Personal Reflections of a Middle-Aged Man

A little while ago I wrote about how Republicans break it, Democrats fix it. This is becoming ever more true as each day goes by.

I’ve been thinking about the quagmire, chaos, and despair the trumpists have put us through and left us in. Biden/Harris, after hopefully being elected in November by a landslide, and starting on January 20, 2021, they have fully realized they have quite the To Do List to begin working on. They literally will have to hit the pavement running like no other incoming administration has ever had to do.

The obvious things they will have to deal with, hopefully in partnership with Democrats in the majority of both houses of Congress include:

• COVID-19 Pandemic
  • Institute a national mask order
  • Increase PPE production through the Wartime Production Law
  • Increase valid testing
  • Confirm the science of the development of a vaccine
  • Verify the accuracy of the numbers being published (tests, positives, and deaths)

Economy

• Get people back to work as quickly as possible in conjunction with the response to COVID-19
• Increase minimum wage to $15.00/hour
• Provide hazard pay for essential workers
• Allow for student loan forgiveness
• Reinstitute the additional $600 maximum weekly unemployment stipend for up to one year
• Provide monthly universal income support for lower income households for up to one year

Healthcare

• Provide emergency open enrollment for people to join due to so many losing healthcare in the face of unemployment due to COVID-19
• Release improved Medicare for All Who Want It to increase the number of people with healthcare at a reasonable price
• Restore funding for Planned Parenthood

Education

• Ensure private and parochial schools do not receive direct Federal Funding
• Restore the sexual assault policies changed by DeVos

Military

• Rescind the ban on transgender military personnel

Religion

• Rescind travel bans

Immigration

• Reunify families
• Begin allowing asylum seekers back into the country

Racism

• Rewrite qualified immunity laws
• Pass mandatory police cams stating cams be used at all times, no exceptions
• Pass laws requiring police departments receiving any federal funding to immediately suspend, without pay, anyone involved in a shooting until thoroughly investigated by an independent outside agency
• Pass laws requiring police officers found to be negligent by independent outside agency to be placed under arrest and charged with the appropriate crime
• Assist states in purging police officers affiliated with white supremacy organizations
• Pass laws disciplining any emergency personnel employee, using a tiered system, when complaints of excessive force have merit and have been found to be factual by an independent outside agency
• Discharge any military personnel found to be affiliated with white supremacy organizations as part of the revising of the Military Code of Conduct

Sexism

• Pass laws allowing women the full rights and choice when it comes to their bodies in terms of birth control and all medical procedures
• Pass laws in which women must be paid exactly as men are paid in performing similar duties with similar qualifications in similar jobs
• Rescind all statutes of limitations on sexual harassment or sexual assault, as well as rewriting the Military Code of Conduct specifically in the areas of sexual harassment and assault of, and by, enlisted personnel and officers

All of the above need to be started as soon as they Biden/Harris are sworn into office, and completed within the first 100 days of taking office.

The above listed things are the most urgent matters. It doesn’t even include restoring our faith in the presidency, our institutions, our courts, and our social mores. Restoring our standing in the world is also a high priority, including recommitting to the Paris Accord, WHO, NATO, condemning the practices by the leaders of China, Russia, North Korea, Philippines, Belarus, and other nations, and stepping up our support of allies such as Ukraine and the Kurds.

Yes, Biden/Harris better get as much rest as they can right now because they, and the rest of the Democrats, will be getting very little sleep once they take office.

Remember to vote blue up and down the ballot, vote early, vote by mail, but no matter what, VOTE!