Democratic Candidates’ Extreme Positions on the Issues

Many voters do not like President Trump, personally. For example, they disapprove of several of his personality traits as well as his penchant for tweeting whenever and whatever he feels like. They may approve of most of his policies, such as his handling of the economy, defeat of ISIS, and “America First” philosophy, but those positives are outweighed by their personal animosity towards him. They are primed to vote for an alternative if only there were a reasonable and viable one. The Dems have a rare chance to unseat a sitting president who is presiding over a very favorable economy and who is not burdened by an unpopular war (such as LBJ was with Vietnam). This has hardly ever happened in our modern history, but it could in 2020.

So, what are the Dems doing with this rare opportunity? They are blowing it, that’s what. How? Read on.

As I write this, there are some 20 candidates still in the race for the Dem nomination. All of them, except for maybe a couple of the fringe ones, have been advocating extreme left policies, which polls, such NPR/Marist, show are too extreme even for a majority of Dem voters. More on that below. This has been pretty evident if one watches the debates, their campaign speeches and the recent CNN-sponsored Town Hall. It is almost comical as they persist in playing a game of “can you top this” as they try to “out-progressive” each other.

Some examples of these extreme and unpopular policies, many of which may sound good but would not work and would bankrupt the country, are the following:

1. Healthcare – Free healthcare for illegal immigrants. Don’t they realize how unpopular this is among voters, most of whom are struggling with inadequate, overly expensive or no healthcare, themselves? This is a non-starter with voters, yet they keep advocating it.

2. Open/relaxed borders – This issue has been very over-politicized. Most Americans realize that there is a vast middle ground available, if only the pols on both sides would compromise their hardline positions. This position, combined with free healthcare is simply idiotic. Anyone with a brain and a modicum of common sense (which, as we all know, is NOT common) can see it. Dems want to let anyone enter the US who wants to do so, and then offer them free healthcare? The combination of these two, by themselves, would bankrupt the country.

3. Illegal immigrants – Most voters are keenly cognizant of and don’t appreciate that the Dem candidates seem to favor illegal immigrants over American citizens. For instance, they favor decriminalizing illegal entry, shorter prison sentences, and thwarting ICE from doing its job. And, then there are the sanctuary, cities, counties and states, which they endorse and encourage. Do you think most Americans like that a several-times deported illegal killed Kate Steinle and then got off on a technicality? How about the mayor of Oakland giving advance warning to illegals of an impending ICE raid, or Montgomery County, MD, a sanctuary county, where, just in the last few months, alone, there have been several instances of illegals raping teenage girls.

4. Taxpayer abortion up to and after birth – According to a recent NPR/Marist poll only 18% of Dems supported this. A woman’s right to choose is a reasonable position, but this goes too far. In my opinion once a fetus is viable outside the womb, abortion is murder. There are even reports that Harris has supported Planned Parenthood in CA in selling body parts of aborted fetuses.

5. Racism/Identity politics – They continually promote identity politics and see racism around every corner and under every bed. That same poll disclosed that most Dem voters disagree.

6. Free college tuition/forgiveness of student debt – Not practical for many reasons, which I have discussed in previous blogs.

7. Assault weapons ban/confiscation – I think everyone would be in favor of curbing shootings, especially school shootings, but I don’t think this is the answer. Certainly, it is not the entire answer. How about universal background checks; better reporting, police who are not afraid to do their jobs, addressing mental health issues, etc.? Incidentally, can anybody tell me what the actual definition of an “assault weapon” is. Probably not, but don’t worry, neither can the geniuses in Congress who are attempting to write the law to ban them. Wikipedia acknowledges that the definition “varies among various regulatory jurisdictions, but usually includes semi-automatic rifles with a detachable magazine, a pistol grip and sometimes other features, such as a vertical forward grip, flash suppressor or barrel shroud.” Got it? You can, however, bet on two things: (1) The proposed ban, by itself, will do little to curb the frequency of shootings; and (2) the elites and their bodyguards will somehow be exempt from any ban. Some of the candidates, not content with a ban, have been advocating seizure. How do you think that will play out?

8. Other bans – Are you ready? The following are some of the bans that have been proposed to “save the environment” and thwart climate change. Some of these are part of the inane Green New Deal:

red meat
plastic straws
fracking (Sanders called it “a danger to our water supply and the air we breathe.”) How about the 80,000 or so people whose livelihood depends, directly or indirectly, on fracking?
incandescent light bulbs
air travel
combustion engines (What would happen to the auto industry, and how are suburban and rural folks supposed to travel?)
too many babies (Isn’t that racist?)
carbon emissions
nuclear power
coal and coal mining (Uh oh, there goes PA and WV.)
factory farming
toys in McDonalds happy meals
surgery drinks, such as sodas.

Of course, most of these are absurd, but I believe they demonstrate the inane thinking of these candidates. I have not seen any poll in which a majority of Americans supports any of these bans. I submit, they are not about climate change or saving the environment. They are about controlling your lives.

CONCLUSION

Back to my original point. The Dems would have a reasonable chance to defeat Mr. Trump if only they would offer a qualified moderate candidate. (Biden was supposed to be that candidate, but he has shown he is neither qualified nor moderate.) Until this election cycle Dems always stood for the middle class, the working class, the disadvantaged.

I have not seen any of the candidates do that. The one exception is Tulsi Gabbard, and her reward was to be belittled and shunted aside by the powers-that-be.

Now, the Dems are all about identity politics, political correctness and white guilt socialism. They are taking their cues, not from their traditional and broad constituency but from the twitter crowd and the likes of the “Four Horsewomen.” Good luck with that.