Why Joe Biden is the first candidate I plan to canvass for

when joe biden first announced his candidacy last year and immediately vaulted to the top of the polls, I was immediately concerned. while some people in my circles were either supportive or ambivalent to his potential as our nominee, I was horrified. i had seen, i think on last week tonight with john oliver, countless examples of joe creepily groping everyone from young kids to their parents to his colleagues. it was all essentially harmless, with biden making it clear that he simply enjoys and feeds off the physical connection with people. but those images of him made me incredibly uncomfortable with the idea of him as the standard-bearer for the democratic party. more importantly, with the strides bernie made in 2016 i thought it could be his year had someone like joe not entered the race.

well, just under a year later, my worst fear has come true. joe biden is now the presumptive nominee as bernie has announced the end of his active campaign. (bernie is not officially quitting the race, electing to remain on the ballot in remaining states, so please still go vote for bernie if you haven't yet.) a while before bernie made his announcement a few days ago, it became clear to me he had no path to victory over biden, and i was devastated. the first candidate in my lifetime that spoke to nearly - if not all - of my political passions will never hold the highest office, and we'll have to wait at least four more years to have someone of his ilk as our leader. however, my optimism for the future is not lost. if we can elect joe in november we will be back on course to the progress our nation needs. 

that brings me to the importance of our electing joe, and why i will do everything i can to elect him, despite his being far from my favorite of the 2020 democratic candidates - maybe my least! it is this reason that i am fearful for joe's prospects. many of my friends opposed joe's nomination as much or more than i did. i am afraid my fellow bernie bros will not show up to the polls for joe in 2020. this is part of the reason tr*mp got elected in 2016. hillary was a highly flawed candidate, giving rise to the argument we were voting for the lesser of two evils, leading many to vote third party, or not at all. now, just a day after bernie left the race, that same argument has popped up again. 

Joe is not nearly as flawed in my opinion as hillary, and it would be even greater political malpractice if he runs a general election campaign even slightly resembling hillary's lazy 2016 bid, but it will still take a lot of work to get the progressive wing of the democratic party to support him. i am as sensitive as any progressive to the argument that joe will just be more of the status quo - supportive of big corporations and as suspicious of social reform as most republicans. i am not happy about these things. however, the only two facts i need to know are the fact that he will (slowly) work towards the world i want and most importantly, his name isn't d*nald Tr*mp. 

no, joe is not supportive of medicare for all. no, joe isn't supportive of student loan forgiveness, or even free 4-year higher education going forward (only two years). no, joe isn't supportive of a Ubi (in one of the few shortfalls of bernie, neither was he). no, joe isn't supportive of decriminalizing or legalizing marijuana at a federal level. no, joe isn't supportive of reducing our ridiculously high defense budget.

however, even on the aforementioned issues he is better than tr*mp (if tr*mp actually has any beliefs). and on many more issues he has great positions. joe wants to abolish capital punishment, mandatory minimums, and private prisons. joe wants to raise the minimum wage to $15/hr and implement broad paid sick and family leave. joe wants to boost public teacher pay and eliminate for-profit charter schools. joe wants to limit corporate spending on campaigns. joe wants to end offshore drilling and tax carbon emissions. joe supports firearm buyback programs, universal background checks, and forming a national firearm registry. joe wants to expand on obamacare and medicare coverage and link drug prices to the prices seen oversees. joe supports a path to citizenship for daca recipients. joe supports increasing capital gains, corporate, and highest-income tax rates. 

the fact that my last paragraph is twice as long as the one preceding it should be proof enough that we should elect biden in november, but the most important reason we should elect joe is the simple fact that he is not named Tr*mp. the fact that he actually has political stances other than 'i am the greatest human of all time' is all the proof anyone should need to elect him. he will actually be a leader for our country at a time we need a leader most. he will fight the morally corrupt republicans in congress. he will appoint judges that will stand by important precedents including, but not limited to, roe v. wade. perhaps most importantly, he will surround himself with experts that know how to make government function for the people, rather than political outsiders that only do the bidding of