After two nights of watching the Democrat candidates debate, it's almost comical if it were not so sad how Democratic candidates are doing everything they can to outspend their opponents with your money. It's a frenzy of entitlement promises. It's "free everything" paid by the tax-paying Americans who work hard to earn and keep as much of their paycheck as possible. At least New York Mayor Bill de Blasio candidly admitted their plans for your money, "There is plenty of money in this world, and there's plenty of money in this country, it's just in the wrong hands. Democrats have to fix that."
When it comes to college education, Senator Bernie Sanders' proposal puts the other Democrat candidates to shame. His plan virtually eliminates all student loan debt, over $1.6 trillion owed by 45 million Americans. As if that is not expensive enough, he proposes to make public universities and community colleges tuition-free. The federal government would provide $47 billion a year and states $23 billion a year. More accurately, Sanders would impose a 0.5% tax on all stock trades, a 0.1% fee on bonds, and a 0.005% fee on derivatives.
Sen. Elizabeth Warren may have been the first to introduce a plan for free education, but her proposal seems almost a bargain. She would forgive as much as $50,000 for up to 42 million Americans.
Students, vote Democrat so your education will be "free" until you graduate and pay the taxes such freebies require. There's the old adage-"Pay me now or pay me later!" Why worry about what you study or how long you take? Why consider whether your education will actually give you a way to make a good living? Democrats want your education choices to be free of any consequences or cost to you!
Democratic presidential hopeful Andrew Yang is promoting a universal basic income. In his plan, every American citizen between the ages of 18 and 64 receives a $1,000 check once a month. His "Freedom Dividend" would be "free" for everyone except the Americans paying for more than their share of this government largesse.
Reparations for black Americans will never die as long as Democrats depend on identity politics. General Sherman's 1865 Special Field Order 15 promised "40 acres and a mule" for former slaves. None of the blacks alive today were ever enslaved and none of the whites living today have had slaves. But that doesn't stop candidates from promising to "have conversations" about reparations everyone knows will never fly.
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Sen. Elizabeth Warren riding freebies up the polls promises to make child-care free for millions of Americans. She wants subsidized nurseries, "a network of child-care options that would be available to every family." It would be free for families making less than 200% of the federal poverty line. Those making more would have costs capped at 7% of family income.
Medicare for all has been a progressive pipe dream for years, but this year it seems almost Democratic orthodoxy. Half support some version of it, five others have more modest plans. But no one outdoes Senator Sanders who provides the most generous benefits. Sanders, Warren and de Blasio hope to eliminate private health insurance altogether.
What P.J. O'Rourke said about healthcare costs could be said about the expanding list of freebies by Democrats, "If you think health care is expensive now, wait until you see what it costs when it's free."
Many have risked everything to leave socialistic countries to come to a country that values freedom and the pursuit of one's own American Dream. Socialism doesn't work. It traps people in government dependence and transfers wealth you've earned to those not willing to earn their own.
Ronald Reagan spoke wisdom with wit: "The most terrifying words in the English language are: I'm from the government and I'm here to help." These proposed entitlements are hollow bribes designed to do nothing more than to get the vote of the citizens duped by such promises.
Somewhere along the way, Americans have forgotten the critical role of free-enterprise capitalism, hard work, limiting spending, and saving for one's own future. If we elect a Democrat in 2020, we'll be trading our founding principles that have made America great for the promise of "free stuff" funded by taking from the wealth of our more successful neighbors. If you elect Democrats committed to taking the wealth of the "rich," they'll be coming after your wealth next. Free stuff is really never free!
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