Think that it is late 2021: COVID-19 is under control, President Trump's harmful executive actions (particularly on immigration) have been reversed, and a range of progressive legislation has been signed into law. That is the future we can envision with a Joe Biden administration and a Democratic Congress.
Imagine the bill-signing ceremonies where a President Biden is signing into law: the HEROES Act and giving the pens to essential workers, a $15 minimum wage (indexed to inflation with an end to the tipped minimum wage) and giving the pens to Fight for 15 activists, the PRO Act and giving the pens to labor organizers, the Domestic Workers' Bill of Rights and giving the pens to domestic workers and their allies in the National Domestic Workers Alliance, the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and giving the pens to voting rights advocates, the Justice in Policing Act and giving the pens to Black Lives Matter leaders, the DREAM Act and giving the pens to immigration activists, the Equality Act and giving the pens to LGBTQ rights activists, universal background checks and an assault weapons ban and other gun safety provisions while giving the pens to the Parkland kids and Gabby Giffords and Sandy Hook families, expansion of health insurance through a public option and lowering the Medicare age to 60 and giving the pens to patient advocates and other reformers, 12 weeks of paid family leave and giving the pens to family leave activists, a massive infrastructure package and giving the pens to public transportation advocates, and a $2 trillion clean energy plan and giving the pens to Sunrise Movement leaders.
Before Biden does any of these things, he will hopefully do as promised on two key emergency fronts: 1) call Dr. Fauci, implement his recommendations, and institute a national mask mandate to the extent possible and 2) immediately pass legislation that either institutes a nominal $1 penalty for lack of insurance under the Affordable Care Act or fully repeals the technically-still-in-place individual mandate so that the current suit against the ACA becomes moot.
Think of it all as LBJ 2.0 (without a Vietnam War-like quagmire); I'm hardly the first person to make the comparison. Biden could very well likely emerge, like Lyndon B. Johnson, as an unlikely face and vessel through which major change happens. Dr. King and John Lewis helped convince LBJ to get the Civil Rights Act and the Voting Rights Act done despite Johnson's past record on civil rights after all. Since the summer, Vice President Biden has increasingly met the moment in taking on a more listening-based, somber, serious approach to our nation's various inequities. We saw such leadership on display in his criminal justice reform speech in Philadelphia, in his COVID-19 roundtables, and in his defense in the last debate of higher wages and spending to boost social services and the economy.
If you are doubtful that Biden will follow through on these promises, consider that presidents often carry out or try to carry out policies that they campaign on in their elections. We can expect activists to hold his feet to the fire as well.
That is what happened under Biden's former running mate, Barack Obama, who delivered on economic stimulus, health care, financial regulation, LGBTQ rights, relief for the Dreamers, and diplomacy with Cuba and Iran -- but not until after activists prodded him to do so on many fronts. We can and should expect such a relationship between activists and a Biden administration because we've already seen such a dynamic in Biden's own general election campaign. His policies on items like climate action have already been shaped by activists; there is no reason to expect this will not also be the case in a Biden presidency.
The point of all of this focus on activists is that, as Biden himself has said, it is not about Joe Biden. There are negative aspects of his career and personal behavior that are troubling. I should note too at the same time there are uniquely positive aspects of his career that speak well to how he'll handle this particular moment.
Ultimately, it is not Biden's past that is most important here. It is the future liberals want, that we should all want, that is at stake. With Joe Biden in the White House (and let's be real, this is a binary choice between either Biden or Trump) and Democrats in control of Congress, the future can be written by progressive activists, by civil rights advocates, by frontline workers, and by all of us.
**So how do you get involved and what do you need to know?** (Updated 10/29/20)
IN PENNSYLVANIA: You had until (up to and including) Tuesday, October 27 to either apply for a mail ballot (here) or go to an early in person voting site (such as your county elections office) to vote on a mail ballot right there and then.
But: if you have applied for but haven't received your mail ballot yet and you're nervous it won't arrive by or before Election Day, you may be able to cancel your existing mail ballot that is technically on its way and instead go in and vote on a replacement ballot at your county elections office or, at least in Philadelphia, at a satellite office up to and including Monday, November 2.
If you have your mail ballot in hand already, please return it promptly to an official county election drop box or at your county elections office on or before Election Day, November 3.
Make sure your ballot is filled out in blue or black ink consistently throughout, that it is sealed in the "official election ballot" secrecy envelope, and that that envelope is then sealed in the larger declaration envelope and that you sign and date (with the date you signed it!) the back of the declaration envelope before you return it!
Your mail ballot must be postmarked on or before Election Day! Ideally, it also should be received by then by your county elections office though the U.S. Supreme Court so far has let stand a Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruling that stated that your mail ballot will count if it's postmarked by Election Day so long as it is received by 5 PM on Friday, November 6. For now though, please just get it done ASAP.
If you wish to forfeit your mail ballot and vote in person instead, please bring your mail ballot package with you on Election Day to your polling place and ask that they spoil your mail ballot and you can vote in person on a traditional machine.
If you do not get your mail ballot by Election Day (or you lose or forget it for whatever reason before November 3), you can go to your polling place (check where it will be here!) and vote on a provisional ballot. There is no reason it will not count.
Of course, if you just wish to vote in person on Election Day regardless of all of this, you can do so on November 3 between 7 am and 8 pm. You have the right to vote if you are in line at 8 PM. You do not need to show ID unless it's your first time voting in that election district (your voter card or photo ID or driver's license are among acceptable forms of ID). Make sure to check where your polling place is here as it may have changed.
If you live anywhere else, please go to iwillvote.com to find out how and where you can vote!
HOW TO GET INVOLVED: Go to https://joebiden.com/take-action/ to find out how you can volunteer in these final days to help get the Biden/Harris ticket over the finish line. In Pennsylvania specifically, if you want to join me in phone banking in what is arguably the most important state in the whole election, you can sign up to phone bank during the week here or during the final weekend here.
