Democratic Party Unity Under Biden: A Foolish Pursuit or a Reasonable Goal? By Grace Rapaski Staff Writer In June 2020 it was confirmed that Joe Biden would be the Democratic party’s presidential nominee—just seconds later came an unrelenting storm of critique. It was Millennial and Gen Z Democrats, disheartened by Biden’s victory in the primaries over more left-leaning candidates like Bernie Sanders or Elizabeth Warren, who drove this backlash. When Joe Biden was declared victorious in the Democratic primaries, young leftists were still mending their wounds from nearly four years of Donald Trump and the tumultuous political climate he helped incite. What we craved was sweeping change, a dismantling of our inherently corrupt systems, a recrafting of the American status quo. What we were given was a moderate Democratic candidate running a campaign representing a lot of smaller steps; steps that do not compliment our ambitious visions. To many progressives like myself, it felt like a bit of a tease. To most of the Democratic establishment, it felt very tactical. Now 2021 is in full swing and Joe Biden and Kamala Harris are the sitting President and Vice President of the nation. Although young liberals are overjoyed to see Trump out of the White House, there still exists a common feeling of concern that the Biden/Harris agenda will not attack issues of climate change, systemic racism, healthcare disparities, and economic injustice with the degree of revisionist energy progressives seek. Over the past decade, there has been much speculation that far leftists will breach from the Democratic party and form their own affiliation. It is this younger wing of the democratic party who
are the voices so disillusioned with establishment politics. We see establishment politics and the hegemonic systems nurturing it as entities reinforcing the power of privileged, white men, large corporate businesses, and a neoliberalist philosophy. We see the political establishment and our own party easily monopolized by big money and thus representative of the desires of a select few. We, on the other hand, are a generation for the people, for the underdog, for the common folk and are cognizant that the contemporary establishment is
“What we craved was sweeping change, a dismantling of our inherently corrupt systems, a recrafting of the American status quo. What we were given was a moderate Democratic candidate running a campaign representing a lot of smaller steps; steps that do not
compliment our ambitious visions.” not designed to cater to this demographic. To be clear, “we” are not just a bubble of zealous, opinionated Berkeley students; 42% of Gen Zers who identify as liberal are registered as independent voters, reflecting their less favorable approval ratings of Biden, congressional Democrats, and the binary party system. These 42% are significantly more open to substantial societal transformation compared to their older, moderate-leaning counterparts. Joe Biden and Kamala Harris, familiar establish-
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