I Voted for Joe Biden…but He Sucks
By: The Rewired Soul
Tags: Politics, Joe Biden, Democrats, Government, Election 2020

To date, one of my favorite books of all time is The Righteous Mind: Why Good People Are Divided by Politics and Religion by Jonathan Haidt. Haidt is a moral and political philosopher, and when I really wanted to understand the differences between liberal and conservative morality, this book was perfection, and it’s often cited by many respected intellectuals.

Jonathan Haidt created moral matrices to help people better understand the difference between liberal and conservative morality. For example, liberals care more about the principles of liberty and are against oppression more than conservatives. But a more important value that separates liberals and conservatives is how we view authority.

For the last four years, we’ve watched conservatives enable Donald Trump and believe he can do no wrong. Many of us sat back and were extremely frustrated how Trump’s followers and the Republican party turned a blind eye to the atrocities of Donald Trump, but when you understand Haidt’s moral matrix, it makes more sense. It doesn’t make it right, but it makes sense.

With that being said, now it’s time for those of us on the left to do what we do, which is speaking up to authority. For months, I’ve been keeping my mouth shut about Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, because if you’re like me, you knew that we just needed to get Trump out of office. Now that it’s official, we can start speaking the truth because frankly, Joe Biden sucks.

I was extremely worried that after Biden was elected, in an effort to save face, everyone would continue to act like he was the greatest president we’re ever going to have. After spending the day on social media and talking with friends, I was pleasantly surprised that most people felt the same way I did. Not only that, but I saw people also recognizing that this is one of the important differences between people who voted for Trump and those who voted for Biden.

I don’t mean to ruin anyone’s great mood, but as a recovering drug addict, I feel I should warn you about what we call the “pink cloud”. Often times, when people first get sober, they feel incredible like they can conquer the world and nothing can go wrong, and we call this the pink cloud. Unfortunately, that pink cloud doesn’t last for long. To counter the effects of the pink cloud, we enjoy that great feeling while also being well aware that there’s still work to do, and I believe that’s the same thing we need to do with the election of Joe Biden and his Vice President Kamala Harris.

So first, we’re going to discuss everything wrong with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, and then we’re going to talk about some of the delusions Democrats are experiencing right now. Then, we’re going to ask, “What can we do?”, and go over some solutions to make sure that we keep moving in the right direction. Yesterday was a great day, but there’s still quite a bit of work to be done.

Everything wrong with Joe Biden

I just finished the incredible new book from Dr. Nicholas Christakis Apollo’s Arrow: The Profound and Enduring Impact of Coronavirus on the Way We Live, and I truly believe it’s going to go down in history as one of the best books about the COVID pandemic of 2020. I think one of the most important parts of the book is when he discusses how even though we on the left pride ourselves as believers in science, we’re sometimes willfully ignorant and believe scientific evidence cares about moral values.

Although the George Floyd and Black Lives Matter were extremely important to show those in power that we will not stand for how they treat Black Americans, a lot of people were in denial. Yes, many people at the protests wore masks, but within weeks of the protests, we saw a major spike in COVID cases. The same scientists who advocated for social distancing then downplayed the effect these protests would have on COVID cases.

Again, the protests were a worthwhile cause, but if the experts want to remain respected, they need to be honest. During the protests, they should have been honest and said, “COVID cases are going to spike, but some American’s feel that it’s worth it to try and end police killings of unarmed Black men.” A statement like that wouldn’t have given them as much clout with the left, but their integrity would stay in tact.

I bring this up because yesterday was an amazing day, and it was a bright light we all needed during this disaster of a year, but my jaw was on the floor as I saw everyone in the streets celebrating. I can’t help but think the same people mad at Trump supporters who don’t take COVID seriously and the people mad at celebrities for partying were some of the same people in massive crowds yesterday.

This week, we had a record number of single-day COVID cases, and with all of the celebrations yesterday, I think we’re going to break more records. Why do I bring this up? Because COVID cases are about to spike after you celebrated a man winning who is against Medicare for All.

Leading up to November 3rd, Donald Trump and other Republicans made claims that Joe Biden was a socialist and further left than Bernie Sanders. But if you’re someone like me, whenever you heard that, you said, “I WISH!”

We can’t let the joy of this victory blind us to the fact that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have a lot of corporate interests. I’m optimistic, and some have argued that they’ve both changed over the years, and I hope those people are correct. But we need to remember all of the things Joe Biden has been against so we can keep an eye on him and hold him accountable.

Not only is he against Medicare for All, but he’s also against legalizing marijuana. This year, we had an incredible shift in drug policies in a wide range of states. The War on Drugs was one of the worst things to happen to this country, and we’re finally waking up to that fact. Not only has The War on Drugs disproportionately affected the Black community, but we treat drug addicts like criminals rather than people who are sick. Here in Nevada, we legalized weed a few years ago like other states, but Oregon made the most progress by decriminalizing all drugs, and four more new states legalized marijuana.

The American people know that marijuana is far less harmful than legalized substances like alcohol, and it’s far less deadly than the addictive opioids that doctors prescribe by the millions. Unfortunately, Joe Biden has been very loud and clear about not legalizing marijuana on a federal level. There are thousands of people who have a criminal record for marijuana possession, and we still have people in jail for it. Even with the legalization here in Nevada, since it’s not legalized federally, you can be denied work or fired for having it in your system.

