The August Biden Priorities Survey

[Edward64]

A previous post responded to a question I posed and said Biden won't announce his very top priorities until the convention. We are almost here now and interested in your thoughts on what his top priorities should be for the first 100-day to 2 years.

What should be his Top-5 in order. The rules are - you can list more than 5 but the top-5 are what you think is the very most important for you in order.

My list are:

1) All things coronavirus. This includes accelerating therapeutics, vaccine; coordinating with allies and neutrals; being more honest, transparent and somehow better lead/guide the nation; dealing with 2nd wave; helping out companies big-and-small. I suspect there will be a push for a 3rd stimulus package, it depends on the situation and $ but unless the economy is falling off a cliff again, I lean against it.

2) Economy & stock market. Maintain, rebuild, grow. Start planning and putting out feelers for reducing debt & deficit. This overlaps with coronavirus but important enough where I'm giving its own priority.

3) Reachouts to and rebuilding relationships. This includes the GOP and also our allies. With the GOP there will need to be give-and-take and compromise. With allies, there needs to be a common purpose(s) to work or rally towards.

4) Immigration. I prefer a holistic immigration policy but understand it may need to be in "releases". Go for the low-hanging fruit, the easier ones to get done quickly which IMO includes DACA, increased temp workers, increased legal skills-based immigration.

5) China. Acknowledge and seriously plan for the China threat. Create a true strategy to deal with it. I actually view China as more pressing than Immigration but think initial Immigration is "easier" to do. China will take much more time and coordinated effort with allies & neutrals


Outside of my top-5 but still pretty high are:

6) Beef up healthcare somehow

7) Deal with budget deficits & debt. I acknowledge this will almost be impossible to do in the first 2 years

[Galaril]

1. National federal response to help states schools hospitals etc
2. National Police reform and racial justice program
3. Real Sanctions against Russia
4. Tax plan to tax the 1%
5. Healthcare

6. Rebuild international relationships with allies like France,Germany etc
7. Help fix and also protect the post office from the shit the Rs are doing maybe combine it with election reforms like popular vote push.

[albionmoonlight]

1) COVID/Corona

2) Structural judicial reform. This is higher on my list considering my job. But the process is totally broken. If your party controls both the Senate and the Presidency, you cram through the youngest most hyper-partisan judges and justices you can. If control is split, then no one goes through. That needs to change. Not sure how without an amendment, but relying on norms does not work.

3) More ambitious structural reform. I think that a lot of the substantive issues will resolve themselves if we can fix the structure of the government trying to solve them. Most of these would, unfortunately, require amendments:

-Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico. It is insane that so many Americans live without Congressional representation, and we are just cool with that.

-Divide the senate into thirds. States with the largest population get 3 senators. States in the middle get 2. States with the lowest population get one.

-Reduce/Eliminate Gerrymandering. There are several good plans out there.

-Increase the number of Reps. A Representative should represent a certain number of people, and the number of reps should automatically go up as the population increases. It will keep the reps more beholden to their constituents and less to the national parties.

--Significantly fund federal elections. The First Amendment (rightly) prohibits us from restricting campaign donating and spending. But we can decrease the value of those extra dollars if candidates have the money to run serious campaigns without having to fund raise.

3) Eliminate FICA taxes (and increase other taxes to make up for it). Why do we want to tax working for your money so heavily? Congress would still pay Medicare and Social Security. But it would be untethered from a specific tax. This would also eliminate the "social security is running out of money" talking point because we would eliminate the fiction that Congress must pay it if the money from a certain arbitrary pot is there or can't pay it if the money isn't in a certain pot. Money is fungible. Let's treat it that way.

4) Aggressively address climate change.

5) Aggressively address income inequality.

[Lathum]

Act like a grown up.

[Lathum]

As for your number 3, if the dems take the senate also then fuck the GOP. Don’t give them shit. They don’t deserve a damn thing after how complicit they have been in getting us to this point. Stepmom their throats then piss on the corpse

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

-Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico. It is insane that so many Americans live without Congressional representation, and we are just cool with that.

