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Just Like Unicorns, Sanders’ Policy Solutions Aren’t Real

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I agree with Bernie Sanders. That’s right. I said it. Never thought I would, did you?

I agree with Bernie Sanders when he rails against the corruption of big banks. I, like Bernie, opposed the government bailout of politically-connected Wall Street investment banks in 2008. At the time, it was a lonely and brave stance to take inside the Washington Beltway.

I also agree with Bernie Sanders that these politically-juiced banks are too big to fail; that TARP made the risky, over-leveraged ones bigger still. I agree with Bernie when he says that these banks pose a major threat to our economy.

I agree with Bernie Sanders’ demand that we audit the Federal Reserve, and I applaud his work with Rand Paul to demand accountability from this quasi-government, big bank slush fund. Bloomberg News reports that the Fed floated some $1.2 trillion to banks and other businesses from 2007 to 2010. That’s T-R-I-L-L-I-O-N. (And we wonder why Millennial Berners are now looking for a student loan bailout?) The manipulation of the value of the dollar and interest rates by the Federal Reserve is the most insidious kind of tax, transferring purchasing power from the working class to the most moneyed, politically-connected Americans.

I, like Bernie, worry about the political influence of big corporations. I am opposed to crony capitalism, the growing collusion of big businesses with big government. There’s nothing “free enterprise” about using politics to divide and reallocate taxpayer spoils to the benefit of particular corporations. We should always oppose regulatory favors, spending earmarks, and special access used to gain advantage over other business competitors.

I agree with Bernie Sanders’ critique of Hillary Clinton. I too worry about her cozy relationship with the well-heeled donors to the Clinton Foundation. What exactly did she and Bill promise them in return? What is the quid pro quo for, say, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia?

Like Bernie Sanders, I oppose Hillary Clinton’s naive, bellicose, neoconservative approach to foreign intervention and nation-building. As a senator, Hillary voted to invade Iraq in 2002. I, like Bernie, opposed invading Iraq then, in the heat of the moment, believing that regime change there would be bad for American security. More recently, Hillary’s war in Libya has absolutely, unequivocally created more chaos in the region. Taking out Muammar Gaddafi, dirt bag that he was, has destabilized Libya, empowered our enemies, and made America less safe.

I absolutely agree with Bernie Sanders on the question of mass incarceration. Like Bernie, I know that federal meddling in our justice system, particularly imposing mandatory minimum prison sentences for nonviolent drug offenders, has been a disaster. Federal prison populations have exploded, fueled in large part by Bill (and Hillary) Clinton’s “tough on crime” bill in 1994. It was political posturing, not real justice reform, and now the United States jails more people per capita than any nation, save communist hell hole North Korea.

I agree with Bernie Sanders on all of these things, but he loses me when he moves beyond symptoms to solutions. The above listed problems are all examples of the unintended consequences of a political process that concentrates too much power and money in Washington, D.C. And yet Bernie consistently says the solution to virtually every real or perceived social problem can be achieved by giving politicians more power and more of your hard earned money.

Wait. What?

The answer to problems created by the abuse of government power is… more concentrated government power? This is where I part ways with Bernie Sanders. Every single flavor of socialism involves more government ownership, more government control. Figuring out how to expand political power without abusing it—without the disastrous unintended consequences that are inevitable whenever government designers try to rearrange complex social interactions from the top, down—has always been the fantasy unicorn of democratic socialism.

There’s no good way to wield unlimited power. When dividing the spoils of politics, the insiders—the crony capitalists, the defense contractors, the prison and police unions, the politically-connected investment bankers and their lobbyists will always get a seat at the table first.

Respectfully, I say to Bernie Sanders: the only way to achieve your best intentions is through liberty, not government power. The answers to America’s many problems will be solved by voluntary cooperation, and individual entrepreneurship, and free market competition, and communities working together locally to solve problems that no planner in Washington ever could. (For more from the author of “Just Like Unicorns, Sanders’ Policy Solutions Aren’t Real” please click HERE)

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Amid ‘Cry of Change,’ Sanders Supporters May Back Another Outsider

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Bernie_Sanders_2015_(1)_(cropped)If Donald Trump emerges as the Republican presidential nominee to face Hillary Clinton, he will receive support from backers of Clinton’s Democratic rival — at least that’s the prediction of Bill Maher.

