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.
》面太窄了，你就光照顾能读英文的，我也没有意见。
我反正能读得懂！如果不是想找你们的问题的话，我也懒得读，得要换频道，不方便！因为我的中文已经是硬件了，英文不是母语，只相当于软件。你自自己说是硬件厉害还是软件厉害？忽视老保里面的只能读中文的，还是有所偏废啊。你要是不在乎就算啦！
Rush Limbaugh， Glenn Back 等，两年前就指出了乱象的由来及问题的关键。
》疯牛啊，最近看你的表现还是蛮温和的。有不少上佳的表演，值得飘扬啊！
哎问你一下，你要是喜欢ＧＯＰ，你觉得共和党里面，究竟是川大爷好，还Ｊｏｈｎ 凯西那样的人好啊？如果Ｊｏｈｎ 凯西出来角逐，你要不要支持啊！？川大爷现在不停满足极右的立场，你不是说要归中吗？Ｊｏｈｎ 凯西在你心中会不会是一个ＲＩＮＯ？
》你说的这话太有ＣＳ了！给你点赞！不过其他的话就不敢恭维啦！
你说孙脯杰８０％是我的马甲，你现在还这样认为的吗？你看人都这么的不准，你其他的话，是不是也有问题啊。为什么你这样的人就是阴谋论不离口呢？
比如，现在主党方面已经宣布要参选2020的七八位候选人，从他/她们的政纲到这些人自己的身份和形象，无不体现了这一点。
也许在今后比较长的一段时内，美国政坛将出现共和党长期胜选总统，主党则主要在联邦和地方选举，尤其是民意代表选举中与共和党角力的局面。
极左派的所做,给中间温和派敲了警钟, 让所有那些不忍心看到曾经富饶强盛的美国滑向社会主义的人们站出来反对极左.
白左是历史产物，养尊处优惯了，就滋生出不切实际的想法，不合时宜的把理想强加于人，甚至暴力的推动和平人道主义，比较rudiculous。黄左让人很难理解。好日子没过几天，刚在中国被摘了右派帽子或者不被左派霸凌了，跑到美国就上蹦下跳的被忽悠成左派的理想主义者。脑子缺根筋。