Meh! Nothing to see here, move along.

The primary point of the evening was that the economy works well for the fat cats, less well for the middle class, and not at all for minorities, the poor, and illegal aliens. Secondarily, impeach the President and Donald Trump sucks.

I think the most striking difference is, unlike the Republicans who wage total war against their fellow candidates, few candidates attacked fellow candidates by name. Some candidates answered questions in Spanish to differentiate themselves to minorities and the Telemundo audience. 

I will spare you the suspense; the answer is simple: the winner was not the American people. If I had to select an outstanding performer, it would be Tulsi Gabbard, followed by Elizabeth Warren. Unfortunately, Gabbard, an Iraq-war veteran, has more in common with Barack Obama's benign neglect, lead from behind foreign policy, than she does with those who want to keep Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. In the debate, Gabbard said, "War with Iran would be worse than war with Iraq. Donald Trump and his chickenhawk cabinet—Mike Pompeo, John Bolton, and others—are creating a situation where a spark would light a war with Iran. Trump needs to get back into the Iran deal, swallow his pride, and put America first." An agreement with a party that refuses inspection is in league with North Korean weapon development, and cannot be trusted is worse than no agreement at all." Just because she was a soldier, does not mean she understands the bigger picture or is fit for command.

Most readers have noticed that I end many posts with the simple observation “we are screwed.” Well, it bears repeating after watching some of the most worthless politicians in the nation preen and posture in yesterday’s Democrat debate. It can’t even be called a debate because of time constraints and the lack of any opposing viewpoints. Arranging the deck chairs on the doomed Titanic if you will.

Here are some salient issues for your consideration …

MEDICARE FOR ALL – in reality, the concept of Medicare for ALL becomes Medicare for NONE because traditional Medicare will vanish in favor of a universal form of Medicaid. All of the hard-working Americans who have paid into the system and were counting on this program will be forced to share the results of their labor with their less productive, and possibly illegal, neighbors to the detriment of their health. As we saw in Obamacare, increasing coverage without increasing physicians, facilities, and support personnel will result in coverage denials, delays, or even death – all at the hands of unelected bureaucratic clerks without medical training. This is the number one disaster facing senior citizens.

THE GREEN NEW DEAL – Like the mythical Icarus whose artificial wings melted when he flew too close to the Sun, the truth is that man is unable to control climate and programs which purport to mitigate the effects of climate are little more than political power grabs. Without the cooperation of China, Russia, India, and other nations, the United States will bear the tremendous burden of sacrificing their personal freedoms to the delight of the population control/de-growth crowd that appears to be virulent anti-American. It is ludicrous to believe that nature will ignore millions of years of feedback loops and destroy the planet in 10-12 years as projected by some of the most scientifically-ignorant politicians in the history of the world.

WEALTH REDISTRIBUTION & REPARATIONS – This is little more than a scheme to pander to large voting blocs by promising to redistribute the wealth from the creators who produce wealth to those who do little or nothing but consume resources. An attractive pitch for those who do not wish to work or who believe that the world owes them a living. Along with wealth redistribution, we find the subject of reparations – paying the descendants of those who were historically mistreated. However, it is unclear why innocent people not associated with any historical wrongs would be forced to bear the burden of paying those who did nothing to deserve this political bounty. If anything this debt was settled a long time ago, in blood, by those who fought a Civil War to erase slavery from our national vocabulary. The two ancillary subjects to wealth redistribution are the concept of a living “minimum” wage and a gender-based wage gap. The facts are simple. In the case of a minimum wage, entry-level jobs for those with minimum skills and experience are now expected to support a family of four. Raising the minimum wage is to demand that employers pay dishwashers and others $30,000 plus benefits which is ludicrous on its face and which has dire economic consequences as employers automate, reduce workers, split jobs, or go out of business. As for the gender-based wage gap, women are often paid equivalent sums for similar jobs, but also often have less experience due to gaps in employment for childbearing or other family reasons. This ploy is simply another way progressives use class warfare to attract attention and obtain votes.

AMNESTY & OPEN BORDERS – Perhaps the most dangerous threat to America is the economic and cultural dilution that comes from importing poverty, illiteracy, disease, crime, and the desire to reproduce the culture of a dysfunctional country in America, all paid for by the hard work of Americans, past, present, and future. One need only look at California to see the damage wreaked on the formerly “Golden State” by the progressives and the illegal aliens who will become progressives. An uncontrolled rising tide will quickly submerge and destroy everything in its path and leaving behind a totalitarian government and a nation of slaves working for the state.

