Joe Biden throws down the gauntlet
“Both sides are just as bad!” is a common and pretty poor argument that inevitably arises whenever it comes to politics. The problem is that anyone who truly understands politics even remotely, doesn’t actually believe it. This in turn means that you should stop taking seriously anyone who tries to apply it, whether their political views lean left or right. Despite the progress made recently with migrants who came to the United States as children and were permitted to stay as Dreamers, a federal judge on Friday ruled the entire program as unconstitutional.
Anyone who was following the news in 2017 when Donald Trump decided to score some points with his base by abruptly killing the program will remember that with Republican control of the House and Senate at the time, DACA was largely left in limbo, with countless recipients of the program fearing for their lives and whether or not they’d be permitted to stay in the only country they ever knew. Four years later, despite the ruling which the Biden administration will almost certainly appeal, President Biden is urging Democrats to protect Dreamers using reconciliation rules in the Senate, something that Republicans can’t filibuster against.
Due to the popularity of the program, Republicans were reluctant to move in either direction back in 2017, and they’re in roughly the same spot today – with the very real possibility they’ll be faced with primary challengers if they vote with the Democrats. That’s why President Biden isn’t even giving them the benefit of the doubt on this one. You should ask yourself, however, what would happen if Democrats didn’t retake the Senate in January, as the answer is that the fate of the Dreamers would once again be left uncertain. This is why keeping Democrats in power always makes a difference – and for the better, and all the more motivation for us to grow their congressional majorities in 2022.
James Sullivan is the assistant editor of Brain World Magazine and an advocate of science-based policy making