The Democratic debates going on got me to thinking about the platform the Democrats will put together for the 2020 presidential race. The platform won't be released until after the primaries but you can look at what the candidates are pushing to see the potential aspects of the platform. Here's a small list of the main topics and some thoughts to go along with them.
| Concept | My Thoughts |
|---|---|
| Universal (single payer) healthcare for all | The concept is to expand Medicare to cover everyone in the United States. Medicare pays doctors less than they would normally receive for services, as a result many doctors refuse to accept Medicare patients. Without enough doctor's seeing Medicare patients, the government would have to encourage, coerce, or force doctors to accept Medicare. Anyone smart enough to become a doctor is going to be smart enough to look at a potential career in medicine and see it would be less desirable than other potential careers. The end result will be free medical care, if you can find a doctor that will treat you. |
| Free college education | Free college education implies anyone that wants to go to college can go for free. Since classroom space will always be limited and college now have acceptance criteria to limit enrollment to those having a reasonable chance of graduating. How will the government decide who is eligible, will it be left to the current system or will we get another bureaucracy making this decision. Should the government (i.e. taxpayers) fund education in such areas as General Studies, Art Appreciation, or Music Appreciation that result in college graduates having limited chances of employment? |
| Living wage for everyone (whether they work or not) | Free money! And potentially for doing nothing. I could get very good at doing nothing all day and still getting a paycheck. Beyond money for nothing, dramatic increases in the minimum wage have been implemented in a few states. The result is higher unemployment as employers find ways to run their business with fewer employees. For those employees remaining it means more work for the same pay. |
| Guaranteed job | This certainly takes care of the problem caused by the living wage. Everyone gets a job. The question comes down to whether you we be able to select the job you want, I doubt it. The government will generate millions of menial jobs just to keep people busy. |
| Gun control | Gun violence needs to be addressed. Instead of making an effort to identify those that should not own a gun, laws are enacted to make it harder for everyone to own a gun. The Second Amendment states "the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed". Laws making more hoops for people to buys guns at some point becomes an "infringement" on their Second Amendment rights. |
| Open borders/eliminate ICE | The majority of immigrants coming to the U.S. simply want to make a better life for themselves, but there are some that mean us harm. Secure borders of any country protect the citizens of the country from those that mean to harm either to the country itself or to it's citizenry. Without borders, nations cease to exist and become simply areas of land for others to take over. How do Democrats intend to protect our country without strong border security? If the intent is to manage the borders with drones, will the drones be armed and we shoot first and ask questions later? If not, drones are relatively useless other than counting people coming into the country. |
| Reparations for those wronged in history | As a white male that will turn 60 this year, I want reparations for * being labeled as a potential sexual predator simply because of my gender, * being labeled a bigot and/or racist because of nationalistic pride in my country, * a shortened lifespan because of past generations suffering through the stress of being the single breadwinner in the family, * the stress of living up to the expectations forced on me by my "white privilege", * whatever else I think of. Anyone can come up with a reason to say they have been wronged. Are we really now looking at making some groups pay other groups for the "sins of our fathers"? |
| 72% maximum tax rate/higher corporate taxes | In an effort to pay for the desired social program changes, Democrats are looking to raise the maximum personal income tax to 72% for the highest incomes. We are being told coupling this with higher corporate taxes will provide plenty of funding for the new programs. Costs estimates for the Green New Deal (which encompasses the majority of the desired reforms) show it would cost $93 trillion over 10 years or $9.3 trillion per year. The federal government currently takes in approximately $1.5 trillion per year in personal income tax and increasing the top marginal rate for those making over $1 million per year will not make up the additional $9.3 trillion per year needed. Raising corporate tax rates only serves to drive up costs to consumers. Corporations don't pay taxes, they collect them from consumers and pass them own to the government. To pay for all these social programs, taxes would have to be raised on the middle class as well. These won't be small taxes increases and with government inefficiencies the middle class will end up with less money in their pocket and fewer of the freedoms we now enjoy. |
Anyone that really thinks through these concepts and has the knowledge that someone will be paying for these programs will be able to understand this approach is phony. Even if elected, the financial aspects of implementing these programs will kill them. Democrats are simply playing to the masses telling us we can get all these things for free. The truth is all these things have a price tag. The price tag for these items is partially made up of money and partially made up by the freedoms we relinquish.