Many people on the left have been looking forward to Joe Biden taking up the presidency and, more importantly, Donald Trump leaving office.

But we must still make sure to hold President Biden accountable.

There have been a lot of people saying they can’t wait to go “back to normal,” and that they can’t wait to ignore politics after this. That horrible attitude halts progress.

Biden may be better than Trump, but he is still a part of a system that oppresses people of color and working class people. He will not solve most of the problems that plague America today unless people fight for them. 

Americans can’t relax for the next four years. Rather, now is the time to fight harder than ever and hold Biden accountable.

There are some things on Biden’s plan that are great. He wants to have a bigger stimulus check, a higher minimum wage and raise corporate taxes. He’s rejoined the Paris Agreement and plans to limit methane gas emissions.

He also plans to revoke the travel ban and make a path for citizenship for the millions of undocumented people living in America. 

Biden’s plans are much more progressive than anything Hillary Clinton ran on, so it’s exciting to see. However, we can’t just relax with him. Biden, while a welcome replacement for Trump, has still been a problematic figure in politics. 

From being against integrating schools, to working on the 1994 Crime Bill, Biden has a complicated history with being progressive. Although he wants to reform the police in this country, he doesn’t want to defund them, which is something many Black Lives Matter leaders and organizers call for. 

He still doesn’t agree with Medicare for all. He does support a public option for healthcare, but hasn’t spoken at length about it or talked about it at all. 

Frankly, it seems like he just wanted to appease the Bernie Sanders crowd’s demands of Medicare for all. A public option would be just another insurance company a person has to navigate instead of a single payer option that taxpayers don’t have to worry about. 

Biden has frozen student loan debts because of the pandemic, but that won’t solve the underlying problem. When the pandemic ends, there will still be people with thousands of dollars in debt. 

Biden needs to push for student loan forgiveness for everyone. He should push for free college for everyone.

At the moment, he has a maximum income level for free college, but it needs to be for everyone, otherwise people who barely miss the cut may still have trouble paying. People who live in expensive places like California may still struggle to pay for school, even on an income of $125,000 a year. 

Biden has a not-so-progressive past. Although he’s made progressive promises, there’s no reason to not hold President Biden accountable. People need to continue to push him towards a more progressive agenda like free health care and student loan forgiveness. 

You can be glad that Trump is out of office, but now is not the time to be complacent. Watch Biden critically and advocate for progressive agendas. 

There is still a lot of work to be done.

Anna Baker is an English junior who can be reached at opinion@thedailycougar.com

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“Even with Trump out, President Biden must still be held accountable” was originally posted on The Cougar