What if it could get done now? What if all (or many) of the largest problems within the United States could be solved now? What if the most exploited, the most troubled, the most chopped-up-masticated-and-drooled-out-by-the-American-machine populations could be helped right now? No Congress. No 10 years of \u201cbuilding up power\u201d just to achieve a post-abuse pat on the head. None of that. Just fixing the problems now. Right now. Well, it actually is possible.<\/p>\n
I think we can all agree that Congress is basically a pit filled with hungry crocodiles in the later stages of lead poisoning, each with a different degree of dementia. (And I know that\u2019s being generous in terms of their mental acuity.).<\/p>\n
So, whenever a president \u2014 let\u2019s pretend this is a fantasy world where the president isn\u2019t a few bricks short of a load \u2014 whenever a president wants to get something done, he writes up what he wants and then drops the pages into the idiot crocodile pit.<\/p>\n
The crocs then munch on it, swallow it, digest it, and shit it out everywhere (while maintaining calm, comforting facial expressions for the millions of Americans watching at home). Then the mainstream media gazes lovingly at the rancid pile and festoons the garish sight with grandiosity by saying something like, \u201cWe\u2019re watching democracy in action.\u201d And that\u2019s the end of the process. (Do they teach that in high school civics? They should.)<\/p>\n
But what if I told you there were myriad things President Joe Biden can do without ever getting near the crocodile pit? And in fact, President Donald Trump perpetrated every manner of hideousness without congressional approval?<\/p>\n
Below are the Top 10 executive orders Joe Biden could sign, benefiting all Americans\u2026 even without help from the intellectually impoverished crocodiles.<\/p>\n
The American Prospect<\/em>\u00a0has published\u00a0numerous articles<\/a>\u00a0on these possible executive actions. I\u2019m not going to focus on whether Biden\u00a0will\u00a0<\/em>do these things (he won\u2019t), but let\u2019s give him the benefit of the doubt (he won\u2019t do them) since he hasn\u2019t even settled into the office yet (he totally won\u2019t do any of this) and no one can know for sure what he\u2019ll choose to do (not a chance). Maybe he\u2019ll be awesome! (Nope.)<\/p>\n 1. Joe Biden could start by protecting all immigrants.<\/strong><\/p>\n Immigrants are some of the people\u00a0struggling the most<\/a>\u00a0during this pandemic. There\u2019s a provision in our laws called Temporary Protected Status, which allows an immigrant to stay here without fear of deportation, and considering how they\u2019ve been treated over the past four years, I think they could use a break. Can we please give them a\u00a0second<\/em>\u00a0to catch their breath before the next round of good ol\u2019 American xenophobic bigoted hatred towards people who are even slightly different? (Hell, if you just have a different\u00a0haircut\u00a0<\/em>we might put you in a cage and give your kids away to a group of Guatemalan paramilitary drug runners.)<\/p>\n As\u00a0Marcia Brown writes<\/a>\u00a0\u201c[Temporary Protected Status] is a blanket protection offered to a country\u2019s nationals who have experienced a natural disaster such as hurricane or earthquake, civil war, or other extraordinary circumstances.\u201d<\/p>\n Hmmm, a natural disaster you say? Oh, they mean like a\u00a0fucking pandemic<\/em>. Between the pandemic, U.S. bombing overseas, U.S. economic sanctions, climate change, and auto-tune \u2014pretty much every country in the world right now is experiencing\u00a0some kind<\/em>\u00a0of disaster. \u2026Except Finland. (But they weren\u2019t immigrating here anyway. You don\u2019t hear a lot of Finnish people saying, \u201cIs there a place I can move to where I could pay tens of thousands of dollars for healthcare, pay\u00a0way\u00a0<\/em>more for education, and if I have a baby, be forced to strap it to my chest while I continue to load Chicken McNugget goo into the meat squirter because there\u2019s no maternity leave? There\u00a0IS<\/em>\u00a0such a magical land?!\u201d)<\/p>\n Point is \u2013 Joe Biden could give Temporary Protected Status to every immigrant in the country immediately without congressional approval.<\/p>\n 2. Next up, Biden could\u00a0end the War on Terror<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n That\u2019s right. Congress gave up its war powers long ago. So Biden, all by himself, could end the War on Terror. Afterall, this \u201cwar\u201d (against an emotion) made no sense from the beginning, and it has killed millions, made America less secure by making us despised worldwide, and has always been unconstitutional.<\/p>\n So, the most law-abiding, sweet, kindly, heroic thing Mr. Biden could do is end this evil, villainous, dastardly, dark, depraved, morally repulsive, vulgar, nefarious,\u00a0malignant, malicious, poisonous, and poopy ENDLESS WAR!<\/em>\u00a0\u2026Not that I have an opinion either way. Just an idea.<\/p>\n 3. Next \u2013 the new president could\u00a0give us tuition-free college<\/a>\u00a0without Congress.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n As\u00a0the American Prospect\u00a0<\/em>covered<\/a>, \u201cMichael Dannenberg, a former senior aide to the late Senator Ted Kennedy, asserts that Biden can use existing statutory authority to forgive loans equal to average public-college tuition on a rolling basis for two- and four-year public colleges, effectively making college free.\u201d<\/p>\n And guess what \u2014 having more educated citizens without debt means a better society in general. If your neighborhood isn\u2019t educated, the people often can\u2019t make a good living, and then the neighborhood goes into disrepair \u2014 which is when the crooks and the head-bangers and the con-men and the witch whisperers show up. And before you know it your little girl has lost her\u00a0mind virginity<\/em>\u00a0to a charlatan ridin\u2019 around in a crank mobile! (We\u2019ve all seen it happen.)