Do Puerto Ricans even want statehood? Their last referendum was largely boycotted.

Quick googling says they're voting on the issue again this year so we'll see.

[albionmoonlight]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Do Puerto Ricans even want statehood? Their last referendum was largely boycotted.

Quick googling says they're voting on the issue again this year so we'll see.

Ah. I just assumed after we fucked them over after their hurricane, they would want statehood.

But if they don't, then we certainly should not force them.

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by Lathum

As for your number 3, if the dems take the senate also then fuck the GOP. Don’t give them shit. They don’t deserve a damn thing after how complicit they have been in getting us to this point. Stepmom their throats then piss on the corpse

Stepmom their throats?

[BYU 14]

Originally Posted by NobodyHere

Stepmom their throats?

My interest is piqued as well LOL

[Edward64]

And here I was expecting a serious discussion ...

[NobodyHere]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

Ah. I just assumed after we fucked them over after their hurricane, they would want statehood.

But if they don't, then we certainly should not force them.

As I understand it there's a portion of them who want statehood, some who want independence, and some who just want smaller tweaks in their relations with the US, not to mention a few who want no changes. So it's not really a simple binary question.

Maybe the picture will be more clear after the next vote.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

And here I was expecting a serious discussion ...

Who says it isn’t. Except for a goofy typo. Why should Biden give the gop anything if the dems win the senate? They have been stonewalling and playing dirty since before trump even got elected.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Who says it isn’t. Except for a goofy typo. Why should Biden give the gop anything if the dems win the senate? They have been stonewalling and playing dirty since before trump even got elected.

I kinda asked for people's Top-5 and you went into profanities.

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I kinda asked for people's Top-5 and you went into profanities.

Oh please. Just stop with the pearl clutching. I'm pretty sure you've heard those words before - they're not hurting your virgin ears or something.

Not what I would post but just ignore it and move on.

SI

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by sterlingice

Oh please. Just stop with the pearl clutching. I'm pretty sure you've heard those words before - they're not hurting your virgin ears or something.

Not what I would post but just ignore it and move on.

SI

True.

Just trying to stop the first step into a tangential derailment to Trump bashing (how many Trump bashing threads do we need?) when this is specific to Biden and his priorities.

I'll apologize later if I'm wrong after 10 pages or so (if it gets that much discussion).

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I kinda asked for people's Top-5 and you went into profanities.

Didn't realize Disney ran this forum. Maybe wash the sand from your vagina.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

I kinda asked for people's Top-5 and you went into profanities.

dola- I was giving a serious response to one of your points, are we not allowed to discuss that? Next time be more clear on the rules.

[sterlingice]

1) COVID - I mean, if this isn't fixed, nothing is fixed. You can't reopen the economy or begin to try and operate as semi-normal until this is resolved. Get a vaccine out there. Be very transparent about the risks of the different vaccines and how well they work. Pay for everyone to get it and then see what you have to do from there to build herd immunity within 6 months to a year. And, as a part of that, start cleaning up some of the mess that Trump appointees have done to the CDC, FDA, NIH, etc.

2) I think #2 has to be voting reform. If the Dems aren't the adults in the room and fix this, then the GOP is going to keep doing wacky crap, which is less and less representational of the country. Everything else hinges on this. Use algorithms to draw districts, fixing a bunch of the gerrymandering, and drawing primaries back to the middle instead of the extremes. This is almost as much a burning house as anything - if this isn't fixed, nothing else below this matters because the four years will just disappear and then some the four years after that.

And then it gets tough really fast. I think the top 4ish look like this to me right now. But, man,

3) Climate change. How this is #3 when, as a human race, it's easily #1 except when we're on the brink of world war or another acute crisis like pandemic, shows you just how bad things are right now. Yes, go green new deal - I don't know the specifics but we've got to ramp up carbon reduction and, while we're at it, do what you can to mitigate all the stuff like drilling in ANWR, rolling back clean air and water standards, etc.

