Posted on 01/27/2020 8:04:06 AM PST by SeekAndFind
In about 30 seconds, one man in Iowa exposed a major weakness in the Democratic Party’s 2020 strategy. It’s a weakness, but it’s also a blindspot.
After a Monday town hall in Grimes, population 13,562, a father confronted Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) in a photo line. Warren, it should be noted, touts a higher education proposal that “cancels $50,000 in student loan debt for every person with household income under $100,000,” paid for by her 2 percent annual “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” on families worth $50 million and more.
“My daughter is getting out of school. I’ve saved all my money. She doesn’t have any student loans. Am I going to get my money back?” the man asked Warren, who breezily replied, “Of course not.”
“So you’re going to pay for people who didn’t save any money and those of us who did the right thing get screwed,” he continued. When Warren sought to protest that characterization, he kept going. “My buddy had fun, bought a car, went on vacations. I saved my money. He made more than I did. But I worked a double shift, worked extra. My daughter worked since she was 10. So, you’re laughing.”
“We did the right thing and we get screwed,” he told the senator before walking away.
The man’s frustrations are extremely resonant, and will be extremely useful as Republicans make their case in 2020. Wiping out debt is an easy sell in a far left primary being covered by a broadly liberal media. But there’s a dark side to redistributive policies that Democrats will ultimately struggle to counter, particularly with key constituencies in key states–and Republicans know it. As Warren’s stammering response in Grimes suggests, Democrats aren’t entirely prepared to reassure skeptics.
Follow the logic of the father in Iowa: I paid into the system, I did things the right way, and my tax money is going to people who went on vacations instead of working double shifts. Warren’s loan bailout plan isn’t exactly the National Health Service, but it hits the same nerve.
Some people have student loan debt because of bad decisions, some do not have student loan debt because of good decisions. Warren pledges to begin the debt cancellation process through administrative authority “on day one” of her presidency. That would be before any “Ultra-Millionaire Tax” was seriously considered by Congress, meaning the cancellation would not actually be funded by the super rich unless such legislation passed.
Even if that happened, the government would still be rewarding those borrowers in debt for the wrong reasons while the people who picked up double shifts worked that much harder to get nothing from the pool of taxpayer money. In effect, the government would be retroactively covering up to $50,000 of an individual’s education costs, which non-debt holders paid on their own.
It all strikes people as unfair, and the same dynamic is at play in plenty of the other big government policy proposals on the Democratic table in 2020. With liberal audiences, and many in the media, “universal” everything sounds compassionate and plays well. In a general election, it will give Republicans cause to use the “socialism” label, which the party sees as a powerful weapon.
I asked RNC spokesman Steve Guest about Warren’s dust-up in Grimes. Pay attention to the messaging. “From top to bottom, 2020 Democrats are pushing a far-left agenda that will raise your taxes and destroy your job if you’re in an industry they don’t like, all while increasing government control over your daily life,” he said. “The American people will reject these socialist policies of the Democrat Party in 2020 and re-elect President Trump.”
If you’ve seen GOP leaders seek to tie Democrats to socialism lately, it’s because a) the party and its policies have genuinely shifted very far to the left and b) because they know it generally helps Republicans in the binary. They’ve already seen it move the needle.
-- Emily Jashinsky is culture editor at The Federalist.
Bernie needs to be asked the same question.
ping
The only fair D’rat option would a an equal rebate to ALL college attendees.
Then, they can pay on the loan, pay back their parents or pay back themselves.
Confrontations are nice but I note that entire campaigns can elapse without candidates being asked the most basic questions that would test some basic but fundamental knowledge.
Examples: What is the text of the fourth amendment?
What is price elasticity of demand?
What is a BTU?
The fumbling, evasions and subject changing would be revealing and hilarious.
You can take this exact example and apply it to Social Security.
Giving my hard earned money to people who DO NOT deserve it!
My son was dating a girl whose father is a doctor, he owns 3 houses, boats, skimobiles, sports cars and just about every toy a man might want etc - and still owes close to $300K on his student loans - which I am pretty sure he just plans on making minimum payments until he dies.
I don’t know for sure but I suspect he will be voting for whichever dem candidate promises to pay off more of his student loans....sounds about right if you are a democrat.
He essentially was when he was asked how much his universal health care would cost. He said he had no idea- there was no way to know. Yikes!
Modulous of elasticity. ...
And my good kids have been scrimping and doing with less to pay off their college loans (we assisted, too, but would not do full boats).
Welfare cancer is so bad for America.
It’s like the fable of the ant and the grasshopper. The Democrats are the grasshopper party. No, make that the locust party.
Here is the frustrating point — this guy paid his daughter’s education and will be forced to pay for other kid’s education too.
All true.
“The American people will reject these socialist policies of the Democrat Party in 2020 and re-elect President Trump.”
Fine and dandy, but it only matters in the long run if they purge the D's from Congress!
any student loan relief should be paid for by seizing endowments and liquidating universities
we have about 4x the number of universities that are needed, so 3 of 4 can be wound down and disposed of
The Rats are the party that rewards irresponsible behavior. In just about every facet of life!
I paid a little to others’ Soc.Sec. benefits at age 16 and more 18-22 (2 & at one time 3 college jobs at once) then paid for full time employment through age 71 when I retired.
I used to joke grimly that after wasting all my tax money for others (and stealing it to be replaced the following year for the general budget waste) that someday the Goldwater and Libertarian philosophers would influence the US to stop paying benefits just in time for me.
I didn’t think it was funny.
The same thing in issuing reparations. What does someone pay who never owned slaves. (all of us). These dems are stooped.
Sounds as if her father may fit into the income bracket which would exclude him.
Social Security isn’t a welfare program. Its an earned contribution program. The money you set aside for your retirement Is paid back to you.
Everyone supports it in principle and its fair. Contrast it with student loan relief which seeks to reward deadbeat borrowers over those who paid their way for their own education.
The latter is very unfair and yet we have liberals of all people, pushing it. Go figure.
And how far back should these reparations go?
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