Some Thoughts About Biden

 Arguably no other philosopher can be seen as a predecessor to authoritarian and capitalist streams of thought in such a manner than Rene Descartes. Likewise, there is arguably no country that conforms to these streams of thought more than the United States of America. The thought of Descartes, and the flaws within his ideals and reasonings, is seen through the presidency of the supposedly moderately “left” Joe Biden. What Descartes has claimed to be his first moral rule in life is the idea of obeying instilled social norms and laws that also have religious meaning for Descartes, and also denoting the idea that one should attempt to find a moderate answer whenever possible rather than an “extreme” one.  Applying this ideology, we can see it in numerous political philosophies, most notably, however, within Christian democracy. Notable people considered to be aligned with Christian democracy, for instance, are Mike Pence, Rick Santorum, both George W. And H.W. Bush, and Ronald Reagan. Biden has had this label attached to him before, with ForeignPolicy.com claiming that “Indeed, Biden has explicitly presented his socioeconomic policy platform as a way of making sure that everyone has a “stake” in the capitalist economy and implicitly as a way of protecting it from the perceived threat of radical takeover by either the far-left or the far-right.” Ironically, this idea within itself inherently placates the far right. Without the elimination of the capitalist system itself, the existing hierarchies and power within society stay the same, showing how conservative ideologies enhance the rise of fascism, and even through mild regulations, abrogate revolutionary potentials without improving people’s material conditions.

The Cartesian ideals of social cohesion and theoretical moderatism are major tenets of both Christian democracy and the presidency of Biden. For instance, Biden’s main line of campaigning has not been about the genocidal catastrophes that Palestinians are going through, the increasing inequities being faced through private ownership and workers, or even the increased funding of a militarized border and police state that restricts freedoms. Joe Biden would rather get support from the supposedly moderate WASP Republican who goes to church every Sunday, and generally agrees with the reactionary and the fascist ideas of Trump, but merely disapproves of his inflammatory rhetoric, rather than young working-class progressives who believe in a decentralized and free organizational method that guarantees freedom from capitalist collectivism as being offered by Biden. The same young working-class progressives who, mind you, are arguably the reason Biden is in office in the first place.

While Biden is a free market capitalist who leftists view as a means to an end at best, his authoritarianism and collectivism through the state and through nationalism are also very notable in his flaws. Unlike far-right reactionaries who believe Biden is some far-left “woke” overlord, he actually shares more in common with the former group. If someone told an individual in 2019 that the president in 2024 would push for increased levels of police funding, increase border regulations and control, place restrictions and even allow states to ban trans athletes, and support Israel while the apartheid state has become even more genocidal, they likely would think Trump had won a second term. But ultimately, the election is going to come down between an authoritarian capitalist and a totalitarian capitalist, which is truly a shame for the marginalized people in America, who desperately need a group to help abolish the fundamentally fascist institutions in this country: the police, centralized government, imperialism, bigotry, and capitalism.

Continuing with the idea of Cartesianism within political ideologies in America, there is an interesting discussion to be had about his idea of God when talking about reason. Nearly everyone is aware of Decartes’ iconic quote “I think, therefore I am,” but this is also expanded upon with Descartes claiming that “Finally, if there still are men who have not been sufficiently persuaded of the existence of God and of their soul by means of the reasons I have brought forward, I very much want them to know that all the other things of which they think themselves perhaps more assured, such as having a body, that there are stars and an earth, and the like, are less certain.” While America is theoretically a secular country, they are a Christian country in all but name. This is a country that is built on intolerance of race, and religion, from antisemitism to islamophobia, to sex, gender, and sexuality. This all stems from the belief that the ultimate authority in life is God, and like any other authority, it should be resisted.