3A) Sidebar - this was going to be 6 but let's just tackle it now. Good governance. I think just by virtue of not nominating some combination of imbeciles and active saboteurs, government will work better than it has the last 4 years. Get good nominees who know what they're doing, some lifers in the agencies they are in and others from industry but try very hard to just find the best person for the job. This is not a time for kickbacks and returning favors. Make it work and make it work well. But beyond that, part of the economic plan that will be required to get us out of this mess will require jobs. The government should be well funded and have good jobs, jobs that people want to work at to try and will do good work. I'm sure lots of good people have left in the last 4 years in protest, in disgust, or in despair as Trump and McConnell have been actively trying to destroy it. We need to get some of those people back /and/ get some good, new people in the door. It helps the economy and will help make the government work better for the people.

4) Economic recovery. Crap. How is this #4?!? But, damn, we need people back to work, especially once the pandemic is done. We're going to see a huge separation as fallout from this: big companies are reaping all the rewards while small businesses barely can hold on. I wonder if there's a way to make the PPP permanent in some respects - limit it to companies that make less than $1M per year or something - and use it to help small businesses permanently. Let's get people back to work with jobs cleaning up the environment, let's get on track for a $15 minimum wage and then index it to inflation

I don't give a shit about deficits right now. Stuff needs to be fixed and if it has to be paid for - that's easy. YES, RAISE TAXES. Raise them on anyone making over $100K and that includes my family. Raise them more on anyone making over something like $500K and really raise them on anyone making over like $2M. There needs to be a tax on stock trades - a small fraction but enough to get rid of a bunch of this computerized trading that is arbitraging away all of our retirement. And, while we're at it? If you want free money from the Fed window, you damn well better be incorporated and paying taxes in the US. If your corporate HQ and profits go to some PO Box in Ireland, screw you - you're not getting debt service from the US Fed. You want the benefits of being here, you pay into being here.

5) Health Care reform - hey, we just saw how awful things got. Public option now. Price transparency now. Discharge debt on death and get the damn predatory debt collection industry to go away. Prescription drug price reform. Damn, the list goes on. But this has to be high on the list, too. People need to be able to not lose their health if they lose their job and not lose their lifetime of meager wealth because they lost the medical lottery and got cancer or whatever.

6) Police and criminal justice reform and immigration - We're already down to #6 and I'm having to squeeze all of these things into one bullet? Obviously, we need police reform - start with the house bill and work from there. Then, fix asylum - close the detention centers. Yes, I'm ok with some people slipping through the system in exchange for not having internment camps at our border. While we're at it close Gitmo, too. Let's get rid of some of these moral stains on our past once and for all. Decriminalize marijuana and release prisoners related to that. Get rid of private prisons - if a state wants to incarcerate people at a high rate, they need to do that and face their citizens every 2 or 4 years at election time, not outsource it to some faceless corporation. This is just one of my petty ones: drastically cut the budgets of anyone who participated in the Trump's alphabet soup army. If you have enough people to send a private gestapo to kidnap people off the streets of Portland in unmarked vans, you have too many people. Purge those agencies of ANYONE who participated in those functions - if you were ok with "just following orders" there, then you should be done.

7- however many) And there are so many more things big and small (mostly big) from foreign policy and what to do with China and Russia to things like net neutrality to education reform (student loan forgiveness, repairing damage to Dept of Ed, etc) to the opioid crisis to all the other major problems in this country that all need to be worked on at once.

And I know this won't work forever. May not even work for a month. But whenever the GOP chirps about this, that, or the other reform - condescend to them that, hey, someone has to be the adult in the room. Because the last time they were in charge, we had a pandemic the likes of which we haven't seen in 100 years and a depression that is on a similar time frame. REMIND EVERYONE OFTEN. REMIND EVERYONE HOW BAD THIS IS OVER AND OVER. REMIND EVERYONE THAT GOOD GOVERNANCE MATTERS.

