The Bankrupt Left

The Bankrupt Left
The View from the Middle

The purpose of this article is to help the Democrat Party regain some sense of purpose. I believe America is better off when we have two parties who are battling over principles and policies and then compromising in a place that is good for the American people. The Democrat Party of 2018-19 needs to decide what it is “for” and communicate their ideas to America.

In the 2018 mid-terms they ran an almost completely negative campaign. We were told that they hated Donald Trump. We know that they were against anything that Donald Trump was for. We know they wanted to impeach Donald Trump. They didn’t even bother to lay out the grounds on which they would impeach him. They just don’t like him! He’s rude! He’s a bully! While I might even agree with some of these characterizations, they just don’t pass constitutional muster when it comes to impeaching a President. But don’t take my word for it, read or listen to Alan Dershowitz, Harvard constitutional law professor. You can even read his book, The Case Against Impeaching Trump.

They also ran against building a wall (or fence or barrier or whatever) on our southern border, even though they voted for it in 2006 and in 2013. They ran against I.C.E. (Immigration and Customs Enforcement), but they might try to describe this as a positive position. They could say that they ran “FOR” abolishing I.C.E. Is running “for” abolishing something a positive thing? I’m going to say no because they never suggested what they would replace that enforcement agency with. They just followed their abolishment statements with some vague comment like, “we need to ‘reimagine’ I.C.E.” I’m not really sure what that means and neither do they.

They are not for the tax cuts, which Nancy Pelosi said would deliver “Armageddon” on our financial markets. I guess that forecast didn’t materialize. They are against moving the American embassy in Israel to Jerusalem, which they suggested would cause a volcanic eruption of violence there, but that didn’t happen either. They’re against reduced regulations which has helped ignite our economy and deliver both job growth and increase wages. I’m not sure why they like mountains of regulations, but they do. It probably has something to do with the polar ice caps.

They also like to call millions of Americans racists, bigots, misogynists and worse. This shows they are still clinging to the old Hillary Clinton “basket of deplorables” mantra, which I believe actually lost her the election. I guess they think that all of this negativity helped them take over the House in 2018, but let me give them fair warning. Republicans had a record number of incumbents (40) who did not seek re-election for the House last year and I believe that had much more to do with their success than their negative, no-vision, no-policy positions.

And now that they have taken over the House, what are their big legislative ideas? They want to impeach Donald Trump – of course. On what grounds? They think they don’t need any! They have also created legislation to abolish the electoral college. Yah! I’m ready to turn over the entire federal government to New York and California, how about you? I wonder what the Founding Fathers would say about that? They also have drafted legislation to limit the President’s power to fire the Special Counsel, Robert Mueller. The hell with the constitution, and who is even calling for the termination of Mueller? No one, but the dems keep talking about.

But, as if these efforts weren’t distant enough from the issues that Americans are actually concerned about, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez is suggesting legislation that would ban fossil fuels and have our government move us to 100% renewable energy. Not only was this not in the top 10 issues among the American people, but her plan is as unrealistic, unmanageable, reckless and naïve as her economic plan to offer free college, free healthcare and guaranteed income to everyone. That will cost us all 20 to 30 trillion dollars over 10 years. That’s 20 to 30 TRILLION dollars!!! And she has zero plan on how to collect that extra 20 to 30 trillion dollars from we the tax payers, because, as I constantly point out, the government has NO money. Everything they spend comes from us or is borrowed in our name.

I encourage Democrats to come up with some realistic, positive plans that can be compared to Republican plans and then negotiated in a good-faith manner. Do they still want citizenship for the DACA kids? Trump wants a barrier on the southern border! Let’s start there.

I do have to applaud Ted Cruz and Francis Rooney, both Republicans, who are proposing a constitutional amendment that will invoke term limits on members of Congress. 80% of Americans are in favor of this amendment, and I believe it may be the key to bringing some integrity, civility and productivity to Washington. Just when I think we’re circling the drain, someone proposes some common sense idea that gives me hope again. Well done, Ted and Francis.