“Some Bernie voters are going to vote for Trump,” Maher said Friday during his HBO show, Real Time with Bill Maher.

“Absolutely,” said Kellyanne Conway, who runs a super PAC that supports Sen. Ted Cruz. “Based on trade. Based on outsider, absolutely. No money in politics, same view.”

“I think Bernie Sanders is too poor to be bought, and I think Donald Trump is too rich to be bought by special interests,” said Royce Gourley, a real estate investor, who gave $2,500 to Sanders and $2,700 to Trump, Federal Election Commission filings show.

Trump has indicated he will seek the support of Sanders enthusiasm backers if the general election pits him against Clinton.

“You have two candidates in Donald Trump and Bernie Sanders which have reignited a group of people who have been disenfranchised and disappointed with the way Washington, D.C. and career politicians have run the country,” said Trump campaign manager Corey Lewandowski. “Bernie Sanders has large crowds — not as large as Mr. Trump’s, but large crowds — and so there is a level of excitement there for people about his messaging and we will bring those people in.” (Read more from “Amid ‘Cry of Change,’ Sanders Supporters May Back Another Outsider” HERE)

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Bernie Sanders: ‘I Don’t Believe in Charities’

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21474194420_27604b6d79_bA 1981 New York Times item quotes Democratic Party presidential candidate Bernie Sanders as saying he doesn’t “believe in charities,” an outlook that one expert says is common in socialism and would destroy civil society.

In September 1981, the Times reported on comments then-Burlington Mayor Sanders made at a charity event:

“For the kickoff of the 40th annual Chittenden County United Way fund-raising drive in Burlington, Vt., the sponsors considered themselves fortunate to have as guests Mayor Bernard Sanders of Burlington and Gov. Richard Snelling of Vermont,” reported the Times . . .

“‘I don’t believe in charities,” said Mayor Sanders, bringing a shocked silence to a packed hotel banquet room. The mayor, who is a socialist, went on to question the ”fundamental concepts on which charities are based” and contended that government, rather than charity organizations, should take over responsibility for social programs,’” the article stated.

Joe Loconte fiercely disagrees. Loconte teaches Western civilization and American foreign policy at The King’s College in New York City. He has also held positions with the Heritage Foundation and the Ethics and Public Policy Center in Washington. From 2001-2003, he was an informal adviser to the George W. Bush administration’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. (Read more from “Bernie Sanders: ‘I Don’t Believe in Charities'” HERE)

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Tax Lovin’ Bernie Loves Him Some Tax Deductions … For Himself

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24035792350_bc5de6af26_bYet another example of astonishing liberal/socialist/progressive hypocrisy.

Bernie Sanders, outspoken class warrior who once stated that tax rates as high as 90% weren’t too high, only pays a 13.5% tax rate on over $200,000 in household income. This guy is a total fraud and so are his socialist acolytes. Let me ask Bernie’s supporters the following questions, the answers to which will provide all the evidence you need to conclusively prove liberal hypocrisy.

Does Bernie Sanders believe that higher tax rates and revenues are a force for good?

Yes.

Does Bernie Sanders believe that successful Americans should both pay a higher tax rate and pay more of their revenue?

Yes.

Is Bernie Sanders wealthy relative to the average American?

Yes.

Does Bernie Sanders practice this in his own life?

No, he doesn’t.

I am sincerely perplexed that reasonable people, aligning themselves with liberal values, have a difficult time processing why this is hypocritical. If, as Bernie Sanders is suggesting, taxes are a force for public good then why use the tax code to take over $60,000 in tax deductions to avoid a higher tax bill? Aren’t you avoiding doing “a good thing” if you believe that the taxes you pay will result in “good things” and you then avoid paying them by taking advantage of deductions? (Note: I’m am not suggesting that Bernie Sanders has done anything illegal, or even unethical, by not paying a higher tax rate voluntarily. To the contrary, I applaud him for understanding that his money will be put to its best use by staying in his family’s budget and not the government’s).

