I will be voting for former Vice-President Joe Biden in the upcoming election because he is a leader for the people. He has set himself as an example and a representative for the American people, and I truly believe that he would dedicate his presidency to the middle class and to the majority. If you watched the first debate on Sept. 29, you likely saw that Biden made a conscious effort to directly address and connect with the American people. He is very inspiring as a classic American family man, as he has remained proud of his family history despite what his opponent has to say about it. He has years of experience in government and he knows how to negotiate and compromise with other politicians while remaining true to his beliefs. He also has plans for issues that are important to me like healthcare, gun violence and climate change. Joe Biden fights for the issues that I believe in.

Joe Biden and President Obama worked hard to pass the Affordable Care Act (ACA), which provides health insurance benefits to 100 million people. One aspect of the ACA that benefits me personally is it allows for young people to stay covered on their parents’ insurance plan until the age of 26. Prior to the ACA, people had to find their own health insurance when they turned 19 or when they were out of school. The ACA also guarantees that you are covered even if you have a pre-existing condition like cancer, diabetes, or a mental health challenge; this was not a guarantee prior to the ACA. Since the ACA was passed, it has been attacked, the Trump Administration has restricted it and Donald Trump has said that he plans to fully repeal it or restrict it further. Biden has shown us that he believes that every American has a right to the peace of mind knowing that they have affordable health care. The ACA is one of his proudest accomplishments as Vice President.

Joe Biden has a plan to end the gun violence epidemic. Gun violence is not just mass shootings, which we are seeing become a bigger and bigger problem in our country; gun violence is also daily acts of violence or suicides that we do not always hear about on national news. To fight this, Biden wants to enact stricter gun laws. Creating stricter gun laws is not an infringement of the Second Amendment and Joe Biden is not going to take away your guns. Biden stands for common sense gun laws that would keep weapons of war off the streets and out of the hands of the wrong people. The Biden Plan consists of banning the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. There is no reason for a civilian to have a weapon with the power and speed of an assault weapon. Biden also plans to reinstate the policy enacted by the Obama Administration that requires background checks and prevents people with mental health issues from possessing firearms. In almost every mass shooting, the shooter has a history of mental health problems. One of the first actions the Trump Administration took was to reverse this law. A popular argument that I hear against gun restriction is “guns don’t kill people, people do,” and this might be right; so why wouldn’t we want to take every precaution to keep guns out of dangerous hands? 

While Joe Biden has said he does not support the Green New Deal, a program that would address climate change and economic inequality, he sees it as a crucial framework that highlights the magnitude of this problem while emphasizing the fact that our economy and our environment are completely connected. He sees climate change as an urgent issue that he plans to fight with clean-energy technology that would also provide modern, middle-class jobs here in America. His goal is to create a 100% clean energy economy and reach net-zero emissions by 2050. When the Trump Administration withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Agreement on climate change, it sent a message to the people and the rest of the world that we are not taking climate change seriously. Biden plans to recommit to the Paris Agreement. We as individuals can do our part to reverse the effects of climate change and create a clean environment, but the biggest problem is large corporations that prioritize profit over people and knowingly pollute our environment and communities. Biden plans to hold these corporations accountable. 

Again, I believe that Joe Biden is a leader for the people. He fights for the things I believe in, and I hope that some of what I highlighted here resonates with you, too. Early voting is available in Ohio and you can visit https://ohiodems.org/vote-early/ to find out when and where you can vote safely this year