Looking Ahead to The 2024 Election: What Voters Can Do, and What They Need to Remember
As we make our way to the end of another year and to the start of what may be the most important election year of our lives, I’d like to offer a few of my thoughts about this next Presidential Election Cycle:
From reproductive rights hanging in the balance in a post-Roe v. Wade world to US involvement in the Israeli-Palestine conflict, it is clear that the preservation of our democracy is at stake. We cannot allow Donald Trump to be re-elected; he and his enablers have a vision of America that will put us thousands of steps backward in the wrong direction, both as a society and as a nation. His base is both loud and loyal. They will not hesitate to bend the government to his will; they are perfectly fine with the status quo that supports political disenfranchisement of our most vulnerable communities, which will continue to hinder truly radical change from taking place. Trump supporters and co-conspirators do not respect the rights of anyone who isn't a privileged cisgender White man. The laws and policies his cronies in Congress have already implemented could not demonstrate that more clearly.
This craven, unethical, and hypocritical iteration of the Republican Party is not just a political party anymore, but rather are worshipers at the altar of "Orange Jesus," with zero concern for anyone other than themselves and maintaining their power and the culture of white supremacy baked into our institutions.
So, now the question remains: what do we as voters need to do? What are we able to do?
The first thing to do is to make sure that you, and everyone you know, is registered to vote in the state where you live, especially if you live in a swing state. Look up the registration deadlines, set a reminder, and get it done. To confirm your registration status, look up your information on Vote.org to confirm if you still need to register in your state.
Now to my second step, which may ruffle a few feathers among my progressive and left-wing friends: Go to the polls and vote for Joe Biden and every Democrat on your ballot. Period.
With all due respect to the people who say President Biden is not progressive enough for them, that he didn't keep his campaign promises when it came to voting rights or police brutality, or even that he's simply too old, I would like to offer my Top Ten Reasons to Vote for President Biden:
President Biden is doing a job that would likely exhaust most people half his age and doing it well. His trip to Ukraine and the progress he has made so far on student loan forgiveness are just two examples that demonstrate his fitness for a very big job. Donald Trump is not much younger, and well…we see how that ended with a failed insurrection, among other things.
While it is true that he didn't do all of the things for Black Americans that he said that he would do, the point remains that overall, his policy agenda is less harmful than anything Donald Trump has done and says he would do.
He has been an extraordinary leader on the world stage and has restored America's standing. Ended the longest war in American history by pulling the troops out of Afghanistan, and recommitted America to the global fight against climate change by rejoining the Paris Agreement.
Joe Biden is many things, but he is not a treasonist criminal election denier collaborator with QAnon, White Nationalists, and all manner of individuals and entities who intentionally spread misinformation to confuse voters and create chaos in an already-chaotic world. It pains me that this still needs to be said, but not aligning oneself with known racists and misinformation enablers should be a bare minimum requirement for leading our country.
At his core, Biden believes in a woman's right to bodily autonomy, especially when it comes to their right to have an abortion. Those of us who support a woman’s right to choose to have an abortion or not may differ on how that can look policy-wise, but I think we can all agree that having a President who is in support of that basic right is better than the alternative progress toward reproductive justice is a common goal.
He supports the rights of LGBTQIA people to marry whoever they love, regardless of their beloved’s gender. Support of gay marriage should also be considered a bare minimum requirement for Democrats; their overall policy agenda should not stop there. Support of gay marriage is the gateway to supporting other issues that affect the LGBTQIA community: expanding access to gender-affirming care and legal protection from job discrimination based on gender expression or sexual orientation.
Biden believes that EVERYONE is entitled to affordable health care, and has taken steps to maintain that. During his first term, he gave Medicare the power to negotiate prescription drug prices through the Inflation Reduction Act while also reducing government health spending. He reduced healthcare premiums under the Affordable Care Act by $800 a year as part of the American Rescue Plan.
He has a strong Vice President in Kamala Harris. There have been valid critiques of Kamala Harris in the VP role, but they don’t necessarily tell the whole story. To understand Kamala Harris’s role, we must also understand the Vice President’s central role, which is to preside over the Senate, not to be the face or mouthpiece of the administration. Of course, we aren’t going to hear from her front and center–she is too busy keeping our Senate in order and building relationships with key leaders. One could argue that this role is more important than the President’s in some ways because it is Congress that ultimately passes the laws that affect the average voter.
Every Democrat may not like Biden, or agree with his positions. Some of us will stay convinced that he is too old, or that someone else is more qualified. But I believe that at least every Democrat should vote to re-elect Biden if we are to remain on the right side of history. We must vote as if our lives and our democracy depend on it because they do.