<\/p>\n But rather than attacking student debt, it seems Biden and his allies are slowly decreasing the amount of student debt they say they plan to erase. First they said everything under $50,000, then $25,000, and now\u00a0it\u2019s $10,000 and under<\/a>. Pretty soon Biden will proudly unveil his plan to erase $13 of student debt for every American\u00a0and\u00a0<\/em>send us each a free coupon for Hamburger Helper.<\/p>\n So with just three executive orders, Biden could end war, save all the immigrants, and end student debt \u2014 not bad for before breakfast. On the other hand,\u00a0my\u00a0<\/em>executive orders usually just stipulate that my cat can\u2019t eat my sandwiches anymore, and they hold very little power.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s move on to ending poverty. Poverty is of course raging out of the control right now, with millions facing eviction and Americans\u00a0waiting hours at food banks<\/a>. So, what could Joe Biden do without Congress to get more people the assistance they need?<\/p>\n Change the definition of poverty.<\/p>\n I\u2019m not kidding. People who are below the poverty line qualify for a lot of benefits like food stamps, health care, and affordable housing. Trump was trying to alter the poverty measure so\u00a0fewer\u00a0<\/em>people would be considered truly poor and he could then announce, \u201cLook, I got rid of poverty!\u201d It would be like a hospital saying they got rid of broken legs, and then we find out they simply re-designated broken legs as \u201csurprise moments of bone realignment.\u201d<\/p>\n 4. So if Joe Biden wanted to, he could do the reverse and give millions of poor people the benefits they need.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cThe Official Poverty Measure<\/a>\u00a0(OPM), based on an outdated calculation designed 60 years ago, is absurdly low. \u2026Today, the federal poverty threshold for a family of three is $20,578. \u2026on day one, the incoming Biden administration can drop the OPM entirely and alter poverty measurement so that it better reflects need\u2026\u201d This would make loads of benefits (and perhaps even shit loads) available for people who are struggling.<\/p>\n Anyway, in the interest of avoiding making this column as long as the stimulus bill, here are several more actions Biden could take without Congress.<\/p>\n 5. He could\u00a0stop massive corporations from using tax loopholes<\/a>\u00a0to avoid paying taxes.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 6. He could\u00a0close Guantanamo Bay<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0(Remember that?!)<\/p>\n 7. He could\u00a0give a $15 minimum wage<\/a>\u00a0to all federal contract employees.<\/strong><\/p>\n 8. He could\u00a0end federal prosecutions for marijuana<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n 9. He could make us all much\u00a0safer from nuclear weapons<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n And finally, here\u2019s the icing on the cake. The recent fight to\u00a0force a vote on Medicare For All<\/a>\u00a0has captured the interest and energy of many progressives.<\/p>\n 10. Well, it turns out Joe Biden could\u00a0himself\u00a0<\/em>give everyone Medicare For All\u00a0right now<\/em>.<\/strong><\/p>\n According to David Dayen<\/a>, he could do it using \u201c\u2026Section 1881A of the Social Security Act. The language of the statute refers to any individuals subject to an \u2018environmental exposure,\u2019\u2026\u201d and it says that the Department of Health and Human Services can stipulate that such people get a single-payer Medicare For All type system.<\/p>\n Has this ever happened in the U.S.? Has a whole area simply been given Medicare For All by proclamation from the gilded towers of our federal government? I\u2019m glad you asked! Libby, Montana: Population 2,628 has already \u2014 wait, sorry, just refreshed the page \u2014 Population 2,627. (A kid ate a Matchbox car.)<\/p>\n Libby, Montana, has Medicare For All because the entire community has been exposed to airborne asbestos thanks to mining in the area. Therefore, Health and Human Services secured them Medicare For All. Shall we now take a moment to ponder whether there are\u00a0other\u00a0<\/em>Americans who have been exposed to hazardous chemicals or diseases recently?<\/p>\n Allow me to think for a moment \u2014 wait for it \u2014 Oh, that\u2019s right,\u00a0everyone<\/em>!<\/p>\n We\u2019re in a fucking pandemic \u2014 we\u2019ve\u00a0all\u00a0<\/em>been exposed. Biden could give everyone healthcare, allowing us to join the rest of the developed world. And even without the pandemic, Biden could\u00a0still\u00a0<\/em>give most Americans healthcare for other exposures \u2014 Los Angeles\u2019 smog, the cancerous Roundup herbicide sprayed all over New York City (which lawmakers\u00a0recently voted to ban<\/a>), cities near fracking wells or coal mines or oil spills or how about the\u00a02,000 cities across the U.S<\/a>. that have excessive lead levels, or everybody exposed to auto-tune. Biden could give all of us healthcare right\u00a0now<\/em>\u00a0\u2014 No excuses, no dickin\u2019 around, no tomfoolery, no malarkey, and no funny stuff.<\/p>\n Give \u2013 Every \u2013 American \u2013 Free \u2013 Healthcare \u2013 Now.<\/p>\n So those are the Top 10 actions Biden could take without getting anywhere near the dumb-dumb crocodile swamp known as Congress. \u2026But he won\u2019t.<\/p>\n Unless he fears that the people will stand up and fight back.<\/p>\n The post What Biden Can Do Without Congress (But Won\u2019t)<\/a> appeared first on CounterPunch.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n