Discussing Rashida Tlaib's response to the SOTU

 So....progressives give responses to the SOTU too it seems now. Which is...good. I mean, I know Bernie did it last year or the year before. And I'm glad they do. We need people outside of the two party system to give speeches criticizing the system. Tlaib's speech hit the ground running and was very good. Went right into a call for medicare for all. YES. THANK YOU. Biden talked about a lot of around the fringe fixes to healthcare, but she was the only one to call it like it was. And then she went into a green new deal, and raising the minimum wage. Her speech was much shorter than Biden's, but it felt more targetted, and honestly? It spoke to me.

Now, I'm going to be honest, I've kind of dunked on progressives a lot in recent years. I dont see eye to eye with them. Mainly the difference seems to be over UBI vs other fixes like a green new deal or a job guarantee or welfarism or "socialism." But...I'm gonna be honest. This was persuasive. And this is why, despite my difference in ideology and goals with progressives, when given the chance to vote for Donald Trump or Joe Biden, I vote for a progressive. Because they actually mean business. They might not offer the exact solutions I want, but at least they speak to issues I care about and offer SOLUTIONS. It's refreshing to see that in politics. We have this problem, here's a MEANINGFUL solution to fix it. We need this. We need that. Biden needs to break out his executive order pen and forgive student loans. YES, THANK YOU.

Now, like every other speech, this is a lot of posturing and virtue signalling, with no way to actually enact their ideas, but I guess when you're NOT the president, you kind of get a pass on that. Biden could forgive student debt tomorrow but wont. Tlaib isnt in a position to do so and wants to. That's the difference between them. Tlaib, I have no doubt if she had the power, she would move heaven and earth to actually enact things. Biden sits there with a paper dem majority and has moderate goals and no way to even enact that.

Honestly, again, I'm not saying I even agree with Tlaib on everything. TO be fair to her as I am everyone else, my anti work pro UBI goals are missing from her speech. I have different solutions. But, and this is why I give progressives credit where credit is due, at least they're thinking about actual solutions. She said more in 10 minutes than Biden said in an hour. And that's why push comes to shove, I make alliances with the left come election time. Maybe I am more moderate. Maybe I aint a true believer in every policy they push. maybe if I were in office I would do things a little differently. But progressives will at least offer SOMETHING substantive. They'll do better than the dems do, and definitely better than the GOP. So yes, best speech of the night, unless Yang gave a response, and I doubt he did.