
We also need a leader who acknowledges that this is one of the most important issues facing this nation. When discussing wealth inequality, Biden said, “I love Bernie, but I'm not Bernie Sanders. I don’t think 500 billionaires are the reason why we’re in trouble...I get into a lot of trouble with my party when I say that wealthy Americans are just as patriotic as poor folks.”
Another massive issue facing this country is money in politics. The flooding of money into our democracy has been devastating and the Supreme Court case Citizens United has made it worse. Biden has a history of taking large donations from various sectors, including law firms and real estate agencies.
Additionally, as one of Delaware’s Senators, Biden sponsored a bankruptcy bill that the company MBNA, one of the largest companies in Delaware, was seeking to be passed. Not coincidentally, MBNA was one of Biden’s largest donors in the 1990s.
We need a candidate who will wholeheartedly fight the corruption of money in politics, not someone who will listen to his or her donors of the American people.
While Biden would be a far better leader for this country than Trump, he will not bring about the necessary rapid changes that we need to fix the issues plaguing our nation. Biden already had his moment in the executive branch, and it’s time to bring about radical change to our political and economic systems. A Joe Biden presidency would bring about the same-old style of politics in which change is slow and incremental. We need a fighter and a champion of the American people.
