Joe Biden's Disastrous Record of Using 'Bold Federal Action' To Solve America's Problems
It's unclear what Biden will ultimately be able to accomplish as president, but he has been trying to bring transformative change since the 1970s.
HD DownloadNow that the disastrous presidency of Donald Trump is likely coming to an end, presumptive President-elect Joe Biden will get the chance to make good on his promise to create "bold change" in the lives of all Americans. On his first day in office, Biden says that he plans to roll back many of Trump's signature policies with his own sweeping executive orders, and he has promised to transform the economy to fight climate change, reassert America's diplomatic and military power abroad, and establish new federal offices like that of a "national supply chain commander" to centralize control of commercial industry in response to the coronavirus pandemic.
It's unclear what Biden will ultimately be able to accomplish as president, but he has already spent 44 years as a senator, and then vice president, trying to bring transformative change through federal action in response to supposed crises. And his record on issues including immigration, the drug war, criminal justice reform, and foreign intervention has been dismal.
As the president-elect pushes a new ambitious agenda, it's worth remembering the impact of the far-reaching laws he has repeatedly helped pass, which have created enormous suffering and exacerbated some of the most critical problems still afflicting American society.
In the 1980s, Biden sought to escalate the drug war beyond what Presidents Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush had called for, and he co-sponsored legislation that locked up tens of thousands of predominantly young Black men for minor crack possession.
In the '90s, he led the charge on a massive expansion of the death penalty and the militarization of law enforcement. The infamous 1994 crime bill, along with several other pieces of legislation Biden pushed for, expanded mandatory minimum sentences, created Three Strikes laws, and drove up the local, state, and federal prison populations.
In the 2000s, Biden played a key role in expanding warrantless surveillance, starting disastrous foreign wars, and building fences on the Mexican border.
Biden's only solution to critical issues over nearly five decades in office has been to grow the federal government in an attempt to remake society for the better. In reality, his agenda has destroyed vulnerable communities and eroded civil liberties.
Though today his policy priorities have again shifted with the Democratic political winds, what has held constant is Biden's commitment to bold state intervention in more areas of Americans' lives. And he's never stopped telling us that it's all for our own good.
For the full video, links, and photo credits, visit: https://reason.com/video/2020/05/22/joe-bidens-bold-thinking-shredded-civil-liberties-and-destroyed-lives/
Produced, written, and edited by Justin Monticello. Graphics by Lex Villena and Austin Bragg. Research by Regan Taylor. Audio production by Ian Keyser.
Music: Cooper Cannell, Futuremono, and Lex Villena.
Photo of Donald Trump: Gage Skidmore, CC BY-SA 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
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Now you tell me Biden is bad for liberty?
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Biden wont be president no matter how many propaganda articles unreason and the MSM do.
Biden lost Georgia, NC, and AZ. WI is next. PA will be the death nail from the SCOTUS.
Watch 537 votes on HBO. It details how Democrats think they can always successful steal elections via voter fraud on conjunction with media propaganda. Bush vs Gore shows they cant always get away with election fraud.
Reminds me of the guys who tell us we don’t owe any taxes because we’re “sovereign citizens.” Uh, OK, have fun in prison.
Wesley Snipes: I resemble that remark.
Willie Nelson: If the IRS had said I owed a million I would have cried. When they told me it was sixty-three million, I laughed.
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“Biden lost Georgia, NC, and AZ. WI is next. PA will be the death nail from the SCOTUS.”
For every lie you tell you’re gonna cry, cry, cry
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Use media to make it “true” that Trump lost. Frame any challenges to the narrative as the ragings of a dictator, clinging to power……….VISIT HERE FOR FULL DETAIL.
Bullshit. Reason and Libertarians are responsible for Trump’s loss. They have no right to criticize the guy they put into office.
Yawn.
Wrong question.
WWKD?
But… but… Biden has 10 year plans. They are sure to be twice as effective as the 5 year plans of the past.
https://buildbackbetter.com/priorities/economic-recovery/
Funny how all these anti-Biden articles are coming out now and not BEFORE the election. Oh Vox Light. It’s really sad what you’ve become.
The editors are going full sarcasmic and pretending they aren’t biased.
Unreason lnows Biden wont be president and it will be elderly abuse to kick biden whole he’s down in his basement after he officially loses election. 2020
This is where I would love a website where idiots could place bets like “Biden will officially lose the 2020 election” and I could place a counter-bet that he will. In six months, I could buy an island somewhere.
Manhattan should be down to couple baskets of beads by the time Cuomo gets done.
Sounds like he is uniquely dangerous
Sorry assholes, Reason wanted this.
Biden hasn’t been trying to bring about “transformative change”. He’s just a bog-standard politicians trying to stay elected, trying to control government to stay elected, latching on to whatever cause helps him stay elected, and not giving a fig about what cause that may be, unless it interferes with using the power of government to stay elected.
Calling Joe Biden “imaginative” or “creative” is about as realistic as calling Trump “Orange man”.
dudes fuck all y’all with your BIDEN BAD! bullshit now. fuck you.
