The Dog Days are Over
The sun is finally setting on summer. Gone are the days of County Fairs, family barbecues, and evenings on the porch. As we move into autumn, we will be greeted with football in Lincoln, shorter days, and the beautiful fall colors of the Arbor State.
The comfort of fall also comes with a deep anxiety for myself. Around this time next year, we’ll be in the heat of a Presidential Election. The candidates will have been decided, the debates will have been had, and the future of our nation will be solely in the hands of the American people.
Politics isn’t all too different from the seasons. There’s a slow, changing of the seasons. It isn’t summer one day and then distinctly fall the next; and the same can be said with political trends. The issues posed by our upcoming election didn’t appear overnight.
Around this time, 4 years ago, I remember hearing my twin brother say something along the lines of “Trump isn’t the problem, he just exploited problems that America already had for his own gain”. And as much as I hate admitting my brother is right, I couldn’t agree more.
However, the Biden administration has spent the better part of the past 3 years trying to address some of these fundamental problems. So, as we get ready for the changing of the seasons, I figured it appropriate to look at what has changed from January 20, 2021, when President Joe Biden took office, to now.
The Biden Effect
Well, to keep it simple, almost everything has changed since January of 2021.
I remember watching Biden’s Inauguration from my laptop in bed at my apartment in Lincoln, cooped up there because I had tested positive for COVID. I know it seems like a lifetime ago, but it was only 2.5 years ago that we had to show proof of a negative COVID test. And thank the Lord for that, because I was tired of having a Q-tip shoved halfway to my brain just so that I could go to class.
Now, COVID, though still existent, doesn’t have even near the same stranglehold over our lives. It has been declared to no longer be a national emergency, and folks have gone about living their lives in a pretty similar manner to before. It turns out that when we let science lead policymakers, and the messaging reflects the s
cience, we can curb a global pandemic.
The COVID related accomplishments of the Biden-Harris Administration don’t stop with curbing the pandemic itself, but also the economic
shockwaves it sent around the world.
In the midst of the pandemic, in April of 2020, unemployment reached a peak of over 14%. It steadily climbed down as we got a grip on the pandemic, sitting at just over 6% when President Biden took office.
Today, unemployment is hovering around 3.5%, which is considered in the range of being a “healthy economy” (between 3-5%) by the World Bank.
Every single statistic on the internet supports the conclusion that the economy is healthier under Biden than it was under Trump. The markets no longer move at the volatility of Trump’s Twitter Fingers. I mean, the future of our nation was in the hands of a dude who tweeted about our adversaries the way I tweet about Nebraska football.
The Eye Test
For the non-sports fans, I apologize, as I will use sports metaphors to describe politics til the day that I die.
In sports, and often football, there exists the term “the eye test”. Say Nebraska is 0-1, but UNO is 1-0, but Nebraska “looks better”. The numbers say UNO has more wins, since they’re the better team, but “the eye test” says that Nebraska’s players are bigger, faster, and stronger.
As a firm believer in the eye test, I think we should use it more in politics too.
So, let’s take our two Presidential Administrations, and compare them via the ‘ol eye test.
Let’s think back to the 2016-2020 era. For me, I was still in High School when Trump got voted into office. I grew up with Obama as the President for most of my life, and from my place of childhood ignorance, it was nice! I think it’s a good sign that in my youth, I didn’t have to care about politics.
When Trump got into office though, politics became unavoidable. Even when teenage me wanted to decompress and watch TV after school, there would be some breaking news story about the newest crazy thing that Donald Trump did.
In the last months of Trump’s time in office, all I remember was a chaotic sh*tshow. It was escalatory statement after escalatory statement, and to be honest, just having to think about politics all the time due to Trump was exhausting.
Even though I was in high school back then, and have a full time job in politics now, the world of politics feels less overbearing than it did 4 years ago. I can go to bed at night without seeing some crazy tweet, or having my mom worry that I’ll be drafted because the President starts WWIII over Twitter.
Joe Biden is a simple man. He puts his head down and gets stuff done for the country. Now, that is the kind of leader we want. The country keeps on chugging, slowly, but surely getting better every step of the way. I don’t want my President to be in the news everyday. I want a guy (or woman!) who makes my life better, and President Biden does that.
The eye test presents a clear winner. Stuff costs less now, we aren’t cooped up in our homes, Americans are back at work. And the numbers back it up too.
As the seasons change, and we get some mild weather to be thankful for, take the time to reflect on how your life has changed because of politics in the past four years, and let me know how President Biden has helped facilitate those changes.
So, happy fall Nebraska, let’s enjoy the greatest season of the year! While it seems a lifetime away, we’re only a year away from the Election– please consider donating so that we can lay the foundation for a Democratic win in 2024!
Thank you for reading!
If you have any questions or comments, feel free to reach out at jack@nebraskademocrats.org.
All the best,
Jack Schiewe
