Biden and Democrats prove best choice for country

Biden+and+Democrats+prove+best+choice+for+country

Bailee Acreman, Reporter

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With all of the controversy around the upcoming election, it is important that citizens take an objective look at each president’s policies in order to educate themselves and others, and vote on the candidate that will be best for America. Between COVID-19, increasing racial and class tension, and rising unemployment rates, making the right choice can be confusing and overwhelming. That being said, based on policy, professionalism, and sympathy for American citizens, Joe Biden is the superior choice for President. 

A large problem facing the U.S. right now is the current pandemic, COVID-19. Biden’s plan for immediate response to this issue is to free testing for all and create 100,000 jobs to set up a national contact-tracing program. He encourages all governors to mandate masks and would like to set up at least ten testing centers in every state. Due to COVID-19, unemployment has risen from the 6.2 million Americans affected to 20.5 million. Biden plans to do whatever it takes to extend loans to small businesses and increase direct money payments to families. He also wants to add an additional $200 a month to social security payments, $10,000 in student loan forgiveness for federal loans, and to raise the minimum wage to $15 an hour. 

Among the economic changes he plans to make, he also plans to invest in green energy and create jobs in the manufacturing of “green energy” while doing so, something very important in our current position. This will prove to be more cost effective than our current system. Biden not only acknowledges the danger of climate change, he also has plans to combat it. Some of these include rejoining the Paris Climate Accord which commits the U.S. to cutting it’s greenhouse gas emissions by 28% by 2025 from the 2005 levels. He has proposed a $1.7 trillion investment in green technologies to be spent over 10 years and would like the U.S. to reach net zero emissions by 2050. 

Another looming issue today is the current racial tension in America. In order to help disadvantaged POC (people of color) in the country, Biden acknowledges systemic racism and the oppressive nature of our society today towards African Americans especially. He plans to help families affected by this and ensure POC workers are fairly compensated and treated with dignity. He would also like to strengthen the Federal Reserve’s focus on racial economic gaps. While tackling the racism and division within the country, he plans to stay out of foreign affairs, however, he would like to repair the country’s relationship with U.S. allies, particularly NATO (The North Atlantic Treaty Organization). He promises to reverse Trump’s policies that separate parents from their children at the U.S. border, rescind the limits on the number of applicants for asylum, protect “Dreamers” while giving them access to federal student aid, and end travel bans on several majority-Muslim countries. 

While every person deserves to vote for who they see fit, there are also a number of reasons why not only is Biden the better candidate, but Trump is simply not who should represent America. Firstly, while Biden pushed for gay marriage to be legal, Trump’s administration has enacted several anti-LGBTQ+ policies, even amid a pandemic. The most recent of these include the rollback of a previous rule that protected transgender people from discrimination by homeless shelters and other housing services receiving federal funds. This is especially dangerous considering our high unemployment rate. He has also made many sexist and plain unprofessional comments towards women during his presidency, often either insulting their looks or objectifying their bodies. Among these, Trump has also made various racist comments, retweeted a video of a man saying “white power,” and in the latest presidential debate, refused to condemn white supremacists, instead opting to tell them to “stand back and stand by.” 

Biden not only has better policies that will move America forward and ultimately, with a bit of spending and higher taxes on the rich, will save the country money, but he also shows compassion and sympathy towards disadvantaged POC, members of the LGBTQ+ community, and women of this country and plans to do everything in his power to give them true equality.