However, even among Christian democrats in America, Biden arguably aligns more with the far right of them compared to even the center-left. Even someone like Jesse Jackson, who ran for president 4 decades ago, had a platform more progressive than that of Biden’s, advocating for less defense spending, single-payer healthcare, and dovish and diplomatic foreign policy. Even with his more conservative positions like with abortion, Jackson became pro-choice by 1988, unlike Biden, who even now seems to be reluctant to use the word abortion while campaigning, despite trying to be seen as a fighter for reproductive freedom. Biden’s more in line with conservatives like Rick Santorum, the Bushes, and even Reagan on social and even fiscal issues. For example, Biden’s main healthcare policy at the moment is the ability to adjust for drug prices, while Bush the Second’s main healthcare policy was allowing drug prices to be covered in the first place. This isn’t a compliment towards Bush, but an indictment on Biden that his most influential policy in healthcare is only a slight extension to the left of a far-right neoconservative like Bush, ironically almost identical to the healthcare plans of Obama and Romney respectively. 

Ultimately, we can see Biden’s religion influence his foreign policy for the worse. Biden, and on a larger scale, America, represent Christian Zionism at its most prudent. Lip service and performative measures aside, Biden has fundamentally governed through Israel’s genocide at least in general agreement with how someone like Trump would do it. And ironically enough, support for Israel is only dependent on how Christians feel about Judaism. For instance, take a look at what far-right representative Marjorie Taylor Greene had to say regarding an anti-semitism bill that passed the House. One of the most common criticisms that has arisen from this bill is the fact that it conflates anti-Zionism with anti-semitism. Greene’s critique, unsurprisingly considering her “Jewish space lasers” comments, was not based on this, but going against “gospel.” Greene tweeted “Antisemitism is wrong, but I will not be voting for the Antisemitism Awareness Act of 2023 (H.R. 6090) today that could convict Christians of antisemitism for believing the Gospel that says Jesus was handed over to Herod to be crucified by the Jews.” On Greene’s hierarchy, Christians are to be put at the foremost, because Christians are equivalent to America, who are equivalent to whiteness, which all interact with one another by her logic, then Jewish people, whom she has stated conspiracy theories about in the past, and finally, Muslim people, who are also conveniently the most likely type to not be white, and therefore “unamerican,” and therefore anti-Christian.

If someone asked you who was the worst basketball player of all time, you would probably say someone like Brian Scalabrine, a career benchwarmer for a decade, an unathletic white redhead who only had a decent jump shot. One of the largest disadvantages of being arguably the worst person on a large stage is that a lot of people think they can knock you off. So, two years post-retirement, Scalabrine put this idea to the challenge in the fitting name: The Scallenge. Scalabrine would play four random people in a one-on-one game to eleven. The combined score of the four games was 44-6. Keep in mind, half of those six points came from a former Division 1 college basketball player, so taking him out of the equation, Scalabrine versus the average person was 33-3. After this dominating performance, Scalabrine famously proclaimed “I'm closer to LeBron than you are to me.” So what does this have to do with anything previously stated in the article? Joe Biden, for all intents and purposes, is Brian Scalabrine here, far-rightists like Greene and Trump are LeBron, and progressive individuals, and the working class in general, are those average people, except instead of Biden being much better at basketball than us, the only thing he’s better at is using his religion to maintain systematic oppression through private ownership, and the enhancement of the state’s authority while consequently dwindling civil liberties both at home and abroad. If this is a return to normalcy, we need a substitution on the court.

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Descartes, René, 1596-1650. (1986). Discourse on method. New York : London :Macmillan ; Collier Macmillan,

Alvarez, P. (2024, May 9). Biden administration proposes rule that would rapidly reject migrants who are ineligible for asylum | CNN politics. CNN. https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/05/08/politics/biden-migrants-ineligible-asylum 

Meckler, L. (2023, April 6). Limited trans athlete bans in competitive sports would be allowed under proposed Biden administration policy. The Texas Tribune. https://www.texastribune.org/2023/04/06/biden-transgender-athlete-rule/ 

Johnson, R. (2024, May 2). MTG votes against Bill to combat antisemitism and invokes antisemitic trope in her reasoning | CNN politics. CNN. https://www.cnn.com/2024/05/01/politics/video/marjorie-taylor-greene-antisemitism-bill-vote-zanona-sot-ebof-digvid 

Public Broadcasting Service. (2003, December 8). Medicare prescription drug bill signed into law. PBS. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/government_programs-july-dec03-medicare_12-08