Electing an incompetent idealogue for all the wrong things will end in a pandemic and economic collapse and neo-Nazis and rioting and a foreign policy in shambles, owned/played by foreign powers, and a crippled government. This message needs to be repeated often for the next 4 years and for the next generation - the last time you voted for incompetence, you got it. And look where it left us. And, even worse, the GOP stood idly by and let them do it. So, no, until you can repair that, you don't even get much of a seat at the table because you can't be trusted with it because when you could have stopped it, you chose power instead.

SI

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Didn't realize Disney ran this forum. Maybe wash the sand from your vagina.

Watch out, HR will write you up.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

True.

Just trying to stop the first step into a tangential derailment to Trump bashing (how many Trump bashing threads do we need?) when this is specific to Biden and his priorities.

I'll apologize later if I'm wrong after 10 pages or so (if it gets that much discussion).

Do you seriously expect a discussion about what Bidens priorities should be without it at least somewhat turning into a discussion about Trumps and the GOP failures?

Sorry your secret crush is getting ripped.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Watch out, HR will write you up.

Wouldn't be the first time

[sterlingice]

Originally Posted by Edward64

True.

Just trying to stop the first step into a tangential derailment to Trump bashing (how many Trump bashing threads do we need?) when this is specific to Biden and his priorities.

I'll apologize later if I'm wrong after 10 pages or so (if it gets that much discussion).

Lathum hit the nail on the head pretty hard - Trump and the GOP have really failed this country over the last 4 years. They have actively damaged the country and a vast many things that have to be fixed (not all) directly tie back to their poor governance. And I'm not just talking about Trump's scorched earth campaign of rolling back everything Obama did for petty personal (and, yeah, racist) reasons.

But like I mentioned in my post - his whole blueprint of having active saboteurs in charge of lots of important government posts. We need to fix the damage done by having a for profit school zealot (DeVos) in charge of public education, or a former cable executive in charge of the FCC (Pai), or putting a donor and heavy investor in competing companies in charge of USPS (DeJoy), or having Rick Perry in charge of THE AGENCY HE FORGOT HE WANTED TO ELIMINATE! They were not acting in good faith and were sent there to actively damage government and, by all accounts, they have succeeded.

By and large, this isn't just an administration where we have different opinions on how government can help solve the problems of the country - this one wants to dismantle the government so they can point to it and say "see, it doesn't work". So, as I said in my post, if you have no interest in trying to govern, the people need to be reminded to not let them govern.

SI

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Do you seriously expect a discussion about what Bidens priorities should be without it at least somewhat turning into a discussion about Trumps and the GOP failures?

Sorry your secret crush is getting ripped.

Honestly, yes.

We, as a group, did a great job in keeping the coronavirus thread non-political (e.g. Trump bashing) after a course correction. Isn't it great to be able to discuss, share substantive news, opinions without Trump bashing in that thread?

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Honestly, yes.

We, as a group, did a great job in keeping the coronavirus thread non-political (e.g. Trump bashing) after a course correction. Isn't it great to be able to discuss, share substantive news, opinions without Trump bashing in that thread?

Do you really not understand the differences between the two threads?

Any incoming presidents goals are going to be based on what the prior admin has done, be it by continuing an upward trajectory, or making changes they feel the prior admin should have acted on.

[Jas_lov]

1. Coronavirus - A real coordinated federal response that gives help to the states, puts the doctors and scientists in the lead and provides leadership.
2. Election reform - The House passed a bill on this. Get rid of the Senate filibuster if you need to get it and the rest of the agenda through.
3. Public option to Obamacare - Give people a cheaper option on the markets to buy to help create competition and drive down costs.
4. Climate change/infrastructure
5. Roll back some of the corporate tax cuts and tax cuts for those making over $500K to provide things like lowering the cost of college
6. Repeal Trump's immigration policies and tear down any wall that he's built. Pass a more sensible immigration bill that uses 21st century technology and gives a pathway to citizenship.
7. DC Statehood
8. If Dems win the Senate get Ginsburg to retire in 2020 and Breyer in 2021 to at least keep it at 5-4 for a while. That might be their last chance to retire and get a progressive replacement so McConnell can't block it. If Reps hold the Senate he'll probably just block them even if it's 2 years because it'll increase the conservative majority. Winning the Senate is just as important.

