The Political Wars

While Obama took the Democrat Party further Leftward, Bernie Sanders succeeded in moving many party members towards Socialism. His latest proposal is not only to guarantee $15.00 an hour to everyone who works, and not only to guarantee healthcare for everyone, but to also provide a job for every American "who wants or needs one." The jobs will be in things like infrastructure, care giving, the environment and education. All worthy objectives, no doubt. But, does somebody have to pay for all this guaranteed stuff?

NJ Senator Cory Booker, a Democrat and likely presidential candidate in 2020, is proposing a "Federal Jobs Guarantee Development Act." Under his proposal, 15 areas in the country will be selected by the Department of Labor as a sort of test run. The jobs will guarantee payment of at least $15.00 per hour. Booker: "Creating an employment guarantee would give all Americans a shot at a day's work and, by introducing competition into the labor market, raise wages and improve benefits for all workers." Introducing competition? How is that? I can work for a private employer who will have certain expectations regarding my job performance, and may pay under $15.00 per hour, or I can get a guaranteed government job? If I cannot lose that government job, and I get $15.00 an hour even if I flake off...hmmm. I wonder which one many people at the lower end of the wage scale will choose.

My favorite line from one of the Left-wing progressives comes from Ro Khanna, a Congressman from California. Khanna: "The progressive wing of the party should not be afraid to lay out their vision of where do they want to take the country and what would an ideal society look like." An "ideal society." The very thought scares me - as it should all of us. How many times in history did some group or individual announce their "ideal society?" The Communists thought they had it, although a 100 million deaths later suggests most would not now consider it to have been ideal.

From a progressive Democrat entrepreneur comes the idea of guaranteeing a basic universal income - $1000.00 per month for every citizen between 18 and 64 years old. What's a couple trillion dollars a year between friends, anyway? Of course, a number of these progressives still want to see reparations paid, presumably to blacks. Would that be all blacks? Would it be to blacks who were slaves, as those people have long since passed on. Or to millions of the original slaves' descendants. If we are giving away trillions already, why not? But don't forget Native Americans.

Everyone needs to get on board with the proposal by the Democracy Alliance: "It's 2022 and we are celebrating policy victories across the nation: Medicare for All, Free College, and next on the agenda is Reparations." I think these people are leaving out "free" food and "free" housing. Oh yeah, "free" clothing too, please.

And to make sure that everyone is included and that absolutely no one is left out, we need to overhaul ICE. Brian Fallon, a Democratic consultant and former Clinton spokesperson, said this: "ICE operates as an unaccountable deportation force. Democrats running in 2020 should campaign on ending the agency in its current form." By all means, let's do away with ICE so we can make sure anyone in the world who wants all this free stuff can come and get it. I assume all those on board with these endless expenditures do not have any children who will be stuck with this monumental debt.