For example, many people voluntarily donate significant portions of their hard-earned income to charity not because the government ordered them to, but because they believe they are doing a “good thing” by helping someone, or some organization, out. To be clear, this isn’t an issue for conservatives, so if you’re a liberal and thinking to yourself, “Well, conservatives don’t pay more taxes voluntarily either,” then you would be correct. We don’t pay more because the money is going down a red-ink rat-hole of broken government programs and endless spending and we refuse to waste any more of our money. So, liberals, stop thinking that to avoid further embarrassment. But, if you’re a liberal or socialist, start thinking about why YOU aren’t paying the maximum rate at all times. Don’t you think that you should show us all how sincerely you believe in the power of higher taxes by paying the maximum rate? If not, then why not? Do you feel that your money will be wasted if you pay more? If so, then welcome to the conservative movement.

You may be asking yourself, “Why concern yourself with a presidential candidate who is on the verge of being eliminated from contention?” This is a fair question, and I’ve argued repeatedly in my podcast that this has little to do with Bernie Sanders and a lot to do with the dangerous, deadly ideology he is selling. We CANNOT afford to lose another generation of our kids to the false promises of socialism. We lost a large swath of the last generation to these fraudulent ideas and now we are paying the price through the elections and campaigns of Barack Obama, Nancy Pelosi, Hillary Clinton, and Bernie Sanders. (For more from the author of “Tax Lovin’ Bernie Loves Him Some Tax Deductions … For Himself” please click HERE)

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Sanders Campaign’s New Strategy on Superdelegates Leaves Some Unimpressed

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21668553091_35c4f5815b_b (1)By Joseph Tanfani. Retired teachers Rosie Skomitz and Ron Stouffer, part of the raucous crowd that packed an old theater here last week to cheer on a Bernie Sanders revolution, have no love for Democratic superdelegates, the party insiders who have helped Hillary Clinton pad her lead in the race for the nomination for president.

“It takes votes away from people and gives them to the elite,” Skomitz said, summing up the typical complaint from the Sanders faithful that the nomination process is undemocratic.

But as Sanders falls further behind Clinton in amassing delegates who will choose the nominee, some of his supporters have replaced their criticism and occasional outright virulence with appeals to those Democratic elites — some of whom have long memories.

“You’re trying to woo us now, but we remember when you were trashing us,” said former Pennsylvania Gov. Ed Rendell, one of 21 superdelegates from the state, the largest of five that hold primaries Tuesday.

When Sanders was winning primaries in places like Michigan and Colorado, he and his supporters criticized superdelegates — Democratic leaders who can support a candidate of their choosing — as exemplary of a rigged system that robbed voters of their voice. In petitions, emails and some nasty messages on social media, thousands of Sanders backers demanded that those delegates follow the lead of their states’ voters. (Read more from “Sanders Campaign’s New Strategy on Superdelegates Leaves Some Unimpressed” HERE)

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Sanders Pressured to Quit White House Race as Clinton Weighs VP Picks

By Jim Mannion. Bernie Sanders fended off pressure Sunday to bow out of the race for the White House, as his rival, Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, weighs potential runningmates.

The New York Times reported that Clinton’s advisers and allies have begun extensive discussions on a potential vice presidential candidate, and are putting together a list of 15 to 20 prospects.

Clinton has described what sort of person would fit the bill, and has set objectives for the search, the Times said.

And although her options vary depending on who her Republican opponent is and other factors in a still fluid race, she is open to an all-female ticket, advisers told the Times.

Team Clinton has not ruled out for consideration is Senator Elizabeth Warren, a darling of the left who has yet to endorse Clinton, advisers told the Times. (Read more from “Sanders Pressured to Quit White House Race as Clinton Weighs VP Picks” HERE)

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Bernie Sanders Versus the Tenth Commandment

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24331846595_95d5ebf7c0_bBernie Sanders, with the regularity of a steam engine, has pounded away for months at the injustice, the wickedness, even the racism of “income inequality.” If ever there was a Johnny one-note on the American political scene, he is it. Yet almost nobody, and least of all his hapless opponent Hillary Clinton, has thought to call into question the ethical validity or inflammatory character of the covetousness this political slogan urges upon the public, with a recklessness that has visited untold calamities upon Europe. (Among politicians, Charlie Rangel of New York did have the temerity to say, “OK, income inequality… But does he [Sanders] have anything else to say?”) Has religious illiteracy now reached the point in America where the Tenth Commandment has been so entirely forgotten that the most blatant repudiations of it go unnoticed? Here it is, for the sake of those who have forgotten (or never knew):

“You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, nor his male servant, nor his female servant, nor his ox, nor his donkey, nor anything that is your neighbor’s.” — Exodus 20:17.

