Many prominent liberals have ripped into Democratic candidates for sponsoring ideas too far from mainstream America. Their advice? Stop being so honest and start lying.
“Candidates are campaigning in an America of their own imagination—a bit to the left of Sweden,” columnist Richard Cohen said recently.
It is important, as Cohen understands, for Democrats to find a winning platform and a plan to win back the White House. Right now, their positions come off as extreme and probably make them unelectable.
He’s right. Only 13 percent of Americans want to make private health insurance illegal, while 55 percent of Californians think free healthcare for illegal immigrants would be going too far. Both of these positions have been endorsed by the Democratic Party.
And these radical positions raise more questions.
Would Democratic candidates raise their hands in support of illegal immigrants, or foreign nationals, voting in American elections? Will it ever be a good idea to enforce border policies?
What’s chilling is how ambiguous liberal commentators are. Should Democrats oppose extreme policies or should they just hide their extremism? It isn’t clear.
Writing for Mother Jones, Kevin Drum spends a lot of time explaining to Democrats what the people are seeing: “it’s hard to see much daylight between [Elizabeth] Warren’s plan and de facto open borders.”
But what should they do about it?
If Senator Bernie Sanders (D-Vt.) admits that his “new vision for America” requires increasing taxes on the middle class, that’s true enough. But is the advice that he should lie about this or that he should find a better way to promise the cake without the calories? It’s certainly never that he should moderate his position.
Most Democrats pledge to offer illegal immigrants government provided health care. And South Bend, Indiana Mayor Pete Buttigieg thinks it’s sensible that the 11 million illegal aliens (by extremely conservative estimates) in our country should have the same access as American citizens.
But would Cohen and Drum have Mayor Pete lie about that in order to get the votes who don’t support it, or would they scale back and recommend real limits?
Senator Kamala Harris (D-Calif.) thinks enforcing our immigration laws “is not reflective of America and our values, and it’s got to end.”
Would Cohen and Drum have her be dishonest about how she would change immigration? Or should she actually implement something even more generous than open borders when in office? Perhaps we should pay for their passage?
Anyone with eyes to see knows that today’s Democrats see no enemies to their left—they have removed any pretense of cloaking themselves in moderation and are showing voters their true plans for the country.
Of course, taking time to be honest about the real objects of the Democratic party might distract them from their one and only goal: “The urgent challenge is to rid the nation of Trump.”
After all, if President Trump really is “Hitler,” as commentators like Cohen and Drum have recklessly suggested in the past, then no candidate could be too extreme to dampen their support. Not even the Bolsheviks.
Since the only change in the Democratic Party is a push toward further left-wing extremism, Liberals had better recommend that these candidates start lying now. If they wait till later, the mean orange man will make them pay.
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