There are more than seven million reasons to vote for former Vice President Joe Biden to be the 46th President of the United States.
Number one, is he is not Donald J. Trump. A close second, however, is as American citizens, we love our country and want to see it exist as a thriving democratic enterprise into the future. None of which will be possible if Trump somehow manages to hang on for another term.
The proof is in the more than seven million Americans infected with the highly contagious Covid-19 virus and closing in on 300,000 dead from it – in less than a year – due solely to Trump’s deadly negligence and malignant narcissism.
Couple that tragedy with Trump’s breathtaking moral turpitude and his arguably being the most incompetent, corrupt, blatantly racist and dangerous man to occupy the White House since the Confederate sympathizer, Vice President Andrew Johnson succeeded Abraham Lincoln following his assassination in 1865, and you have reason enough to furiously reject out of hand the very notion of Trump serving another term as President of the United States.
Within the African American community, Biden is best known for his extraordinarily successful eight-year term as the loyal and trusted Vice President to Barak Obama, the nation’s first African American President of the United States. And now, for selecting the first African and Asian American woman, Sen. Kamala Harris (D-CA) to serve as his Vice-Presidential running mate.
Yes, his resume as a veteran politician is impressive. His stable, mature, inclusive and people-centered style of leadership will stand in stark contrast to the utter chaos, corrupt and autocratic style of governing that has been the hallmark of the Trump Administration.
Biden will bring a sense of dignity and commitment to public service back to the Office of the President after four consecutive years of debauchery and self-dealing under Trump. As a highly respected elder statesman and leader in both the Legislative and Executive Branches of our federal government, he offers a respite from the chaos and carnage that has so badly traumatized our nation.
His experience working on behalf of both the poor and working-class Americans of all races, ethnicities, religions and from every walk of life since his election to the U.S. Senate in 1972, will be crucial in restoring a semblance of balance to the out-of-whack politics of Washington, D.C.
Through blatant voter suppression, gerrymandering, dark money and collaboration with Russian spies, the Trump Administration, and his Republican enablers, have seized hold of our government although they represent a minority of the actual Americans in terms of political representation. They have imposed economic and tax policies on the nation that benefit the rich and punish the poor, exacerbating the already gaping inequality between rich and poor and even the middle-class and poor, which continues to be a severe drag on our economy.
Trump has also sabotaged Obamacare and at this very moment is in the Supreme Court demanding it permanently destroy the healthcare policy that not only protects people with pre-existing conditions from being discriminated against by insurers but has also provided affordable healthcare coverage to more than 23 million Americans including more than 800,000 Michiganders.
In addition, his administration has gone out of its way to undermine public schools, gutted federal aid to the states and so badly eviscerated the Justice Department that no rational citizen dare looks to it for anything approaching justice or equal treatment under the law. And working hand in glove with a neo-Confederate controlled Republican Party, it has malevolently packed and resegregated the federal courts with bigots and far-right extremists so hostile toward civil rights and the rights of African Americans in particular, that the consensus among most African American political, legal, religious and academic scholars is that we are now in the throes of a Second Post-Reconstruction.
On the international front, Trump has obliterated our long-standing strategic alliances around the world while subjugating himself and American foreign policy to President Vladimir Putin of Russia and cozying up to other strongman and dictators from around the globe.
Unlike Trump, who insultingly brags about “doing more for da Blacks” than any president in history, Biden acknowledges that the Trump recession has hit Black and Brown communities especially hard, with Black unemployment at 15.4 percent, Latino unemployment at 14.5 percent and businesses owned by Black, Latino, and Asian American people closing down at alarming rates.
He promises to use the power of his office to combat poverty, unfair labor policies, job discrimination and ruinous tax and budgetary policies that have been at the heart of Trump and the Republican Party’s economic agenda.
This includes bold investments in infrastructure, innovation, manufacturing, education, housing, clean energy, federal procurement and small businesses. And directing many of those investments to advance racial equity as part of our nation’s economic recovery.
According to his campaign’s “Build Back Better Plan for America” Biden will:
- Spur Public-Private Investment through a New Small Business Opportunity Plan
- Reform Opportunity Zones to Fulfill Their Promise
- Make a Historic Commitment to Equalizing Federal Procurement
- Ensure his Housing Plan Makes Bold Investments in Homeownership and Access to Affordable Housing for Black, Brown and Native Families
- Achieve Equity in Management, Training and Higher Education Opportunities Connected to the Jobs of the Future
- Boost Retirement Security and Financial Wealth for Black, Brown and Native Families
- Ensure Workers of Color Are Compensated Fairly and Treated with Dignity
- Ensure Equity in Biden’s Bold Infrastructure and Clean Energy Investments
- Support Second Chances for Economic Success
- Strengthen the Federal Reserve’s Focus on Racial Economic Gaps
- Promote Diversity and Accountability in Leadership Across Key Positions in All Federal Agencies
- Build a 21st Century Care Infrastructure
- Address Longstanding Inequities in Agriculture
The contrast in choices could not be clearer. Trump campaigns and governs on hate, divisiveness and destruction. He promises more of the same if re-elected.
Joe Biden has campaigned on a theme of national unity and building our country “back better.”
Given the grotesque incompetence, sheer cruelty, and utter failure of the Trump Administration, Biden’s experience, temperament, and promise to do his best to unify this nation while bringing these priorities and a sense of humanity to the Oval Office if elected, will be a welcome relief.
The Atlanta Daily World endorses Joe Biden for President of the United States.