[spleen1015]

COVID has to be the #1 priority but I don't know how he can really help the situation. When he wins, the 43% of the country that didn't vote for him is not going to do anything to help. They just do the what they're doing today and spout that fraudulent mail-in voting won him the election.

[Vegas Vic]

Originally Posted by albionmoonlight

-Statehood for DC and Puerto Rico. It is insane that so many Americans live without Congressional representation, and we are just cool with that.

DC statehood will not happen, at least not in our lifetime.

It would require a Democrat president, a Democrat house and 60 Democrat senators (filibuster proof majority) to pass. So unless Democrats utterly crush Republicans in November, picking up at least 13 senate seats, Republicans will almost certainly have enough Senate seats to filibuster DC statehood.

Even if the filibuster was overcome, the Republicans would almost certainly file a lawsuit seeking to strip DC of its statehood. With the current makeup of the federal courts and Supreme Court, that lawsuit would have a good shot at prevailing, as it would only take five Supreme Court justices to cite the 23rd amendment as a reason for denying DC statehood.

[Lathum]

Originally Posted by spleen1015

COVID has to be the #1 priority but I don't know how he can really help the situation. When he wins, the 43% of the country that didn't vote for him is not going to do anything to help. They just do the what they're doing today and spout that fraudulent mail-in voting won him the election.

I don't agree with this. He can spearhead a coordinated response from the top enlising actual scientists. Work with other countries, the WHO, etc...bring the states together, set money aside for campaigns on awareness, and the biggest one organize a vaccination program for when one is ready.

Even with 40% of the country not on board, a competent response top down would make a huge difference.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Lathum

Do you really not understand the differences between the two threads?

Any incoming presidents goals are going to be based on what the prior admin has done, be it by continuing an upward trajectory, or making changes they feel the prior admin should have acted on.

I understand the difference. I created both of them so understand at least the original intent.

The coronavirus thread had many legit reasons to get into Trump's performance. It went that way for a little bit and then some of us saw it was going to be another spamming, and tiresome circle jerk of Trump bashing (which was occurring in a couple other threads already) where legit news, opinions were going to be overwhelmed by it.

So some of us said let's keep it non-Trump/political. And it worked there, it can work here.

But yeah, "hope" is not a management strategy.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Jas_lov

8. If Dems win the Senate get Ginsburg to retire in 2020 and Breyer in 2021 to at least keep it at 5-4 for a while. That might be their last chance to retire and get a progressive replacement so McConnell can't block it. If Reps hold the Senate he'll probably just block them even if it's 2 years because it'll increase the conservative majority. Winning the Senate is just as important.

Yeah, this is a good one.

I think I would swap my #4 immigration and put this in the top-5.

[ISiddiqui]

1. Covid - Obvious the #1
2. Rebuild the Government - The Trump Administration has been massive incompetent in filling open government positions and in some cases trying to destroy government agencies by neglect (EPA). This has created massive issues. Biden needs to rebuild the executive branch to get anything done.
3. Voting Reform - push for a new Voting Rights Act to replace the one whose portions were struck down, put in federal money (and enticements) for mail in voting
4. ACA/Public Option - Trump has tried to kill Obamacare through executive actions, which needs to be reversed. And a public option needs to be pushed forward
5. Repairing international standing/alliances - Turn back the terrible diplomacy of the Trump years. Push back against Russia. Re-enter into the Iran Accords. Get back into the Paris Accords (or something similar). Get our European and East Asian allies back.

[JPhillips]

Add climate change to Imran's list and I'm cool.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Add climate change to Imran's list and I'm cool.

Well I kinda wanted to make #5 a hybrid, because international climate accords is part of that - but I figured there is enough difference. I think Climate Change needs to be dealt with and soon, but it’s a close #6 for me.

[JPhillips]

I should add my favorite anti-poverty program, lead abatement. But I don't actually expect that to happen.