^
So happy you thought Biden was a better choice than Trump. Clearly Biden will be around for years and has your best interests at heart.
Not that clear at all.
Once he is forced to get out in the real world as President, he won’t last 6 months. If the Communist Chinese Virus doesn’t do it, as soon as the socialists are appointed to their promised cabinet posts, amendment 25 will retire him back to his basement bunker.
Joe Biden points the way forward on foreign policy with the unerring accuracy of a magnetic compass. Of course, his needle always points south, but understanding that, north can be determined. Ask Joe what to do, then at least you know what not to do. Still leaves plenty of room for error, but the worst option can be ruled out.
Biden – Declination? I declared my declared my candidacy months ago.
Now that the disastrous presidency of Donald Trump is likely coming to an end,
Kay.
I guess to be fair, if you’re too young to remember the Era of Carter
Malaise Forever!
An actually better example of Carter’s America. AKA “Make America More Confident Again” speech.
Yeah, Trump’s presidency wasn’t as good as it could be, but it wasn’t disastarous by any stretch of the imagination. At least no more than any of his predecessors. Especially the four before him.
It was terrible, but better than Biden/Harris could possibly be. What really rankled the pundits was the same thing that got him elected — he was not a typical politician by any means, and he was possibly the most honest and transparent President in history, possibly the most honest and transparent political leader in world history.
He in effect put pundits out of business, because no one needed them any more to read the tea leaves to tell their adoring public what Trump was going to do.
” disastrous”
No new wars, objectively the most libertarian friendly POTUS in a generation, less regulation, judges who do not think the Constitution exist to protect and serve the state, etc.
He’d have had us out of Afghanistan by now if he wasn’t being blocked by deep staters slow walking his directives. No telling what would have happened to entire swathes of unaccountable bureaucrats had he not also been thwarted by similar games at the DOJ.
He removed civil service protections for policy personnel (something he really should have done on day one.)
But, mean tweets and kids in cages Obama built was just too much.
Haven’t read yet, but this must be a stunning dissertation since it took at least 3 months since after the primaries to research.
Top DoD officials are trying to eat Afghanistan withdrawal until biden gets in so they can stay.
https://thehill.com/policy/defense/520607-top-general-dodges-on-afghanistan-plans-after-trump-tweet
Good work leftitarians.
Trying to delay*
I for one am glad we’re returning to the stately, comforting neo-con disposition as God Intended.
This is not my problem.
I’m not sending my kids over.
After 20 years of this, anyone who volunteers for combat over there maybe needs to spend some quality time over there getting it out of their system.
Imagine what it would do to recruitment numbers if they actually managed to push their free college thing through lol
Of course that’s also why it won’t happen
Yeah, but his Bold Federal Action isn’t widespread and won’t make much of a difference anyway.
Biden has a record? Must have been a one-hit wonder because I’ve never heard of it.
Can the author specify exactly what was disastrous about Trump’s presidency? Some things were good, some were bad. Hardly unique and arguably less bad in a lot of ways than the four presidencies preceding him.
Unseemly tweets.
What was disastrous about Trump was he made people realize all media is fake news.
Trump: a candidate you can make your mind up about!
2020: Same vote, a bit lopsided the first time voters say, voters say …
Where can I read about what Trump did right in his trip down the White House wing to the portrait on the wall?
Blacks improved their job numbers and real wages by enough to free them from the party of slavery.
Ditto for women and all racial minorities.
Ditto for the entire alphabet brigade.
The stock market (read 401k) hit new highs.
Unemployment hit record lows.
All of these events are disastrous for socialists.
“Of all tyrannies, a tyranny sincerely exercised for the good of its victims may be the most oppressive. It would be better to live under robber barons than under omnipotent moral busybodies. The robber baron’s cruelty may sometimes sleep, his cupidity may at some point be satiated; but those who torment us for our own good will torment us without end for they do so with the approval of their own conscience. They may be more likely to go to Heaven yet at the same time likelier to make a Hell of earth. This very kindness stings with intolerable insult. To be “cured” against one’s will and cured of states which we may not regard as disease is to be put on a level of those who have not yet reached the age of reason or those who never will; to be classed with infants, imbeciles, and domestic animals.” C.S. Lewis Just another Moral Busybody who thinks he knows what’s best for everyone.
It’s okay, though, Joe is only there to get his foot in the door. We’ll see what Harris can do in 2022.
Trump now officially won NC, Georgia, and AZ.
GOP senators won NC and AK. Senate count is 50. Plus two GA senators makes 52.
Pence will get to break IS senate ties until jan. 2025.
I can’t find evidence of any of that except NC. RCP still has him behind in the other two states.
They only need to get <1600 votes tossed in Georgia to flip it to Trump. Razor thin.
That may be but I was asking seriously if Trump has already pulled ahead.
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“Now that the disastrous presidency of Donald Trump is likely coming to an end…”
Yep. Because it’s Trump’s fault that Democrats have spend the last four years, aided by MSM, painting it as a disaster, whether it was or not.
Apparently, the Big Lie still works.
Amen!
