 I accept this nomination for president of the United States of America." Democrats just hosted the first ever virtual national convention to nominate Joe Biden and Kamala Harris for president and VP. The goal of the four-day event was to unify the party's moderates and progressives by focusing on Trump's moral and political failings. For close to four years now he has shown no interest in using the awesome power of his office to help anyone but himself and his friends. But despite all the talk of change, it was clear that after four years of rising walls, spiraling debt, and rule by executive order, the Democrats are resolved to stay the course and continue expanding the size and scope of the federal government. Biden blasted the Trump administration for its disastrous response to the coronavirus pandemic and pledged to institute a national mask mandate, though the rest of his plan was short on specifics. He will tell the truth and trust science. He will make smart plans and manage a good team. And with Joe as president, these classrooms will ring out with laughter and possibility once again. New York Governor Andrew Cuomo, whose decision to return elderly people infected with COVID-19 to nursing homes led to thousands of deaths, was summoned to provide the party's vision for responsible leadership. The Democrats sought to exploit the coronavirus to justify bigger government or what they call bold federal action. We need to do more to address the epidemic of gun violence. They pledged strong gun control measures despite the fact that the gun homicide rate today is half what it was in the early 90s. There is no vaccine for racism. They promised that a Biden-Harris administration would address systemic racial bias and reform the criminal justice system that ironically Biden played a lead role in creating. Kamala Harris is the vice president we need right now committed to our constitution. She's relentless in the pursuit of justice and equity. She fights to end mass incarceration. But the speeches were short on specifics about what a Biden administration would actually do to reverse the impact of laws like the 1994 crime bill, which he defended all the way up until the beginning of his presidential campaign last year. Most cops are good, but the fact is the bad ones have to be identified and prosecuted and out. The party did offer numerous proposals for new government mandates and increased spending on social programs to fight racial and wealth inequality. Joe supports raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour, create 12 weeks of paid family leave, fund universal pre-K plans to increase social security benefits, cancel billions in student loan debt. They also tied social justice issues to Biden's $2 trillion plan to address climate change, which he's selling as a form of economic stimulus, even though the federal debt has already climbed above 100 percent of gross domestic product. When I think about climate change, the word I think of is jobs. Plans to bring back union jobs and manufacturing and create new union jobs and clean energy. Similar to Trump, Biden promises to move jobs back to the U.S., and though former president Bill Clinton attacked Trump's tariffs on China. Joe Biden wants to build an economy better for farmers, tired of being collateral damage in trade wars. Biden hasn't committed to repealing those tariffs if elected. Donald Trump hasn't grown into the job because he can't. A major theme was Trump's incompetence, divisiveness, and general inability to rise to the challenges he's been confronted with. Convention organizers sought to convince voters that Joe Biden would bring back decency and the pre-Trump normal. This is not normal, and we must never treat it like it is. Tulsi Gabbard, the Democrat's most visible critic of our endless wars, wasn't invited. But Colin Powell, who alongside Biden helped make the case for the Iraq War, was. He argued that a Biden administration would bring back the glory days of America projecting its power around the globe. He'll be a president who knows that America is strong as wind, as he has said. We lead both by the power of our example and the example of our power. Nor do I put up with foreign interference in our most sacred democratic exercise, voting. Hillary Clinton called Trump's concerns about vote by mail fraud a conspiracy theory, and then repeated one of her own, claiming that it wasn't her fault she lost the election. Russia stole it away. Vote for honest elections, so we, not a foreign adversary, choose our president. Look, this can't be another what-a-could-a-should election. Even if you're disaffected with two-party politics as normal, even if you find the major candidate's unacceptable election after election, the 2020 Democratic National Convention was designed to convince you that you can create change at the polls this time, for real, and that voting is not just your right, but your responsibility, just as long as you vote for Joe Biden and Kamala Harris. This is not the time to withhold our votes in protest or play games with candidates who have no chance of winning. When we vote, things change. When we vote, things get better. Now history would be able to say that the end of this chapter of American darkness began here, tonight.