[Brian Swartz]

1. Lead responsibly. I.e., tell people the truth as much as possible, limit demagoguery, etc. Nothing else a leader does matters if they can't be trusted.

2. COVID.

3. Climate change and along with it pushing us towards a more global way of addressing problems as much as can be possible. Nuclear power, get us out of coal by any means necessary, stop exporting plastic to Asia, etc. Edward will love this, but I'll say it anyway - this means not concerning ourselves overly with rivalries with Russia, China, etc. That's playing the finite game. Play the infinite game.

4. Appoint SCOTUS justices who know backwards and forwards what the rule of law is and didn't forget any of the important parts. Nothing else we do domestically matters if you don't maintain the integrity of the judiciary.

5. Rebuild public trust. There's a limited amount a president can do, but restaffing gov't positions, reasonable police reforms, fiscal policy that takes putting us on path to being debt-free seriously, those types of things that are generally anti-abuse of government power.

[Edward64]

Originally Posted by Brian Swartz

3. Climate change and along with it pushing us towards a more global way of addressing problems as much as can be possible. Nuclear power, get us out of coal by any means necessary, stop exporting plastic to Asia, etc. Edward will love this, but I'll say it anyway - this means not concerning ourselves overly with rivalries with Russia, China, etc. That's playing the finite game. Play the infinite game.

Looked it up and coal is about 24% in 2019. Natural gas is 39% and nuke is 20%. Obviously a lot of factors such as which is most efficient etc. but I have no problems moving away from coal at all. I'm all for some sort of renewable especially re: oil.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) - U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA).

Not sure I get the plastics comment but China is biggest. The US is high up there per capita.

Plastic Pollution - Our World in Data

With the largest population, China produced the largest quantity of plastic, at nearly 60 million tonnes. This was followed by the United States at 38 million, Germany at 14.5 million and Brazil at 12 million tonnes.

I'll admit China (not too worried about Russia) is a "finite" game when compared to climate change but it is a long-term finite game that will have severe repercussions if we don't play it properly.

I think you've said this before with other discussions, it's not either or, it's do both. Where you and I differ is climate change is top-10-15 for me vs China being top-5; we are probably reverse in priorities here.

[Brian Swartz]

Originally Posted by Edward64

Not sure I get the plastics comment but China is biggest. The US is high up there per capita.

One of the points with plastic is that we import a lot of it from China, burning lots of carbon to get it here. Then we send it back to that part of the world, burning lots of more carbon to do that. And then it largely gets dumped in the ocean anyway. We'd literally be better off from an ecological standpoint throwing it into the oceans by our own shores, and it's hard to lead on environmental issues globally when you are sending your problematic wastes halfway around the world.

Originally Posted by Edward64

Where you and I differ is climate change is top-10-15 for me vs China being top-5; we are probably reverse in priorities here.

You're right that it's not either or, but we can't deal with China without dealing with climate change. If we don't handle climate change well, we'll be dreaming fondly of the days when there was such a thing as a prosperous global economy. Being successful vis a vis China, whatever else it means, must necessarily mean transitioning to a greener economy more quickly and efficiently than they do. If we don't do that, nothing else we try will matter.

[Radii]

I'm going to pretty much co-sign SI's list here, but I think everyone is missing something at #1 or maybe I might even mark it as #0.1 - analyze all of the very specific harm done to marginalized people under the Trump administration and mobilize as much as possible to right the wrongs on day 1. The obvious example is separating families at the border and keeping people in fucking cages, any sort of executive order where someone like Rudy Giuliani could go on TV and say "of course we are trying to keep muslims out of our country with this" and then the entire administration pretends that never happened (b/c its unconstitutional if we listen to the words coming out of their mouths)... just immediately be ready to undo all of this on day freaking one.

Obviously processes have to be put in place for some of these things, but accomplish as much of it as possible before you settle in for the first HUGE Covid chat.

I might also separate from prison/justice system reform the issue of low level drug offenders. If you're in jail for 30 years b/c of something marijuana related, just commute that shit on day 1.

and then, after that analysis and "quick fix" work - lets get to COVID and the rest of SI's list.