Joe Biden will soon take over the reins of the United States government which is currently under more stress and turmoil than any time before. Solving the nation’s immediate problems will require every ounce of our intellectual capital and a strategic apportionment of our financial resources. While most Americans have confidence that Biden will be better at managing the coronavirus, it was the belief that Joe Biden is a fundamentally decent man who could appeal to our better angels that won him the presidency.
Biden has been painted as a socialist by his Republican rivals, but most of them know perfectly well that nothing could be further from the truth. At times, he has frustrated his Democratic colleagues with his folksy preference for bipartisanship. He is a prototypical moderate, which in the current hyper-polarized political environment can be surprisingly useful. Certainly, his empathy and decency as a human being will help calm a restless nation; however, our country needs more than warm thoughts right now – it needs bold solutions. You can’t pull a nation that has been battered by a health crisis, an economic crisis, and a social justice crisis by taking baby steps.
The Biden presidency will be dead on arrival if he doesn’t promptly address the issues that specifically affect middle-class, poor, and working-class Americans, which includes many of the same people who jumped on the Trump bandwagon four years ago. Whether through legislation or executive order, Biden’s first impression as president could be to provide a rescue package to save America’s small businesses, a significant reduction of student debt, a meaningful price reduction for prescription drugs, a national moratorium on evictions and foreclosures that extend through the pandemic, and for the soul of our nation, a swift termination of the diabolical policies that have resulted in the separation of families at our southern border.
Sure, I am looking forward to a more unifying rhetoric coming from the White House, but the best thing Joe Biden can do right now to heal this nation and bring us together is through real policies that reflect our values as a nation and truly help the people of the United States of America…especially those who have been ignored, abused and left behind for far too long.
The usual solutions will not solve the current housing affordability crisis. Any solution that does not begin and end with a sustainable plan to radically increase housing supply is just noise. The barriers to increasing housing supply are complex and require the crucial cooperation of both public and private sectors, and more education.
“Boomerang” was a different kind of film. It was a movie about friendship, loyalty, and romance set in NYC at a medium-sized Black-led company that sold beauty products. Boomerang had an all-black cast and a plot that had nothing to do with being Black. While that was unheard of at the time, Murphy was such a big star that it didn’t seem like a big deal.
Terms like “great, genius,” and “world-class” are overused, perhaps because they mean something different to everyone. Greatness is subjective. Some might say you must be great just to be employed in the film business or to play professional sports, but I don’t think Will Smith or LeBron James think that way. The concept of being great also requires context. You could be a great high school athlete but only an average college player.