Joe Biden in Jacobin Magazine
On Drugs:
1989: Bush didn't go far enough in War on Drugs
In September 1989, George H. W. Bush delivered a speech outlining his National Drug Control Strategy, in which he called for harsher punishments for drug dealers, nearly $1.5 billion toward drug-related law enforcement, and "more prisons, more jails,
more courts, more prosecutors" at every level throughout the country. "Quite frankly, the President's plan is not tough enough, bold enough, or imaginative enough to meet the crisis at hand,"
Biden said in a televised response to Bush's speech. "In a nutshell, the President's plan does not include enough police officers to catch the violent thugs, enough prosecutors to convict them,
enough judges to sentence them, or enough prison cells to put them away for a long time."
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary
Aug 9, 2018
On Drugs:
Proud of backing tough drug laws & penalties
Biden would later brag in the Senate that Congress passed a law sending anyone caught with a rock of cocaine the size of a quarter to jail for a minimum of five years. Biden went on to take credit for a legislative change allowing the
government to effectively rob anyone caught dealing drugs, through the policy of civil asset forfeiture, and demanded to know why the Bush administration hadn't sentenced more drug dealers to life in prison or death.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 Democratic primary
Aug 9, 2018
On Drugs:
1981: Militarized domestic police against drugs
Biden can also take partial credit for the militarization of domestic law enforcement. Biden's vote for the 1981 Military Cooperation with Law Enforcement Officials Act permitted the military to work with police on drug cases.
Biden was also a major proponent of the Byrne grant and Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS) programs, which in practice created more heavily armed police forces increasingly focused on locking up people for minor drug crimes.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 2, 2018
On Homeland Security:
1991: Favors government "back doors" into encryption
In 1991, Biden introduced two bills aimed at curbing terrorism and crime respectively, both of which featured language mandating that tech companies create "back doors" in their products for law enforcement to snoop through. Biden tried to water
down encryption again three years later with a successful bill that expanded federal wiretap powers, but privacy advocates managed to remove this and other provisions from the bill before it passed.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 2, 2018
On Social Security:
Freeze entitlements; don't favor special interests
Biden toured the country in 1985 chiding groups like unions and farmers for being too narrowly focused and complained that Democrats too often "think in terms of special interests first and the greater interest second."
In the latter case, Biden was specifically complaining about their opposition to his calls for a spending freeze on entitlements and an increase in the retirement age.
Source: Jacobin Magazine on 2020 presidential hopefuls
Aug 7, 2018
Page last updated: Aug 15, 2024