As a half-black man, these policies are important to me. And while I’m ecstatic that Kamala Harris is not only the first female Vice President, but she’s also African and Asian American. Unfortunately, as Attorney General, Kamala Harris was extremely strict on Black people and crime. In an article from Afropunk.com, the writer said:

As someone from the Bay Area and living in Oakland, I am constantly reminded of her history of locking up Black people in the Bay Area. Her track record consists of terrorizing Black communities through the prison industrial complex and she has consistently shown herself to be an enemy to the masses of Black people.

Yesterday, this clip of Van Jones went viral:

During this time, don’t be disillusioned that all of our problems are going to be solved because we removed Donald Trump from office. Remember, the deaths of Eric Garner, Sandra Bland, Freddie Gray, Tamir Rice, Michael Brown, and many others Black Americans all happened while Barack Obama was in office.

No matter how many times Van Jones cries on television, we need to remember that Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are taking care of people like him. I’m glad that they’ve mentioned raising the minimum wage, but just weeks ago, Joe Biden basically said that you’re wealthy people are those making over $400,000 a year. In a country of 328 million people, the average income is $57,456, and that’s a generous number.

I don’t know about you, but I’m 35 years old, and I’ve never made $57,000 a year in my life.

Joe Biden and Kamala Harris have shown who they are, and one of the biggest issues is that people think they’re going to change now that they’ve been elected. The reality is that a vampire isn’t polite just because you invited them into your house.

Are they going to change?

In Joe Biden’s victory speech, he thanked Black Americans for helping him win the election. He said that they had his back, and now he’s going to have theirs. This week, Stacey Abrams became a household name for her work in Georgia and how she helped flip the state blue for the first time in years. Many are now calling for Biden to find a spot for Stacey Abrams in his cabinet. There have even been whispers that Bernie Sanders wants to be the Labor Secretary.

Unfortunately, that’s not how this thing works.

Kyle Kulinski from Secular talk puts it perfectly in this video.

It’s already official. Joe Biden is President-elect, and we got him for the next four years. But for some reason, a lot of articles have come out saying what Joe Biden needs to do for different classes of people who voted for him. Then, there are the senators and politicians who endorsed him, and then asked for things in return after the fact. This man was just put in the most powerful position in the country, he doesn’t have to do anything for three years until it’s time for a re-election campaign.

I don’t mean to be a pessimist, but I’m a realist. I wish we lived in a world where politicians honored reciprocity, but that’s not the case. For years, Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, haven’t worked for us: they’ve worked for the corporations. I’m glad that these two have given people much-needed hope, but now it’s time to hold them accountable. So, what can we do?

What can we do?

This year, we shattered voting records. I saw many theories floating around for why that is. Some people said that this just proved how bad Hilary Clinton was, and some think it shows that Joe Biden is just an amazing person. As a recovering drug addict, I respect how he’s publicly handled being the father of a recovering addict, but I have a different theory for why we broke voting records. I don’t think I’m alone when I say that I think that people turned up in record numbers not because Biden is that good, but because Trump was that bad.

You’d think World War 3 ended with the way people were celebrating yesterday. People flocked to the streets to chant, party, and play music. In London, they lit off fireworks, and they range the church bells in Paris. The entire world celebrated. But we weren’t celebrating the election of Joe Biden; we celebrated the removal of Donald Trump.

If we hope to make this the country the one we know it can be, we need to keep this same energy for the next four years. This means that we need to pay attention and stay involved. The American people have spoken time and time again, and we’re just asking to catch up to other developed nations.

The majority of Americans want a single-payer healthcare system and free college. We also want a Green New Deal, and as we saw with so many other states, we want the legalization of marijuana and an end to The War on Drugs. This year, we showed what can happen when we show up and make our voices heard, so over these next four years, we need to do it again, and again, and again on the local, state, and federal levels.

I’m not a political scientist, but over the last four years, I’ve done everything I can to learn about how our system works. I spent the first 30 years of my life saying that I didn’t care about politics and my vote doesn’t matter, and that was ignorant of me. This is why I encourage all of you to stay informed and see what’s happening in your local elections and fight for what you believe in.

While I don’t agree with everything Alexandria Ocasio-Ortez does, I respect the hell out of her, and she’s one of the most progressive voices we have for our generation. What’s so inspiring about her is that she’s a young woman who won an impossible election, and now everyone knows her name as she stands up for a social democracy. Since she was elected, we’ve seen more and more progressives be elected by major cities and states, and we have to keep that rolling.

Relative to Donald Trump, any new president would look good, but Biden and Harris need to know that we’ll vote them out in 2024, and it’s not just them. Our local and state politicians hold a lot of power, and who they endorse matters. If they aren’t standing up for what we want, we need to vote them out in the mid-terms. That’s the only way we’re going to elect a president that’s working in our best interests as a society.

Remember, the pink cloud fades, and by Springtime of 2021, we’re going to remember the state that this country is in and has been in since before Donald Trump. People are still going to struggle to put food on the table. People are going to struggle to pay for rent and healthcare. Before Donald Trump, suicide and overdose rates were on the rise for years, and they’ve only become worse since the pandemic. Police brutality, disproportionate incarceration rates, and the murdering of Black Americans are still going to be an issue.

But the going back to where we started with Jonathan Haidt’s moral matrix, there’s a difference between those who voted for Trump and those who voted for Biden; we’re not afraid to speak to authority and fight for the America that we all deserve to live in.