this post was submitted on 19 Apr 2024
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Eh, this is a bit too "moving the finish line" for me. In a super long political career, attitudes shift. I don't think you can judge someone for, say, cheering about Don't Ask Don't Tell (a win for it's time, but now seen as a crappy half measure) as long as their attitudes shifted. That's kind of how politics works. 100 years from now current liberal attitudes will be looked down on because they aren't progressive enough. That's sort of the definition of progress.
So if I spend my life being a right bastard, like 50 straight years of kicking dogs, stealing from old ladies, being a slum lord and extorting people, breaking people's legs in mafia style protection rackets, dumping toxic industrial byproducts into rivers, and using my wealth and power to keep and enforce "sundown laws", but then in my 60s open an animal shelter, fund bingo nights and retirement centers, set up community reinvestment grants, sponsor efforts to get the wetlands to get cleaned up as a Superfund site, and get diversity and equality training implemented for the police department, would I then be considered to be a good person because my attitude shifted? The thousands of people I hurt and potentially indirectly killed over those 50 years don't count against the good I am now doing?
Even simpler, if I steal and destroy your car, causing you to lose your job because you don't have transportation which then causes you to lose your home, should I then be praised for giving you a nicer brand new car a year later?
Sticking to politics in case that's the only place this kind of behavior gets a pass, what if someone didn't cheer for Don't Ask Don't Tell but instead had sponsored bills undoing limitations or bans on gay conversion therapy. Does later supporting a bill making conversion therapy illegal undo the suicides and trauma they inflicted because their apparent attitude has changed? Are they now equal to the person who spent their entire career pushing for gay rights, because this person supported strengthening of domestic partnership laws instead of marriage equality 20-30 years ago? They both support gay rights now, so is saying that the first person is doing the bare minimum and shouldn't really be called an ally "moving the finish line"?
all I see is three back to back strawman arguments. when did Biden do this?
Biden was Senator from Delaware for nearly 25 years, during which time his state discarded usury laws and became a haven for the Credit Card companies and predatory Banks. He was one of the sponsors removing the ability to discharge student loan debt in bankruptcy. He had a rather staunch record of supporting financial lobby interests throughout his career. He supported drone strikes, including on American citizens, while Vice President. He was openly against desegregation actions in the 70's, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt and say he has grown on that front.
I am saying that the harm he was part of due to the selling out of protections for the American people at the beheadst of the financial services lobby over multiple decades means that his current actions to cap fees and provide some student loan relief are little and late. It's better than nothing, but he is not a paragon of supporting the little guy