What initiatives will Bernie Sanders espouse if he defeats Joe Biden in the primaries and wins the general election against Donald Trump?
His principle objectives will include decreasing income inequality, significantly reducing US engagement in overseas military operations, opening our borders, providing free health care to every citizen and illegal aliens, extinguishing student loans, emasculating large corporations and banks and decreasing police forces around the country.
The reduction of income inequality will be one of Sanders’ most immediate ambitions. In one generation, Sanders will try to decrease the compensation of the most innovative and brightest among us. Supposedly, this action will result in more for middle class and poor Americans. We will see the end of US technological superiority, as no one will be incentivized to be “more” creative. Additionally, the profitability of high tech companies will nose dive, paving the way for layoffs and other reductions of the work force. And, individuals with high net worths will be subjected to a wealth tax, which will retroactively steal money earned in the past. In summary, America will experience a gigantic effort to redistribute wealth at the expense of one economic class.
Sanders will stifle military engagement overseas including those that are meant to fight off terrorism, human rights violations and imperialistic regimes. Middle East hotspots such as Afghanistan, Lebanon, Yemen, and Iran will foment new organizations that want to recreate another 9/11 attack. Military responses to human rights violations will not happen exposing million of individuals to genocide and religious discrimination. This type of intervention is among the most honorable of all actions, yet, the new president will not endorse them.
Our borders will be even more porous under a Sanders administration. New illegal immigration will be re-characterized as legal, as I.C.E. and other border protection agencies are disbanded. The objective would be to encourage more poor people to come to the US to increase the number of liberal voters. This would effectively change the distribution of voters throughout the country. The result of such an outrageous policy will be more crime, more hardship for border states and greater unemployment.
Health care will be in turmoil as one-payer insurance replaces thousands of private plans. Millions of Americans will lose protection they are happy with, replaced by mundane free benefits. Carte blanche access to hospitals and doctors will overload our health system, and our care will degrade into a socialized system characterized by long waits for doctors and hospital beds and poor treatment. Just like Obama, Sanders will ram this new system down the throats of all Americans. To make matters worse illegal residents will receive free services.
Student loans will be extinguished. The unfairness of this proposal is mindboggling. Students who drew down loans without consideration of how they would repay them would get a free ride. In the meantime, millions of students who have been paying would not be reimbursed. One should keep in mind that many conscientious students worked while attending school and/or borrowed money from family to pay for their education. There is no way to fairly establish a system to extinguish debt. Rather, students should be given more time to pay debts they incurred. Repayment should mirror their current earnings.
It is politically fashionable to criticize corporations and banks. People like Sanders see evil in profit-minded corporations and executives. In the meantime, corporations employ millions of people, and banks provide the capital to businesses to grow and hire more Americans. To demonize a staple of American capitalism is idiotic and naïve. Emasculating these essential institutions makes no sense, but Sanders is set on doing it.
The reason why America is peaceful is because most of its citizens are civilized, and they obey the law. The police are an essential part of our society. They need to be overseen, and the rules that govern their actions must be clear. But, Sanders suggests that we should decrease the presence of our first responders, and many are outraged. The back and forth between the police and minorities can be worked out only if both sides are inclined to work towards that end. Decreasing protection in high crime areas is folly as is making police shy about meting out justice. Sanders favors less police intrusions in our lives. This would be a horrible mistake.
A vote for Sanders will bring us closer to chaos and financial disaster. What was left unsaid was the insane amount of money it would cost to deliver the entitlements that Sanders proposes to bestow on Americans.
Note: Most of the aforementioned changes cannot occur without cooperation of Congress, which will not happen unless the House remains in the hands of Democrats and the Senate flips to Democrat control.