With the conclusion of both the Democratic National Convention (DNC) and The Republican National Convention (RNC), the two parties have nominated former Vice President Joe Biden and President Donald Trump, respectively, as candidates for president of the United States. Both nominations have made something abundantly clear: Regardless of who wins the presidency in November, no one should expect the problems we’re dealing with now to go away. We aren’t going back to “normal” folks.
The Democrats spoke almost exclusively in empty platitudes, with nearly no mention of policy. They barely touched on healthcare (with virtually no mention of even the public option), actual police reform, climate policy or even how they were going to address the COVID-19 pandemic.
They traded the progressive wing of the party for “Never Trump” Republicans, who are not only an insignificant voting bloc, but also happen to support every single policy Democrats are supposedly against.
The RNC featured a wide cast of characters, delivering speeches that ranged from impassionate and deranged to repetitive and boring — all however, trying their best to convince Americans that everything is fine as the country spirals into chaos.
The Republicans repeatedly emphasized their love for rights such as freedom of speech, the power of the people and the importance of small government. That is of course, unless you, for example, disrespect the flag, exercise your right to expression and assembly, or protest police brutality.
In that case, Republicans are more than fine with sending unidentifiable federal agents into cities against the wishes of local and state officials, arresting protesters by black bagging them and throwing them into unmarked vehicles.
All the while, Republicans accused Joe Biden and the Democrats as being (contradictorily) “liberal Marxists” and puppets of the ‘radical left’ who want to defund the police and enact socialized medicine. If only that were true.
In reality, the Democratic ticket is helmed by the architect of the 1994 Crime Bill and the self-proclaimed “Top Cop of California” during the largest national protest movement against police brutality in U.S. history.
Biden has stated he not only doesn’t support defunding the police, but in fact, wants police to have even more funding, in addition to stating multiple times he would veto Medicare for All, even with the country in the midst of a pandemic.
The same pandemic has rendered 27 million Americans unemployed and killed 180,000 Americans – all under Trump.
Democrats are proving to be willfully inadequate for this moment. The DNC was supposed to be where Democrats utilized their largest platform and most popular speakers to explain exactly how they were going to “Build Back Better.” Instead, they focused on how much better this country was and could be, which doesn’t really help the Americans suffering before, during and after Trump’s presidency.
Republicans, on the other hand, are seemingly hellbent on exacerbating the current crisis (of which they played a large role in causing), and then pretending that significant progress has been made as conditions continue to worsen.
This isn’t to say that both sides are the same or that nothing matters so we shouldn’t vote. But it is to say that we are, yet again, left with no good options.
Therefore, it doesn’t matter who wins; we’re either fighting for our lives under Trump or for a better future under Biden. Either way, we’re going to have to fight.