Avatar

A Smaller Than Average Blogger

@delusions--and--daydreams / delusions--and--daydreams.tumblr.com

Hi I’m Kim
Avatar

Some of the positions of Biden going into this election:

  • Abolish the death penalty.
  • End cash bail as it disproportional punishes the poor.
  • End cocaine sentencing disparity as racist
  • Eliminate mandatory minimums
  • Scrap past marijuana convictions
  • Eliminate private prisons
  • Raise minimum wage to 15$/hour
  • Supports a government mandated 12 weeks of paid family leave for all workers
  • Two years of college free
  • Expand student debt forgiveness, including 10K of forgiveness for all student loans and complete forgiveness for all undergraduate loans from 2 and 4 year public colleges and universities, and other loan forgiveness and payment reduction plans.
  • Eliminate funding gap for k-12 schools based on location (essentially between white and non white/poor and non poor division) with specific first steps outlined to do so.
  • Increase teacher pay, especially in underfunded schools (poor and POC schools)
  • Plan outlined to get us back in on the Paris agreement and goal of switching to clean energy by 2035 with first steps specified.
  • Supports voluntary gun buyback (similar programs have had huge success in reducing gun violence in other countries)
  • Supports firearm registry
  • Supports universal background checks for fire arm purchase
  • Supports huge expansions of medicare and the creation of a public run health insurance option that everyone is automatically enrolled in if they lose other coverage. You would also be able to use this free option if you did not want to use employer coverage. He has moved left in a huge way since the pandemic came into full swing but most people just ignore it. There is a good chance that by the time we get to the point of implementation he could just go medicare for all.
  • Citizenship for dreamers (DACA)
  • Outlined steps for increasing the quality of life, access to resources, and autonomy of disabled people, including expansion and strict enforcement of non discrimination policies
  • Universal hazard pay for “front line” workers during the pandemic
  • Specific first steps outlined for reducing systematic LGBTQ discrimination
  • Large increase of taxes on the wealthy, including a direct wealth tax and increasing taxes on corporations, with short term proposals in place that include undoing much of the damage done by trump.

You will notice that a lot of these positions can be described as halfway progressive. As in they move in the right direction but stop short of the ultimate goal. Sure, we didn’t win the primary and get a truly progressive candidate in, but the strong showing of progressive ideals during the primary means that we strong armed the democrat party into compromising with us. We forcibly moved the Overton window significantly left, imagine if we did this election after election! We could force real change regardless of the presidential candidate that is ultimately chosen.

We are slowly winning, but in order for it to stick we have to demonstrate that progressives will reward the shift in our direction. We absolutely need to vote Biden in, as well as support democrats in the senate, congress, and local levels. We need to prove that progressives are a powerful political group that can make promises and deliver to those who compromise with us. This is critical for the long term viability of progressive politics.

Biden isn’t just damage control. We wont be sprinting towards an ideal world but we will be taking significant steps in that direction. Don’t throw away all the progress we made because you don’t like the names on the ticket.

Please read, this is so important.

There’s a difference between compass statements and navigational statements. 

“Compass” means “this is the general direction I want to go. This is my ultimate goal.” Such as “ending the school-to-prison pipeline.” 

“Navigational” means “the steps I take to get there.” One might be “defund the police.” A different one might be “abolish private and for-profit prisons.” Another might be “universal basic income.” Or any combination of those.

You may not care for Biden’s navigational statements, but the point is the compass statements. Is he going in the right direction? Does he want basically what you want? Then you vote for him. Because you know the Orange Cockwomble IS NOT going in that direction.

Worry about navigation once we’re pointed the right way. There are many roads to take to get to our goals. Backwards isn’t one of them. 

Avatar

[STRIKES MY WIZARD STAFF ON THE GROUND AND IMMEDEATELY DUCKS BEHIND A ROCK]

[THERES A FLASH OF LIGHT AND THE RITUAL CHAMBER IS COVERED IN SPAGHETTI]

[I OPEN MY GRIMOIRE AND MAKE ANOTHER TALLY UNDER THE COLUMN LABELLED "SPAGHETTI"]

[THE OTHER COLUMN IS MARKED "SUMERIAN HARVEST GOD" AND IS COMPLETELY BLANK]

[I NOD GRAVELY REVERSE THE STAFF AND TRY AGAIN]

[ITS PESTO SAUCE THIS TIME]

[I START A NEW COLUMN IN THE GRIMOIRE]

Avatar
bonecouch
Image
Avatar

Behold the most disgustingly aggressive display of Americanness

I’m just picturing some dude sitting at the dinner table, his assault rifles propped up in the other chairs

“Can you pass the salad, Mom?” he asks the AK-47, but she doesn’t pass the salad

She never passes the salad

“Hey Mom, can you pass the salad?”

“You always do this to me, Mom.”

You are using an unsupported browser and things might not work as intended. Please make sure you're using the latest version of Chrome, Firefox, Safari, or Edge.