Biden and the American Machine

Both conservatives and leftists should be cautious of the Biden administration, albeit for different reasons.

 When Bernie Sanders conceded the 2020 race for the Democratic nomination, the progressive wing of the Democratic Party was angry. On two consecutive occasions, the firebrand Senator for Vermont was ousted by an "establishment pick". Sanders, the left-wing populist, had run on the promises of Medicare for All; an end to corporate-funded political campaigns; a free four-year university education for all; and a radical response to the climate crisis - all to be funded by new taxes on a favourite target of his: "the billionaire class."

Joe Biden was a stark disappointment. 

For months, many of Sanders' supporters expressed a refusal to support the candidacy of Biden, with many believing him to not be radical enough. Urged on by the centrist wing of the party, many of them, albeit reluctantly, backed Biden, largely motivated by fears of a second Trump term. In the meanwhile, much of the mainstream media sought to drive progressive voters to the voting booths in support of their pick for the White House. Armed with propaganda, writers at America's leading news publications insisted that Joe Biden would be "the most progressive president ever" and, in some cases, insinuated that Biden's presidency would not look dissimilar from a Sanders one. The Boston Globe produced a series of short articles in endorsement of Biden, one entitled "The Progressive Voter". In the same vein, the Washington Post, the Atlantic and Vox all published opinion pieces detailing how progressive the Biden agenda would be. 

Sixty-six days in, progressives are convinced that Biden will be a disappointment.

Rather than waging war on Corporate America, the arch-enemies of the economic left, Biden has embraced them, although to the chagrin of his Sanders-style supporters. Whereas Bernie Sanders notably received the majority of his campaign cash from smaller contributors, Biden was a friend of Wall Street. He received more than $9 million from Donald Sussman of Paloma Partners, more than $4 million from Henry and Marsha Laufer of Renaissance Technologies, and nearly $3 million from Joshua Berkenstein of Bain Capital. Silicon Valley was generous too: Dustin Moskovitz of Asana donated $45 million to the pro-Biden political action committee Future Foward USA; Alphabet donated $1.7 million to the Biden cause and Microsoft's donation was just shy of a million dollars.

Unsurprisingly, Biden's executive branch reflects his affinity for Big Business. During his tenure as US Representative for Louisiana's 2nd District, Cedric Richmond was ranked 5th among House Democrats in money received from fossil fuel companies. Now, he is a Senior Advisor to the President. Steve Ricchetti spent the majority of his career lobbying for companies like AT&T and United Technologies (now Raytheon Technologies). Now, he is Counselor to the President. Retired General Austin, Biden's new Secretary for Defense, was on the board of Raytheon Technologies before he joined the White House; Biden's interventionist outlook is no surprise.

Biden's foreign policy is standard, as far as American Presidents go. He believes in the use of the military to tackle the threat of Russia to liberal democracy and declared "America is back" upon winning the presidency. Biden wants allies - he has emphasised a desire to strengthen NATO - and wants to return the United States to a "position of trusted leadership." Biden's foreign policy will be actively interventionist and will further the aims of the broader American Machine: open borders, open elections and open markets. His administration will likely emulate the Clintonism of the 1990s.

For establishment conservatives, there is little to worry about. Although Biden has vowed to defend Obamacare and raise taxes on the wealthy, neoconservatives, like those at The Lincoln Project, face no major crisis in the coming years. Given this, it is unsurprising that they were so keen to campaign for Biden in 2020. Veterans of the Republican Party fight for the same ideas that Democrats do. The 2003 invasion of Iraq was bipartisan - a majority of Senate Democrats and Senate Republicans voted in favour of military force in Iraq "to free the Iraqi people." President Clinton's landmark North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) was the successor to Bush Sr.'s Canada-United States Free Trade Agreement. Amnesty for illegal immigrants, a popular battle cry of today's left, was famously enacted by President Reagan, in his 1986 Immigration Reform and Control Act.

The basic needs of establishment conservatives, wars overseas and profits for their backers, will be fulfilled by Biden. No attention will be given to America's withering social fabric. When 2024 arrives, it will be easy to "fight" for tax cuts. The differences between the Republican and Democratic Parties are so insignificant that the establishments of both parties might be described as belonging to the American Machine, the engine of the Biden presidency.