Red birds of a feather
Paul Knight has it exactly right. Both candidates are looney left progressives wanting to bring socialism down upon us. The only difference is the speed they bring destruction and harm to America and the American people.
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
Bernie Sanders may have missed his chance to finally head the Democratic ticket, but he still holds considerable clout.
Which is why Joe Biden was busy wooing the Vermont socialist's supporters this past week. "Senator Sanders and I may disagree on tactics," he said. "But we share a common vision."
That's good to keep in mind as the media try to cover up Mr. Biden's recent leftward lurches and convert him into a "moderate" to seem less scary in November.
However, they're both heading toward the socialist cliff, just in different vehicles. Bernie's is a red Ferrari, while Joe's is more like a red bus with "No Malarkey" on the side. Same road, same cliff. Different speeds.
There's nothing "moderate" about either of them. Well, Joe's hair is not as wild.
They both oppose any restrictions on abortion – even parental consent for minors – and want to force taxpayers to subsidize them. Likewise, Bernie and Joe want "free" tuition to four-year state colleges, although Joe limits the largesse to millions of families making under $125,000. Both want taxpayers to pony up to cover billions in outstanding student loans.
Both advocate advancing toward a single-payer health care system, which is code for socialist medicine. Bernie wants an outright government takeover, with his "Medicare for All" putting private insurers out of business and costing more than $30 trillion over a decade. Joe proposes an expanded version of Obamacare, with a new "public option," which would cost "only" $750 billion over ten years and would get us to Bernie's dream, just not as fast.
Both want federally subsidized childcare, with nothing for stay-at-home parents. Joe's is means-tested, while Bernie wants it for every single child, no matter how rich the parents. This indicates that his plan is less about helping hard-pressed parents with costs than getting kids into an institutional setting as soon as possible – a longtime goal of the Left.
Both Bernie and Joe want to overturn most of the Trump tax cuts that unleashed the economy before the coronavirus tanked it. They want to impose new taxes on those they deem "the rich."
Both support the entire LGBTQ agenda, including "The Equality Act," which would effectively criminalize Christianity and empower the government to enforce the Left's frontal assault on the moral order. Joe has proclaimed transgender rights "the civil rights issue of our time."
That might not sit well with the many black Americans who are not big fans of Drag Queen Story Hour .
Both men would appoint hard-left lunatics to the U.S. Supreme Court and other federal courts, ending President Trump's spirited, effective effort to reestablish constitutional jurisprudence.
Bernie embraces the Green New Deal, the utopian scheme advocated by New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has declared war on fossil fuels, cow flatulence, cars and airplanes. This includes requiring 100% renewable sources of energy for electricity and transportation by 2030; cutting domestic emissions by 71% by that year, and putting aside millions for workers who lose their jobs. He claims the whole thing will cost only $16.3 trillion and create 20 million new jobs in wind, solar and other renewables. Oh, and it will "pay for itself" in 15 years. If you believe that, I have other nifty federal "starter" programs that will never cost more than I promised.
During the primaries, Joe embraced more and more of this cockeyed scheme. He now wants to end fossil fuel subsidies and ban any new oil and gas permits on public lands. Like Bernie, he would have the U.S. reenter the Paris climate treaty, which would put the U.S. under emission reductions dictated from Europe. Energy independence? That's so Trump.
On immigration, the Dems agree on reversing most of Mr. Trump's policies. Both want free health care for illegal immigrants. Bernie would end deportations and raids by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and halt construction of the border wall. Joe would raise the refugee admissions cap from 18,000 to 125,000 and throw $4 billion into Central America to help stop the flow. As far as the wall, Joe once supported funding for part of it, but has been evasive of late.
Both candidates would greatly strengthen union power, with national edicts for a $15-an-hour minimum wage, a national ban on state right-to-work laws, a law mandating "card check" for unionizing a workplace, and public employee unions.
They both oppose election safeguards like voter ID laws as "voter suppression."
There's much more to this picture, but Mr. Biden is going to have to walk a fine line in order to keep the Bernie legions happy without frightening the Boomers, who vote in far more dependable numbers.
