My expectations of Biden and the Democrats
Nothing will Fundamentally Change
As a leftist politically, there are certain things that I hope to be able to see and to be done by our politicians. Yet, there is a difference with expectations and our wishlists of what we think is a better solution to the problems that the working people have.
When we state things like Medicare for All and the $15 minimum wage, this is a wishlist. It is part of a list of things we feel would be beneficial to us all in the working class. Yet, this is different from what I expect the Democratic politicians will actually do.
My expectations of Biden and the Democrats are that nothing will fundamentally change. It is interesting that Biden even stated this at one point during the campaign. This was probably something that he shouldn’t have stated, but that he was stating the actual truth of what he plans on doing. We hear all the other platitudes and think everything is going to get better, but will they?
When we take action over words, we see that things aren’t what is being told to us directly. Maybe that has been the intent all along, but somehow the fight for making it so, isn’t fought very well. Yes, there are issues with the Republicans and somehow, the Republicans always seem to have more power than the Democrats, no matter if they are in power or not in Congress. When you look at actions over the words, it is easier to see this, but when you take the words as a matter of truth and see hope, the blind faith comes in that the Democrats will make sure to make it so in their minds.
I’m sure some people are thinking of the filibuster and getting rid of it. Yes, it probably should go, but you know, the Republicans could have done it when they were in power and giving the Democrats less leverage than they had when they weren’t in power. So, the one’s speaking of getting rid of the filibuster are Democrats who want their politicians to be able to have more power and to not have to worry about the opposition from the Republicans. The way I see the filibuster is that is just a delaying tactic which can only help in certain times. It won’t necessarily stop the power of those who are in power. Yet, the Democrats are still thwarted from time to time, even now. If it isn’t McConnell, it is Manchin that is able to slow down or stop the power play of the Democrats, no matter if it is going to be good for us or not.
AOC stated that for Progressives, Biden has “exceeded expectations.” What did this mean? Well, it didn’t mean exactly what most think to me. My expectations were just things turning back to normal in the sense of what things were before Trump. This was my expectation of Biden. He fulfilled it. I was a bit impressed with going for the Executive Order for a certain level of gun control, but it seems like it was limited. Sure, the ghosting, red flags, programs for the community, and the pistol braces are one thing, but I thought assault weapons were a part of it due to assault weapons have been used in multiple mass shootings. Supposedly not. I guess this was supposed to be for Congress rather than the President. Did Biden back down due to making sure he doesn’t look like he has too much power or did he feel that it was up to Congress and not himself? Technically, he could do it if he was serious enough about it. Yet, he didn’t. Yet, this gun control part is really something more for Democrats than what Progressives have been going on about. Sure, we need it, but we also need ways to go deeper than just the guns. Will the new community programs help with this? Yet, we have plenty of other issues that aren’t even being considered but gun control is something Democrats have had their eyes on for a long time anyway.
So, did that mean that Biden is “exceeding my expectations?” Not really. The things we are going for and on our wishlists, even Biden stated he’d do during the campaign, didn’t happen. We already knew he was totally against Medicare for All. Why? Most likely because he has connections with the Health Insurance Industry. He did state he will make sure of the $15 minimum wage, but he hasn’t done anything about that and doesn’t look like he will.
The pattern of campaign promises and what actually happens can be seen if you are willing to look for them. Some aren’t willing to look for those patterns because they want to believe that things will get better. In some parts, it has. Yet so much of it is very superficial. Trump’s tweet rants in the middle of the night are one of the biggest superficial things that people are so glad they are missing, and that Biden seems so “Presidential” because of it. This wasn’t about being“Presidential,” this was because of how many did not like Trump’s way of ranting like a big bully of sorts. Yet, this wasn’t about policy, this was about the person and personality of Trump. It wasn’t political.
So, my expectations were that things won’t really change because of the two-party system that we are in and that each of them just does their usual thing. These things aren’t happening because the things on our wishlists aren’t within their system that they’ve been a part of for decades or much longer. This is why Progressives and leftists aren’t happy about what is happening as of yet. We see many opportunities and they just don’t happen. Why are the two parties against helping their own people and always going for helping the corporations in the end? If you look online on OpenSecrets.org and Follow the Money.org you can see what kind of finances have been tracked and who has the influences on them. This is their system that they’ve been a part of for a very long time and not about the people in general.
I will state this for myself. My expectations for the future are that we are still going to have the same things over and over. No matter if we have the supposed Squad of Progressives or not that don’t seem to want to push for things as in ForceTheVote that was trending for a while. It goes to show that there is more that needs to be done and not with those parties, but with a different system altogether since the system we have isn’t for the people. What that is and how to do it, I’m not sure at the moment, but actual revolutions mean doing drastic things in order to make things happen. It doesn’t have to be violent, but it needs to be done in order for the people to have what is needed. We just can’t seem to trust those in office at this point.
I wish we could trust them and that is the goal of Progressives and leftists in order to have a responsible and accountable government that is not swayed by corporations. Unfortunately, that isn’t the case at this point and until something gets truly done and by many people, we won’t get that change.
