No More Malarkey: Ditch Biden's Candidacy

Jaden Lanza, staff editor

We are at a crossroads in American politics at which the country will determine its future trajectory. There is, of course, the general election in November in which Democrats will angle to unseat incumbent President Donald Trump. But before then is an electoral contest of perhaps equal consequence—the Democratic primaries. Whoever the nominee is in 2020 will have enormous power over the future of the party’s politics, and whether that means democratic socialism triumphs or if the establishment will continue to quash all challengers.

The face of the old Democratic establishment in this race is Joe Biden. A prospective Biden nomination, whether or not he goes on to win the general election, would be disastrous for several reasons. The choice of Biden is a choice for the same age-old establishment brand of politics that is precisely what got us a Trump presidency in the first place. Frequently forgotten is that powerful Democratic party leaders such as Biden have led the charge on regressive policies. It’s extremely worrying that Biden has led the primary field thus far despite having perhaps the most alarming record of all the candidates.

Biden’s long history of dealings and legislative achievements in the Senate are unforgivable, and his consistent record of engaging in corrupt or immoral actions and then lying about doing them are deal-breakers. His worst, most glaring mistakes include cooperating on legislation with segregationists, architecting the devastating 1994 Crime Bill, and voting for the Iraq War.

These were not minor mistakes or actions Biden was forced into; he celebrated the provisions of the crime bill with glee, according to Vox writer German Lopez: “Biden reveled in the politics of the 1994 law, bragging after it passed that ‘the liberal wing of the Democratic Party’ was now for ‘60 new death penalties,’ ‘70 enhanced penalties,’ ‘100,000 cops,’ and ‘125,000 new state prison cells.’” He frequently called for tougher laws on violent drug crimes along with longer sentencing, contributing to mass incarceration’s racialized expansion across the country.

Biden’s record on criminal justice only scratches the surface of his problematic stances but is useful to illustrate why he’s so untrustworthy, and why nominating him would be dangerous. His response to criticism of the bill was simply that most prisoners are not in federal prisons, but this doesn’t change anything whatsoever about the heartless and reprehensive rhetoric he joyfully peddled in for political gain.

As of the time this was written, the likely alternative for the nomination is Bernie Sanders. For those with qualms about Sanders, he is nonetheless unquestionably superior to Biden in conscience and consistency. Biden is a man who stands for nothing and is quite likely to flounder in a matchup against Donald Trump given his gaffe-filled, deleterious campaign that is only showing more cracks as time goes by. Biden frequently fails to answer basic questions, and when he does answer, he’s made it crystal clear that he won’t “fundamentally change” anything from the Obama presidency—and in fact, has “no empathy” for struggling young voters at all. There is not a solitary part of Biden’s candidacy that inspires any confidence.

Biden’s slogan ‘No Malarkey’ is an empty promise. In fact, it’s hard to find another national Democratic politician with more malarkey. If you believe in pushing for real change—in ending disastrous wars engineered by the military-industrial complex, in fostering racial and economic justice, then Joe Biden is not your candidate.

The grotesque levels of inequality and despair in the world today is a tragedy. Biden has helped advance the forces responsible for decades, cooperating with racist demagogues and neoliberal elites. A Biden presidency would merely result in more Bush-style tax cuts like under Obama, inequality will continue to widen, endless American wars will proceed interminably, and far too little will be done to tackle climate change. If current Democratic leadership is willing to fast-track conservative judicial appointments to the federal courts, vote for historically large military budgets, and rubber stamp Trump’s USMCA trade deal that fixes virtually nothing wrong with NAFTA, just imagine what a similarly hawkish Biden administration would pass.

In comparison, Bernie Sanders has spent the last four decades fighting the forces that decimated the working class. Wars, tax and social welfare cuts, and anti-labor trade agreements have devastated countless communities, but Sanders has consistently fought for the welfare of regular working people. Love him or hate him, there must be no equivocation among progressives that Bernie Sanders is far preferable to Joe Biden. To be a bystander in this decision is not only reticent but criminally so. After the Iowa Caucuses, Sanders holds a tentative lead in almost every state; this is the chance to ditch the nefarious predilections of Biden and his campaign. We should take that chance.

Jaden A. Lanza ‘23 studies in the College of Arts & Sciences. He can be reached at jadenlanza@wustl. edu.