https://www.cbsnews.com/news/biden-tiktok-ban-bill/
The last chapter in Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the United States is called “Bipartisan Consensus” and is mostly him talking about the Clinton administration’s privatization of Conrail, deregulation of banks, and other right-wing policies.
In the last 250 years of American history, a New Democrat has won a majority of the popular vote for the presidency one time, in 2020 in the midst of a pandemic. This is despite all but one candidate from the last 35 years being a New Democrat. We could have run a potato against Trump during the COVID pandemic and won.
As a startup owner and hosting my own website, I am very disturbed by the willingness of Democrats and Republicans to support the banning of individual companies in bills of attainder. This is wrong. I am disturbed that the Republican-controlled Supreme Court let the bill of attainder stand.
I posted a full thread on Bluesky going through the complicated legal proceedings that led to the TikTok ban becoming law. https://bsky.app/profile/stidmatt.bsky.social/post/3lg42cpcozk2v
I support the United States passing reasonable laws on data privacy and security. I am wary of requiring popups like the EU does, but I do support reasonable laws requiring companies to protect consumer data which is included in the GDPR.
I am an American and I am opposed to bills of attainder. I am opposed to laws forcing foreign-owned companies to sell to American stockholders.
As an economist, I have a heavy bias against protectionism.
I’m disturbed by how many Americans support a TikTok ban, based on this data from 2023 where over 60% of respondents supported the ban. https://www.statista.com/statistics/1376628/us-adults-opinion-on-banning-tiktok/
However, as more Americans became familiar with the reality of this ban and the precedence it sets for the future, only 32% of Americans continued to support the ban into 2024. Most of its support is from Republicans. https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2024/09/05/support-for-a-us-tiktok-ban-continues-to-decline-and-half-of-adults-doubt-it-will-happen/#:~:text=Republicans%20and%20Republican%2Dleaning%20independents,supported%20the%20government%20banning%20TikTok.
What Americans do support though is reasonable laws governing data privacy. 72% of Americans and a majority of Americans from both parties support extending and modernizing data privacy laws. https://www.pewresearch.org/internet/2023/10/18/views-of-data-privacy-risks-personal-data-and-digital-privacy-laws/
The European Union has more advanced data privacy laws than the United States, and instead of banning TikTok outright, they are bringing them to court and demanding that TikTok comply with the law or leave the EU. First, they have to pay large fines giving them a chance to do the right thing. https://www.reuters.com/technology/tiktok-5-other-chinese-firms-hit-by-eu-privacy-complaints-2025-01-16/
Infuriatingly, there was a proposal in Congress in 2022 to modernize American data privacy laws in a way that would apply to every company. It was not even referred to a committee. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Data_Privacy_and_Protection_Act
When we elect leaders, they need to be above the fray. They need to be willing to focus not on getting along with everyone or just doing things because they are popular, but doing what is right. We need people who will make it clear what their values are and then use their values to determine how they vote in the future. Popular opinion is easily swayed by the media, and people can be easily convinced into contradictory opinions. This is exactly why we don’t have direct democracy, instead voting for leaders who can be above the noise in mass media, and spend the time to understand issues and ideally guide us towards a better future. But democracy only works if politicians are willing to put the values they were elected on above constantly shifting political opinion on whatever issue is being pushed by pundits and grifts. Democracy only works when politicians are willing to stand for what is right.
Joe Biden has made it clear over his career that his primary value is unity. He cares most about working with Republicans, no matter who is harmed in the process. He is willing and has regularly thrown his allies to the side throughout his entire career to try to make his vision of bipartisanship a reality, and he has done so with his TikTok ban, which he supports.
In the vision of unity, we will now see many of Joe Biden’s policies continue under the next presidency of Donald Trump. Our Ukraine policy will remain mostly unchanged from before the election. We will restrict how they can use weapons beyond the rules of war, giving Putin an advantage on the battlefield. Our Israeli policy will not change. Our policy towards the EU will remain unchanged as well. If we were going to withdraw from NATO, we would have done it when we had a Republican trifecta in 2017.
The two candidates are so similar in their viewpoints that they are both claiming credit for the ceasefire in Gaza, which is clearly modeled almost exactly off the proposal Biden made almost a year ago.
The Biden presidency had one job which was to heal this country from Trumpism. At least this is what I believe most Democratic voters wanted, including myself. Instead, he chose a different path, to seek out unity with the Republican party and bring the two parties together. In doing so he has not brought the Republican Party away from the abyss, but under his leadership, the Democratic Party has drifted further right as we see through the bill of attainder against TikTok. He successfully convinced every member of his caucus to vote in favor of a bill of attainder, and his most important proposals such as the John Lewis Voting Rights Act failed. Expanding voting rights is still one of the most important issues in America and it failed because of the filibuster, which Biden supports.
Because when it comes down to it Biden has always valued unity above human rights.
That is very dangerous.
Now we will have unity by switching back to the second Trump presidency.
So, by Biden’s own metrics in terms of a president accomplishing his goals after being elected, Biden has successfully accomplished his most important life goal and we have now achieved unity in the United States, exemplified by the votes for the TikTok ban.
Nothing will fundamentally change.
Unity.
Unity.