A Costly Way Forward with Biden-Harris

Now that the national celebration of Joe Biden's selection of Kamala Harris as running mate has waned, it's time to consider what a Biden-Harris presidency would look like.

The observations listed below follow a worst-case scenario, one where Democrats gain the nation's highest office, maintain control of the House and regain the Senate.

Defunding the police. While the Democratic platform doesn't specifically call for funds to be withdrawn from police departments nationwide – that has been and will be done at the local level – a Biden-Harris administration would be complicit in de-legitimizing police departments across the country.

How might that happen? By one of the oldest strong-arm tactics known to politics, the withholding of funds as a way to implement federal standards.

According to a draft of the Democratic platform available online: “Democrats will establish strict national standards governing the use of force, including permitting deadly force only when necessary and a last resort to prevent an imminent threat to life. We will require immediate application of these standards to all federal law enforcement agencies and condition federal grants on their adoption at the state and local level.”

Dems realize there's no need to openly tout “defunding” police departments when more subversive tactics can be employed. Handicapping the way police officers operate and threatening to withhold funds for failure to adhere to federal standards could potentially be more destructive to law enforcement than outright defunding.

The platform draft contains nearly four pages of proposals for reforming the criminal justice system. Much of it is pure babble oriented toward social work and revisiting policies that have already failed, including “investments in housing, education and the arts that will make our nation fairer, freer and more prosperous.”

In its essence, this section of the platform is a repeat of Lyndon Johnson's “Great Society,” an initiative that helped lead to the decay and increased poverty in many inner cities. Democrats have thrown federal money at poverty, crime and education for decades, an effort that's rebranded every decade or so, but we keep facing the same issues on a merry-go-round of failed policies.

Photo by Lorie Shaull/Flickr

Suppressing free speech. Look for First Amendment rights to take a beating under a Biden-Harris administration. Biden's role as vice president for Barack Obama gave him firsthand experience in using the federal government to suppress speech. An article on thehill.com (“Obama's legacy: The trashing of free speech”) details the abuses of the Obama administration.

Under Obama's watch, for example, recall the targeting of conservative nonprofits by the IRS, as well as the use of the Justice Department to spy on reporter James Rosen and to subpoena phone records of The Associated Press.

Emboldened by an aggressive Obama administration, recall that 16 state attorneys general attempted to silence global warming skeptics. All 16 were Democrats, by the way.

Stamping out dissent has become a defining tactic of left-wingers at all levels. There are numerous instances of conservative speakers being denied a platform on college campuses in recent years. Consider also the “safe spaces” and “trigger warnings” that have become tools of subversion on college campuses.

Here's betting that conservative talk radio will be in the crosshairs of Democrats if they gain full control. The Federal Communications Commission will likely be the tool of choice as the left attempts to stifle dissenting voices.

Attacking the Second Amendment. Democrats had wisely been silent on the issue of gun control in recent months, although their intentions are well documented. Then Letitia James, Attorney General for New York, sued to disband the National Rifle Association, alleging financial improprieties.

Whether the suit has merit remains to be seen, although the timing smacks of pure political dirty dealing.

The lawsuit can be viewed two ways. Either this is a concerted effort by Democrats to cripple the NRA during a critical election cycle, or it's an example of a renegade leftist looking to make a name for herself while drawing the attention of dedicated gun owners nationwide.

It should serve the same purpose either way, awakening gun owners to the reality of what lies ahead should Dems gain control. Recall Biden's cozy remarks to Beto O'Rourke about placing the failed presidential candidate, and avowed anti-gun fanatic, in charge of gun control in a Biden administration.

If Democrats have their way unencumbered by Republicans, don't believe for a minute that they'll stop at banning and confiscating assault rifles. That will merely be the first step. Erosion or outright elimination of certain individual gun rights will ensue. The need for an assault weapons ban that Harris and others keep repeating is no more than a ruse intended to weaken gun rights resistance. Spend a few minutes digging into joebiden.com for proof. The list of gun control measures is extensive.

Governing the climate. They'll stop short of implementing the Green New Deal, as that foolhardy plan is feasible only in the minds of delusional zealots. Nonetheless, look for a massive remaking of federal laws and initiatives in the name of saving the planet.

Joe Biden's plan to ban hydraulic fracturing would quadruple electricity prices, reduce Gross Domestic Product (GDP) by $7.1 trillion, and increase natural gas prices by 324 percent from 2021 to 2025, causing household energy bills to more than quadruple. https://t.co/aGvrvO4iOD

— Institute for Energy Research (@IERenergy) June 20, 2020

Again, Biden's website provides proof of intent, stating that “the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for meeting the climate challenges we face.”

The party's platform states flatly that the U.S. will rejoin the Paris Climate Agreement, a sucker's bet if one ever existed. The agreement called for billions of dollars to be spent while creating higher energy prices for consumers – all for minimal gain. One of Donald Trump's smartest moves was to pull out of that messy, misguided tangle of foolishness.

The platform document further states that Dems will ensure U.S. leadership on climate change. Translation: Taxpayers in this country will foot the bill for climate initiatives intended to benefit the entire globe.

Biden recently proposed committing $2 trillion over four years to combat climate change, in one stroke attempting to save the planet and demonstrating the ease with which he'll throw around tax dollars.

Taxing the … well, everybody. Reading the 2020 Democratic Party Platform document is akin to reading a blueprint for the expansion of the federal government. That includes the addition of 100,000 federally employed contact tracers to combat the COVID pandemic. Dems call it a “national public health surveillance program.” That language alone should raise concern among those who fear the reach and scope of federal oversight.

The expansion is just getting started there, however. The document is loaded with language demonstrating the left-wing belief that government is the see-all, cure-all for everything that ails society, and then some. Words such as protecting, reforming, expanding and guaranteeing are sprinkled throughout. “Protecting” appears nine times on the first page of the table of contents.

This points to a dilemma for Democrats: How to pay for a massive expansion of the federal government.

Worry no more. The party's slogan should be: More government. More taxes. More regulation. Fewer individual liberties. And more taxes.

Biden is already preparing to soak pretty much everyone standing about. No presidential candidate since Walter Mondale in 1984 has been as open on the topic of tax increases. Mondale's loss to Ronald Reagan that year was epic, with the incumbent winning 49 of 50 states.

One of the tenets of Biden's tax plan is to increase the corporate rate to 28 percent, up from the 21 percent mandated by Trump's tax cuts. According to taxfoundation.org, that is one of three major components of Biden's plan. The other two involve taxable income on earnings over $400,000 and a repeal of the 2017 cuts by Trump for similar high earners.

Biden's plan would reduce Gross Domestic Product (a measure of economic strength) by 1.5% over the long run. Significantly, the Tax Foundation also states: “The plan would lead to lower after-tax income for all income levels, but especially for taxpayers in the top 1%.”

What the Dems won't tell us is how woefully under-funded their government expansion will be if they focus only on taxing the rich.

In fact, if Democrats run the table this fall, you can bet the party will be a regulatory, tax-happy, jobs-killing juggernaut. The overall economy will suffer, the middle class will suffer, and they'll blame it all on Trump.

There will be little cause for celebration then.

© Copyright 2020, Independent Tribune, Kannapolis, NC

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