Firearms Owners Against Crime
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
Institute for Legal, Legislative and Educational Action
As of Wednesday, we might as well be in the general election cycle. Bernie Sanders withdrew from the race, meaning it’s former Vice President Joe Biden against President Donald Trump.
Sanders folded up shop on his campaign, depriving legions of Bernie Bros with their preferred candidate. Most of those Bernie Bros are younger people who liked the appeal of Bernie’s socialist inclinations.
Now, though, Bernie’s relegated back to being an ineffectual senator from Vermont who rails against the rich while owning three houses.
With Bernie out of the race, though, that means the Bernie Bros have to put their hopes and dream on Biden.
A number of youth groups, including March for Our Lives, issued a series of Demands for Biden.
Seven progressive groups made up of young activists wrote a letter to apparent Democratic nominee Joe Biden with a set of aggressive demands spanning policy and personnel to earn their support in the general election against President Donald Trump.
The letter, which comes hours after Bernie Sanders ended his campaign, tells Biden that his pitch to “return to normalcy” won’t earn the trust of younger generations or inspire them to vote, arguing that they were already falling behind economically before Trump took office.
“Exclusively anti-Trump messaging won’t be enough to lead any candidate to victory. We need you to champion the bold ideas that have galvanized our generation and given us hope in the political process,” read the letter, signed by Alliance for Youth Action, Justice Democrats, March for Our Lives Action Fund, NextGen America, Student Action, Sunrise Movement, and United We Dream Action.
OK, that’s interesting and all that, but the big question is, what do they want?
After all, with regard to March for Our Lives, Biden is already anti-gun. In fact, he is taking a harder line on guns than Bernie did, so what gives? What’s the big ask here?
The groups call on Biden to endorse policy initiatives like Medicare for All, canceling all student debt, taxing wealth, and the Green New Deal framework of a fully clean energy economy by 2030. They make process demands like eliminating the legislative filibuster and adding seats to the Supreme Court. And they include personnel wishes like rejecting Wall Street or other corporate executives for important roles and to pick a Homeland Security chief committed to “dismantling ICE and CBP as we know them.”
Remember this the next time someone tells you March for Our Lives is a non-partisan group. Remember that they joined a chorus demanding a candidate swing as far to the left on non-gun issues as it was remotely possible to swing.
After all, March for Our Lives should already approve of Biden’s position on guns. While they might have preferred Bernie’s for whatever reason, Biden is already vehemently anti-gun.
For them, this should have warranted a shrug and then a statement about how they look forward to working with Biden and getting him elected or some such nonsense.
Instead, they’ve sided with the extreme left and are lending their own voices to calls for a far-left wishlist.
Again, remember that the next time David Hogg or any of the Parkland crowd tries to pretend their group is non-partisan. It’s not and now they’re barely even pretending to be.
Tom Knighton is a Navy veteran, a former newspaperman, a novelist, and a blogger and lifetime shooter. He lives with his family in Southwest Georgia. https://bearingarms.com/author/tomknighton/
https://bearingarms.com/tom-k/2020/04/09/march-for-our-lives-demands-biden/