BvBPL
Pour Decision Maker
President-elect Biden has committed to undoing the errors of past administrations early in his presidency. Let's take a look at some of those past mistakes and see what Biden might do to correct them. This is a forward-looking examination at how a Biden administration may review the sins of the past in the U.S., as he says he's inclined to do.
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was the catalyst for the contemporary militarization of U.S. law enforcement. It provided more funds to police to purchase military equipment, paid out $8.7 billion dollars into prison (resulting in a vast expansion of private prisons), expanded the federal death penalty, barred felons from certain forms of employment, and created three-strikes provisions for federal criminals.
Amid urban unrest and outrageous violence against minorities, in 2020 the Democrats railed against the very philosophy of the '94 bill. It's as if the sentiment of the author of the bill was wholly unwelcome in the contemporary party. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Biden declined to call for defunding the police amid the unrest. How will Joe Biden seek to repair our criminal justice system, crippled as it by twenty-six years under the '94 act?
The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 established a blanket ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages. That section has subsequently been repealed by U.S. courts, but questions about how the U.S. government will treat same-sex marriages remain. The Obergefell decision that cemented same-sex marriage nationwide remains under attack. At present, Mr. Biden has given little more than lip service to respect for same-sex marriage, seemingly under the assumption that the right of same-sex couples to marry will be protected. Such compliance bodes ill for the same-sex couples in America who have previously seen senators vote to disallow them the rights heterosexual couples enjoy.
The welfare reform efforts of 1996 turned America's safety net on its head. The bill required many public aid recipients to work to receive benefits. The result was both a removal of the safety net and downward pressure on wages, and the premise of the bill has been rejected by contemporary Democrats. Will Pres. Joe Biden repair the harm that U.S. senators did to the welfare safety net, a system now even more important in the time of the coronavirus?
The PATRIOT Act of 2001 vastly expanded the surveillance powers of the U.S. government. This expansion placed more domestic organizations under governmental surveillance, often unnecessarily. Subsequent leaks from the various alphabet agencies responsible for surveillance revealed the contempt of the staffers for the American public. The Bush and Obama presidencies continually expanded the broad surveillance systems even as the evidence raised questions of the programs' efficacy. Will Pres. Biden reject the surveillance-state philosophy of the author of the PATRIOT Act?
The Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act of 1994 was the catalyst for the contemporary militarization of U.S. law enforcement. It provided more funds to police to purchase military equipment, paid out $8.7 billion dollars into prison (resulting in a vast expansion of private prisons), expanded the federal death penalty, barred felons from certain forms of employment, and created three-strikes provisions for federal criminals.
Amid urban unrest and outrageous violence against minorities, in 2020 the Democrats railed against the very philosophy of the '94 bill. It's as if the sentiment of the author of the bill was wholly unwelcome in the contemporary party. As a presidential candidate, Mr. Biden declined to call for defunding the police amid the unrest. How will Joe Biden seek to repair our criminal justice system, crippled as it by twenty-six years under the '94 act?
The Defense of Marriage Act of 1996 established a blanket ban on federal recognition of same-sex marriages. That section has subsequently been repealed by U.S. courts, but questions about how the U.S. government will treat same-sex marriages remain. The Obergefell decision that cemented same-sex marriage nationwide remains under attack. At present, Mr. Biden has given little more than lip service to respect for same-sex marriage, seemingly under the assumption that the right of same-sex couples to marry will be protected. Such compliance bodes ill for the same-sex couples in America who have previously seen senators vote to disallow them the rights heterosexual couples enjoy.
The welfare reform efforts of 1996 turned America's safety net on its head. The bill required many public aid recipients to work to receive benefits. The result was both a removal of the safety net and downward pressure on wages, and the premise of the bill has been rejected by contemporary Democrats. Will Pres. Joe Biden repair the harm that U.S. senators did to the welfare safety net, a system now even more important in the time of the coronavirus?
The PATRIOT Act of 2001 vastly expanded the surveillance powers of the U.S. government. This expansion placed more domestic organizations under governmental surveillance, often unnecessarily. Subsequent leaks from the various alphabet agencies responsible for surveillance revealed the contempt of the staffers for the American public. The Bush and Obama presidencies continually expanded the broad surveillance systems even as the evidence raised questions of the programs' efficacy. Will Pres. Biden reject the surveillance-state philosophy of the author of the PATRIOT Act?