Reason is NOT a Libertarian website any longer. It is Leftist propaganda pure-and-simple. Why are these articles coming out AFTER the election? Demented Joe and his Ho are socialists and everyone with half a brain knew it.
They got bought off like Drudge.
I believe Matt got an actual, substantial payout. These fools did it because they thought it made them look cool.
Most of them are marks who think they are being good shills.
Reason is the “Controlled Resistance”. It’s a different side of the same face we always see from “progressives”. Their obvious pandering to the idiotic Biden campaign only further cemented their place in the main stream media.
Anyone tell me why having a secure border is bad? I have a fence around my property that works to keep out the riff-raff. I also lock my doors when I leave; not just to ask my neighbors to leave my property alone. I wonder how many clamoring for open borders do the same? Good fences make good neighbors I was told. If I hopped my neighbors fence and pitched a tent and demanded to be fed I would be arrested for trespassing.
I don’t think we’re allowed to make these kinds of MAGA videos so close to the election.
The Hit-and-Run comments used to be better. The Trump presidency was generally bad, but most are. Biden’s will be bad in a different (but more traditional) way. Both are mostly guilty of giving stupid voters the stupid things they want. Apparently, we have a country full of idiots who want an American Duterte, but slightly more idiots who want an American Chavez. And all of the media (not just the mainstream) survive on clicks so it’s a general race to the bottom for the Fourth Estate. All things considered, I think Reason is pretty good.
The suffering Germans, having spent the last seventy years under US military occupation, saw a flicker of light with TrumpO’s announcement of a partial troop withdrawal, only to wake up to Biden’s plan to reoccupy.
“None of that troop reduction shit will occur on MY watch.”
Trump’s presidency wasn’t as good as it could be, but it wasn’t disastarous by any stretch of the imagination. At least no more than any of his predecessors. Especially the four before him.
basement biden , the cognitively impaired 77 yr old pathological liar with over 45 yrs in the political arena created much of todays ills; and now we are all to believe that with his questionable and implicated ties to China, Ukraine, Hunter that he is going to “build back better” ? Indeed this jackass and absent father will lead from behind.
Just who do those Biden voters think this bum is? He is a die hard Marxist and a destroyer of America. Build back better is code for having blm and antifa tear/burn down the country and it will be rebuilt into one giant prison…in the eyes of the Marxists, that will be a better solution for Americans. Enjoy your new life as a slave…if you can survive.
Operation “Power the government!”
Politician gets access to power and can’t ascertain how to move a klunky mechanism into position to “enact real, meaningful change” without going all “emergency powers” over untouched pages of the constitution.
Thus proclaimed, “A budget for violating basic rights to trade” — when focus ( money ? ) were better spent on introducing wealth and following it down the drain (education), introducing bad choices that cost people who follow them down the drain (indefensible action/trial), introducing the deficit that runs taxation into the drain (bills), tidying up after redistribution of wealth takes its course (forensic investigation), leading causes that matter (justice where needed), and making the case for freedom (trade).
Trump made having a lawyer centerpiece to his presidency. He deserves credit for what he did right, whatever he did wrong.
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Not a single mean tweet!
More like “neither side.”
Well, he tries to make them nasty, but his handlers won’t let him.
Biden doesn’t write his own tweets, but he’s had some pretty mean moments in person
Nope. You made it clear you only dislike one side. No pretending now.
By all accounts Jeffrey Dahmer was a good guy to his neighbors.
Funny thing is Biden isn’t even a nice guy. Most outlets have just brushed his issues under the rug.
He is a vengeful racist, hooked up with his current wife while she was still married, and has sniffed/groped every woman and child within 3′ of him over the past 20 years. It looks increasingly like he has abused his power for the financial gain of him and his family. Biden has done everything Trump has been accused of and probably more.
Trump is not my first choice (and not who I voted for) but Biden is worse in policy and generally as a human being. The fact that half the Reason staff would vote for him just shows how far this publication has fallen.
Being presidential certainly ranks high, but someone to bend the bars of the cage everyone “sees” provides noteworthy embellishment.
John Wayne Gacey was a clown for kids birthday day parties.
This is the thing that’s ridiculous to me about people who act as though voting for Biden is a choice for honor, dignity, and empathy. Biden exhibits none of these qualities. I wouldn’t want my daughter to be in a room with him. He’s a corrupt, groping asshole, and the policies he is likely to implement have destructive potential far beyond anything Trump has done in four years. Many people act as though it’s self-evident that Biden is better than Trump, but they can’t show their work. Pretending that a vote for Biden is anything other than “Yes, I prefer *this* piece of shit” is nonsense.
has sniffed/groped every woman and child within 3′ of him over the past 20 years.
There’s actually a pretty hilarious picture of him creeping on Ruth Bader Ginsburg at her SC confirmation hearing.
Biden is also a plagiarist and serial liar. Yet somehow his whoppers are just not given the same scorn as Trump’s . Or, let’s be honest here, he’s given the same pass that the media gives every politician with a (D) after his name.
Because that’s how you demonstrate your membership in the club.