Then there's the choice of a vice presidential candidate. Joe has promised to name a woman, while Bernie hinted he would do the same. Vice presidential nominees help cover a candidate's flank, as Mike Pence did for Donald Trump in 2016 with conservative Christian voters.
Even with Mr. Biden's swerve to the left, he still needs to cover the Bernie flank with a ditsy leftist woman.
The pretend moderate Amy Klobuchar might do the trick, if the crazies don't object, but there's also that perennial media favorite out there, tanned, rested and ready for another shot.
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That makes someone a "radical leftist"? ROFL.
Why are people even responding to this garbage?
Free college tuition - This should be up to the states. The federal government needs to stay out of it. Currently, there are already federal programs that guarantee student loans will be paid to the university (i.e. if the student can't pay, the government does). This has only prompted universities to jack up tuition so they can go on hiring and building sprees. It has been a disaster for students who can't repay the humongous debt. Thus we have:
Public payment of student loans - this is a terrible idea. Students have no business taking out loans they can't pay back. Go to a cheaper school. They do exist. Or don't go at all. Far too many people go to college just because they think they are supposed to. There is no real goal on the other side of their education. And maybe I'm being selfish about this, but I paid for my education out of my own savings. Do I get reimbursed? I doubt it. I think it's bullshit that I have to eat that cost because I went to a school I could afford while others went to town on the public dime.
Single-payer healthcare - Blunt instrument solution to a complex problem. We need more than this. We need cost controls and we need to maintain the freedom and flexibility of private insurance.
Federally subsidized childcare - What for? Honestly. I was raised by a single parent who left me at home when he had to go to work. I turned out ok. I managed to not drink bleach as a child or blow my brains out. Even where childcare is needed, why does the federal government need to pay for it? Talk to your city, county, or state. Talk to your employer. Talk to your parents and your in-laws.
Raising taxes - I would feel better about raising taxes if I didn't feel like government was already sloppy and wasteful with the money they get now.
Abortion - way too much attention is paid to this issue by politicians and the media. For years, every poll of voters and the issues they care about show that abortion is a relatively low priority. Debates over this only divide us.
LGBT rights - We should all be supporting LGBT rights and the notion that religion is threatened by it is silly. There are a lot of threats to established religions in this country far more dire than LGBT. Frankly, I think churches have done far more to hurt themselves than LGBT people could ever do.
So since we are discussing Biden, let's look at his official positions:
Free college tuition: Two years of free community college.
Public payment of student loans: Does not want to pay off student debt.
Single-payer healthcare: Biden's plan is very complex, but nothing like Bernie's. Read it here:
Federally subsidized childcare: Biden has said nothing about supporting free child care for children under the age of three.
Raising taxes: Biden's plan would raise taxes over a 10 year period.
Abortion: Pro-choice ( personally I disagree with you that this is a low priority item and I am not in the minority:
LGBT rights: he's where you are.
Clearly it would not be fair to claim that the two men are very close in most of their positions. Compared to Trump? Sure. But within the spectrum of the Democratic Party, Sanders is obviously much further Left than Biden.
Your poll doesn't address my point, which was about issue priority for voters. It simply says voters have an opinion on abortion. That's not a big surprise to me. People feel passionately about it, but they vote based on other issues. Here is the kind of poll I was thinking of:
In a list of about 21 issues ranked by importance to the voter, abortion ranks 20th. Looking at several polls over the years, that is usually about where it ends up in a list of priorities. But when it comes to the loudest voices in politics, you would think it was the most important issue.
I suspect this is also an issue that the great bulk of Americans aren't thinking about when they vote.
OK so you want to know what Americans care about. Here is the latest from the Pew:
So not shocking is the economy. But then followed by....the environment. Bet that one shocked you, since it did me. Then the deficit, which I totally get, followed by climate change and then jobs. So I bet you never saw any of that coming, because I didn't.
But now let's break it down by party and issue:
Apparently Terrorism is still the number 1 issue for both parties, followed by the economy and health care.
SS, drug addition, infrastructure, jobs, and crime are things that both parties agree on.
Not even close. Look at the chart.