No day passes without a report about which Democrat is moving up or down in the polling, who among them is raising the most money, and whose latest encounter with the media is a plus or a minus. Yet the calendar tells us we’re still more than six months away from Iowa caucuses and the first-in-the-nation New Hampshire primary.
The pundits tell us that Joe Biden is still leading but a media favorite named Elizabeth Warren remains a top-tier prospect to win the nomination. Her “determination” wins praise, and so does her willingness to tell the nation what she will do if she becomes the first female president. Female or male shouldn’t be an issue when Warren’s candidacy is considered. Bur her proposals for our nation should be everyone’s concern. A hard look at what she intends is scary.
Asked about virtually anything while campaigning, Warren answers, “I have a plan.” And, if given time, she’ll gladly tell any questioner its details. Writing in The New York Times Magazine for June 23, Emily Bazelon provided a collection of some of the 20 plans she has “so far” produced, noting that the Massachusetts senator considers herself “a capitalist to my bones.”
Bazelon’s list included “making housing and child care affordable, forgiving college-loan debt, tackling the opioid crisis, protecting public lands, manufacturing green products, cracking down on in Washington, and giving workers a voice in selecting corporate board members.”
Among Warren’s other plans, she favors having the IRS allow same-sex couples to amend past tax returns in order to recover funds extracted from them as a result of the “discriminatory” Defense of Marriage Act (now struck down by the Supreme Court). Then, there’s her support for reparations for black Americans whose ancestors were slaves. Whenever a far-left idea pops up, she has “a plan” to enact it.
A believer of the claim that humans are causing climate change, she wants to enact the preposterous Green New Deal produced by a group of congressional progressives who are farther to the left than even she. Also, Warren wants to do away with the Electoral College, ban drilling on public lands, impose higher taxes on millionaires, and provide Medicare for all.
Prior to her winning a seat in the U.S. Senate only a few years ago, she taught a single class at Harvard University for one year and, for it, earned the princely sum of $429,981. To enhance her chances to teach at Harvard and elsewhere, she sought minority status as a Native American, a claim she has been completely unable to validate. She has also won plaudits from fellow leftists for authorship of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau enacted into law by Congress.
The only Warren proposal this writer supports is her call for withdrawing American military forces from Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. But a single sensible plan isn’t enough to ignore all the liberalism, socialism and far leftist policies backed by this ambitious politician. Voters should be made aware of the enormously expensive plans she supports and the structural changes she intends for the American system. One good proposal in the midst of more than a dozen liberal and leftist ideas is discomforting.
John F. McManus is president emeritus of The John Birch Society.
