Bernie Sanders thinks Americans want a revolution. No, we want sanity!
It may be a new year and a new decade, but it looks like Democrats are determined to continue their descent into utter foolishness. As we approach the 2020 presidential election, voters will weigh policies and opinions that have been pushed by the party’s far-left flank. In this country, where 70 percent still self-identify as “conservative” or “moderate,” that is unlikely to turn out well for Democrats.
Even President Obama has warned that Democrats’ uncompromising push for political correctness, amplified by social media, has led their party to a difficult and dangerous place.
On more than one occasion, the former president has argued that some on the Left have weaponized political correctness to shut down debate, stifling legitimate arguments. “This idea of purity, and you’re never compromised, and you’re always politically woke, and all that stuff, you should get over that quickly,” Obama said in an NPR interview this fall. “The world is messy. There are ambiguities. People who do really good stuff have flaws.”
Democrats have become a party of such judgment and omniscience, that they brook no contravention. They have made their tent smaller and smaller, and allowed controversial and even preposterous policies to become mainstream Democratic doctrine.
By the way, Obama contributed to this process.
To indicate just how far left Democrats have travelled, consider that progressives believe:
That releasing criminals from jail will make Americans safer.
That gender is only remotely related to anatomy.
That eating less meat will reduce carbon emissions from China.
That political contributions from GM are corrupt but those from the UAW are just fine.
That you cure homelessness by shipping your homeless to other people’s cities.
That math is too hard for kids to learn, because it is a byproduct of racist oppression.
That giving illegal immigrants free medical care, housing, college and other benefits is fair to America’s workers.
That raising taxes on businesses will help encourage more hiring and investment.
That a government take-over of health care will improve care and cost the country less.
That full-term abortion is perfectly ok.
Every single one of those ideas has been adopted in at least one deep blue city or state. In Seattle, for instance, a new math curriculum teaches that “individuals and groups define mathematical knowledge so as to see “Western” mathematics as the only legitimate expression of mathematical identity and intelligence…[which] is then used to disenfranchise people and communities of color [and] erases the historical contributions of people and communities of color.”
This must be a comfort for teachers unions whose members who are failing to teach math to minority kids in inner cities. In New York City, for instance, only 28 percent of African-American youngsters are proficient in math. How is this acceptable? Oddly, you never hear a peep of criticism from Democrats who are supposedly so concerned about income inequality, which for sure finds its roots partly in the classroom. And now, actual math achievement, so essential to multiple careers, will be buried under a lot of baloney about math “oppression.”
In Connecticut, athletes can compete according to the gender with which they identify, regardless of their physical makeup. As a consequence, men who have chosen to become women are winning races — easily. This year two individuals born as males took home first and second prize in the state-wide 55-meter dash. Of course they did! Men are stronger and bigger and, best of all, endowed with testosterone, which boosts all of the above. This is idiocy.
Meanwhile, New York Mayor Bill de Blasio has hit on the perfect way to get homeless people off the city’s streets: ship them out of town. Literally.
According to reporting by the New York Post, since August 2017 de Blasio has sent, 5,074 families, totaling 12,000 individuals, to 32 states and Puerto Rico, normally not bothering to tell the new host city.
Why is New York sending homeless families as far away as Honolulu? Because, compared to the Big Apple, rents almost anywhere else are cheaper. Heaven forbid de Blasio tries to tackle that real-life problem.
Meanwhile, in New York and other blue cities, the current vogue is to turn criminals back onto the streets as fast as possible. This is called “bail reform” but it is actually an abandonment of the central role of government — keeping our citizens safe. Already we have seen the result, as a woman charged with assaulting three Jewish women was released without bail in New York City. She hit the streets – and another victim – only a day later, and was again released from custody.
Criminals are emboldened by the new rules; eventually someone will die at the hands of a just-released felon and those Democratic officials who dreamed up this risky plan will wring their hands and point the finger at…President Trump. Don’t ask me how; they’ll come up with something.
Is it any wonder that Trump is leading most of his Democratic rivals in the heartland states where people still embrace common sense?
As we approach the 2020 election, the sheer nuttiness of Democratic proposals looms large. People don’t support Trump because they are racist or misogynistic. They support him because he lives in the real world, and they believe his policies are aimed at making the United States stronger and more prosperous.
These are people who talk about divorce, not “conscious uncoupling,” or about being single, not “self-partnering” as actress Emma Watson did recently. These are people who use traditional pronouns without embarrassment and who are likely to belong to a church or synagogue.
These are people who understand Trump. They think asking our wealthy NATO allies to shoulder a greater share of their defense budget makes sense, and that confronting China on its monstrous theft of American patents is long overdue.
These are people who will reelect President Trump in 2020.
Liz Peek is a former partner of major bracket Wall Street firm Wertheim & Company. Follow her on Twitter @lizpeek.