Not Your Father’s Joe
A sincere apology to President Biden.
In April of 2020, I joined other Democrats in being distressed that the Party was again providing me with a choice of the less bad of two bad options. Trump was a malevolent, right-wing imbecile and so the bar was pretty low. As usual, the Democratic Party provided a not so very repugnant and not so very controversial and also apparently deserving, since he had waited so long, almost OK candidate in Joe Biden. Given his history, I was satisfied that this would be another basic capitalist, anti-union, neoliberal timidly serving the same tepid, unimaginative governance gruel I’ve been choking down for decades.
Historically, Biden had been a major advocate for one of our most corrupt Supreme Court justices, Clarence Thomas. Biden drove crime reduction programs that simply imprisoned more black people for longer. He agreed with the common myth that the government deficit was actually similar to family debt and so must be reduced at the expense of the poor and middle class. He believed that high employment led unavoidably to inflation, and so the average guy has to pay the price of prosperity for business and the wealthy.
Despite all of that evidence, President Biden has surprised me. I can imagine a number of qualified candidates that I would prefer over Joe Biden but I must apologize for my characterization of Biden in my essay The Purple Noose of Freedom from April of 2020. The majority of that essay remains a valid critique of the Democratic Party and its general strategy; but, Joe Biden has proved to be a changed man. He has done something that is very difficult for anyone, but is astoundingly difficult for an older person with a history. Your acts define you and those acts proclaim who you are and drive the deep need to affirm that identity (See Social Media as Eternal Testimony). Biden has done an admirable job of overcoming those historical misjudgments and I must acknowledge the real value he has provided.
Real Progress
While the current compromise of restarting Trump’s pointless wall is a little disappointing, it cannot be denied that the Build Back Better Plan, proposed by the Biden administration, led to a number of government initiatives that actually helped the economy and the American people. The American Rescue Plan provided rental assistance, student loan forgiveness and direct payments to adults affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. The Inflation Reduction Act of 2022, passed with the grudging endorsement of Joe Manchin, provided tax credits for environmentally responsible actions by companies and individuals, introduced Medicare drug negotiation, and seeks to move most tax audit activities to corporations and the wealthy (the sources for the majority of unpaid taxes).
Despite these bills being cut back from their original intent by all Republicans and two rogue Democrats, they were passed nonetheless and are currently in force. The fact that these acts put more money into the hands of average people led, as Republican pundits had warned, to inflation; but, the reason for that was not what traditional economists would have you believe (see Hoard of Plenty). The distinct set of circumstances behind the improved consumer liquidity allowed a careful analysis of the reasons that prices were raised. It turns out that the primary cause was that companies already making excellent profits were raising prices simply to further pad their already fluffy bottom lines. This was aptly referred to as greedflation, the reason for which is based in the recommendations of the Chicago School of Economics to which all Republicans and most Democrats remain slavishly dedicated. That inflation was brought under control while maintaining the necessary homage to the Chicago School.
Those economic policies, promoted by Biden and passed by his slim Democratic majority legislature, were ground breaking. The Biden of the 1990s would never have supported such a Progressive agenda, but his decisions over this Presidency have responsibly addressed multiple deeply rooted crises including a pandemic, worker unrest and employer complaints that Americans seem no longer willing to submit to wage-slavery. Indeed, Biden was the first U.S. President to speak to and walk with striking laborers when he joined the UAW strike in Detroit, Michigan on September 26th, 2023.
The more Progressive Biden agenda is expressed across the executive branch. The Biden DOJ is bringing anti-trust action against Google for its competition-quelling tactics to elevate its search engine to ultimate dominance. Biden’s FTC is bringing a long-overdue anti-trust suit against Amazon for its pattern of illegal conduct assuring near-monopoly power over multiple markets. Under Biden, the FCC is taking steps to reverse previous actions and restore regulations in support of net neutrality. The FCC, under Jessica Rosenworcel, will seek to designate internet connections, both in the home and on the internet, as “essential telecommunications” which will restrict ISP’s ability to restrict or throttle connections.
Reform, Maybe Redemption
I continue to doubt that Biden was the ideal candidate for 2020 but I cannot deny his effectiveness to this point. He is not your father’s Biden. He has accepted many of the more controversial planks of the Progressive agenda and that is good. He remains a little staid and is slow to accept the fundamental corruption and duplicity of the Republican Organization; but, he seems to have shed the shackles of his history and begun a diligent rethink of his previous positions.
I would like to see a different Democratic candidate in 2024 or at least a more progressive VP with Biden; but, as I always have, I will reluctantly vote for the Democratic Presidential candidate. If it is Biden, I will be less disappointed than usual and I will hope for continued effective governance.
Julian S. Taylor is the author of Famine in the Bullpen a book about bringing innovation back to software engineering. Available at or orderable from your local bookstore. Rediscover real browsing at your local bookstore. Also available in ebook and audio formats at Sockwood Press.