Bill Bennett: Democrats have made a sharp left turn – Here's what's behind it
It’s been two years since the end of the Obama presidency and in that span, the mainstream Democratic Party has made an extreme shift to the far left. In 2019 the Democrats have put their weight behind increased taxes, universal health care, open borders, and third-trimester abortions.
How do we account for this radical trend?
A journalist friend of mine reports that his generally liberal college son was somewhat somnolent and indifferent during the Obama years, lulled into quiescence by liberal policies and moderate talk. Then came Trump. A huge splash of cold water hit his face and he and his cohorts were galvanized into angry action.
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Flannery O’Connor wrote that sometimes you have to, “push back against the age as hard as it pushes against you.” Trump pushed hard, and the liberals have become the left, pushing back even harder.
The problem is that their blind indignation for President Trump is clouding their judgment and pushing them to the brink. They’re punching back at their magnified perception of Trump, not his actual policies.
Trump’s policies are conservative, but mostly traditionally so with a good dash of moderation and compromise.
This isn’t a Newtonian ‘equal and opposite reaction’ by the Democrats. It’sunequal and opposite and may cost them dearly.
Trump’s policies are conservative, but mostly traditionally so with a good dash of moderation and compromise.
Let’s examine the issues.
It’s not a new concept for Democrats to favor higher taxes than Republicans. What is new, however, is the momentum around dramatic tax increases for the super wealthy, which would have a large impact on the economy.
Specifically, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-NY, is proposing a 70 percent marginal tax rate on individuals making $10 million a year or more. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., is proposing a 2 percent annual tax on citizens with a net worth of over $50 billion. Currently, the highest tax rate in the US is 37 percent. It was 39.6 percent under Obama.
As it always does, tax increases on the very wealthy will lead to tax increases on the not so wealthy and middle class in order to even approach getting the revenues needed for the left’s hugely expensive schemes.
Building on the socialist momentum from her party, 2020 Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, D-Calif., has said she wants to do away with private health insurance in favor of Medicare for all. Unlike with ObamaCare, health insurance companies are not on board here and will fight this tooth and nail.
Now let’s discuss the wall.
Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was on record as supporting border and immigration control, including walls and barriers in 2009. Now its chief opponent, he recently tweeted, “The shutdown cost the U.S. economy $11 billion…what a devastating & pointless exercise this has been.” With an estimated cost of $5 billion dollars, Schumer could have approved the wall, saved $6 billion dollars, avoided a shutdown, and been in line with his party’s stance on immigration reform during the Obama administration.
So why now the vehement contention? The Democrats care more about sticking it to Trump than common sense.
Apparently, judging from the absence of any explicit policy pronouncements, they believe in neither borders or limits to immigration.
Consider abortion.
In Virginia, embattled Gov. Ralph Northam and other Democrats are supporting The Repeal Act, which would dramatically ease restrictions on third-trimester abortions.
By his own language and subsequently the language of support of other Democrats, this policy would, if enacted, result in the explicit and direct killing of a born child. This isn’t progressive, this is infanticide and murder.
Thankfully the public feels the same way. Only 13 percent of Americans and 18 percent of Democrats favor third-trimester abortions.
If Democrats want a chance at winning the presidency, they should listen to Schultz and Bloomberg and step back from the cliff.
These days the billionaire former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg and former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz are too moderate for these Democrats and they are putting the lie to this New Democrat Extremism.
Schultz called the Medicare for all idea “not American.”
Bloomberg condemned Warren’s proposal, stating:
"We need a healthy economy and we shouldn't be embarrassed about our system. If you want to look at a system that's not capitalistic, just take a look at what was once one of the wealthiest countries in the world and now people are starving to death: it's called Venezuela."
If Democrats want a chance at winning the presidency, they should listen to Schultz and Bloomberg and step back from the cliff.
That President Trump has pushed them is indeed true, but they are pushing back much harder and recklessly so. He has made them so crazy with anger that their fury and policies know no bounds. But in the end, they will hit a wall, maybe not at the border, but of their own making.
》麵太窄了，你就光照顧能讀英文的，我也沒有意見。
我反正能讀得懂！如果不是想找你們的問題的話，我也懶得讀，得要換頻道，不方便！因為我的中文已經是硬件了，英文不是母語，隻相當於軟件。你自自己說是硬件厲害還是軟件厲害？忽視老保裏麵的隻能讀中文的，還是有所偏廢啊。你要是不在乎就算啦！
Rush Limbaugh， Glenn Back 等，兩年前就指出了亂象的由來及問題的關鍵。
》瘋牛啊，最近看你的表現還是蠻溫和的。有不少上佳的表演，值得飄揚啊！
哎問你一下，你要是喜歡ＧＯＰ，你覺得共和黨裏麵，究竟是川大爺好，還Ｊｏｈｎ 凱西那樣的人好啊？如果Ｊｏｈｎ 凱西出來角逐，你要不要支持啊！？川大爺現在不停滿足極右的立場，你不是說要歸中嗎？Ｊｏｈｎ 凱西在你心中會不會是一個ＲＩＮＯ？
》你說的這話太有ＣＳ了！給你點讚！不過其他的話就不敢恭維啦！
你說孫脯傑８０％是我的馬甲，你現在還這樣認為的嗎？你看人都這麽的不準，你其他的話，是不是也有問題啊。為什麽你這樣的人就是陰謀論不離口呢？
比如，現在主黨方麵已經宣布要參選2020的七八位候選人，從他/她們的政綱到這些人自己的身份和形象，無不體現了這一點。
也許在今後比較長的一段時內，美國政壇將出現共和黨長期勝選總統，主黨則主要在聯邦和地方選舉，尤其是民意代表選舉中與共和黨角力的局麵。
極左派的所做,給中間溫和派敲了警鍾, 讓所有那些不忍心看到曾經富饒強盛的美國滑向社會主義的人們站出來反對極左.
白左是曆史產物，養尊處優慣了，就滋生出不切實際的想法，不合時宜的把理想強加於人，甚至暴力的推動和平人道主義，比較rudiculous。黃左讓人很難理解。好日子沒過幾天，剛在中國被摘了右派帽子或者不被左派霸淩了，跑到美國就上蹦下跳的被忽悠成左派的理想主義者。腦子缺根筋。