NORMALIZATION OF ABERRANT BEHAVIOR – An attempt by politicians to lure dysfunctional or disaffected voters into the fold by attempting to normalize their individual behaviors to make them feel good about themselves. In many cases, we find that these political normalization efforts mean erasing previous societal norms like suppressing promoting self-declaratory determinations of your sex, gender, or other characteristics at will. If a white Rachel Dolezal can self-declare as a black or a white Elizabeth Warren can self-declare as an American Indian, or mediocre male athletes can self-declare as women to win sporting events, then we have lost all semblance of societal rationality and common sense. Destroying security and privacy in bathrooms and locker rooms for the sake of a relatively few people is, indeed, tyranny by the minority.

UNIONS – In spite of costlier products and services, over-budget and late projects, rewarding seniority over merit, embracing the status quo over innovation, and demanding increases in salaries and benefits without corresponding increases in productivity. One need only look at union-dominated education where the majority of inner-city schools turn out decades of functional illiterates.

ACCEPTANCE OF SOME DISCRIMINATION – I find it amazing that candidate Cory Booker emphatically condemns anti-black speech and behavior but appears to view anti-Semitism and the hatred of Jews as just another “point of view.” Refusing to condemn the Nation of Islam leader Louis Farrakhan for his vile and vicious anti-Semitic, homophobic, and anti-America rhetoric. How the hell can these people stand on the stage and purport to represent Americans?

OBLITERATION OF THE CONSTITUTION – Some people are no longer “equal under the law” but find themselves in protected classes with affirmative actions perks and privileges denied ordinary citizens. I find it abhorrent that judges are using the U.S. Constitution, a document meant to limit the power of government, to convey new powers to the government, discover new rights for individuals, and to suppress the lawful actions of the President of the United States and his administration.

And, yet we find the candidates speaking about their support of First Amendment rights. Freedom of speech when the progressives attempt to suppress dissenting opinions as “hate speech,” or progressives promoting the freedom of the press to excuse defamation, lying, and propaganda, or progressives using the freedom of religion to grant tax exemptions, perks, and privileges for individuals and organizations that are supporting the efforts of our societal enemies. Or those who would abuse the Second Amendment to disarm law-abiding Americans and produce a larger victim pool of compliant people held hostage by thugs and totalitarians.

A current example of abuse of power by three of the current progressive candidates can be seen in the news report “Sens. Cory Booker (D-N.J.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), all 2020 White House hopefuls, are urging officials to review Sinclair Broadcast Group's acquisition of 21 regional sports networks, saying the media conglomerate relays ‘partisan political messages’ to viewers.”  Like ABC, NBC, and CBS do not relay progressive partisan messages and feature sports coverage. It appears that Booker, Sanders, and Warren believe in the First Amendment only when it furthers the progressive agenda.

The Democrat Party does not understand that criminals, crazies, and terrorists do not respect nor obey any firearm laws. They ignore the fact that minorities commit a disproportionate number of crimes and believe that most of the minorities incarcerated have been wrongly convicted or improperly sentenced.

MILITARY AND FOREIGN POLICY – Voting for anyone in this batch would be to resurrect the dangerous Iran nuclear deal, pull our troops out of Afghanistan, and reduce spending on the military. Some believe that we need to pump money into Central America to improve their economies to resolve the immigration problem. Most people equated climate change as big an issue as Iran China, and Russia.

Stupid is as stupid does…

Has anyone else noticed that today’s legislators are all about fundraising, political power, self-advancement, and care little or nothing for their country or constituents? In fact, much of the legislation is simply a staff-created outline (with the help of foundations, lobbyists, and special interests) with the real heavy lifting of lawmaking outsourced to unelected bureaucrats who promulgate administrative rules and regulations with the force of law and with the promise of fines and prison for non-compliance.

Who are these people?

I saw a funny tweet noting that a security guard asked former Colorado Governor John Hickenlooper if he was there to pick up press credentials – forcing him to reply, “I’m a candidate.” How many non-political Americans would recognize Elizabeth Warren, Cory Booker, Julián Castro, Amy Klobuchar, Beto O’Rourke, Tulsi Gabbard, Jay Inslee, John Delaney, Tim Ryan, and Bill de Blasio if they were standing next to them?  With the exception of Elizabeth Warren, widely known as Fauxcahontas, who are these people? Even after the Democrat debates, most of these people will be ciphers outside of their states.

Bottom line…

It bears repeating; we are screwed.

-- steve