This last of the ten commandments, as Biblical commentators have often observed, differs from previous “negative” ones in that it prohibits not an action (murder, adultery, theft, false witness) but a state of mind—covetousness—that is at the root of most sins against our neighbors. No doubt John Stuart Mill, a far more literate liberal than Bernie Sanders, had it in mind when he complained that “’thou shalt not’ preponderates unduly over ‘thou shalt’” in Biblical morality.

The ethical wisdom of this commandment has all too often been demonstrated by the way in which covetousness expresses itself in the murderous character of “negative” politics, which directs the wrath of the covetous against a particular group. In Sanders’ typical stump speech, it is usually “Wall Street” or “the one percent.” In the rhetoric of the “Occupy Wall Street” and other “Occupy…” mobs that Sanders admires, it gets a bit more specific about attaching a name to “the one percent.” But most specific of all is Noam Chomsky, whom Sanders has praised as “a very vocal and important voice [sic] in the wilderness of intellectual life in America…a person who [sic] I think we’re all very proud of.” Chomsky, who has publicly endorsed his friend Sanders for the Democratic nomination, has strong views about just which group of Americans should be named as the chief target of an aggressive campaign of class warfare against “the rich and privileged” whom Sanders is daily berating. “Antisemitism,” Chomsky has declared, “is no longer a problem, fortunately. It’s raised, but it’s raised because privileged people want to make sure they have total control, not just 98% control. That’s why antisemitism is becoming an issue.” To this does covetousness very often lead. Is it even remotely possible that Sanders doesn’t know? (Read more from “Bernie Sanders Versus the Tenth Commandment” HERE)

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Bill Clinton Claims Bernie Sanders Supporters Want to Murder Wall Street Workers

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Bill_Clinton_closeup_at_dedication_of_WWII_memorial,_May_2004Former President Bill Clinton mused Friday that supporters of Bernie Sanders believe shooting people who work on Wall Street would help cure the economic imbalances that have animated the Vermont senator’s presidential campaign.

“I think it’s fine that all these young students have been so enthusiastic for her opponent and say, ‘It’s all good, just shoot every third person on Wall Street and everything will be fine,'” Clinton told a small afternoon audience in Washington Heights.

The throwaway line came towards the end of a wonky 30-minute presentation to a small band of Hillary Clinton supporters in a sunny courtyard of a hospital. The former president was standing in for his wife, who flew to California for a weekend campaign jaunt.

He devoted most of his speech to intricate details of his wife’s plans to alleviate student debt, incentivize cleaner energy sources and train more skilled workers for high-paying jobs. But, as he has in the past, Clinton couldn’t help himself from wandering into the spirited electoral battle between his wife and Sanders, who debated for the ninth time in Brooklyn Thursday night.

Clinton is clearly irritated by the perception that Sanders has won the high ground among Democratic primary voters in the battle over who is best equipped to stand up to powerful financial interests. (Read more from “Bill Clinton Swipes at Bernie Sanders Supporters” HERE)

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Clinton Says She’s ‘Been Called Many Things’ but This One Word From Sanders ‘Was the First’

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hqdefaultFormer Secretary of State Hillary Clinton says she’s been called many things before but “unqualified” is not one of them.

Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders came out swinging at one another almost immediately during Thursday night’s CNN Democratic presidential debate, especially as one of the first questions to the Vermont senator was whether or not he thought Clinton had the judgement to become the next president.

“I do question her judgement,” Sanders admitted during the debate to a boisterous audience as he referenced Clinton’s vote in support of the war in Iraq, voting record on trade agreements and her use of super PACs.

“Now that the spotlight is pretty bright here in New York, some things have been said,” Clinton countered.

Referencing Sanders’ comment that she is “unqualified” to be president, Clinton said, “I’ve been called a lot of things in my life. That was a first.” (Read more from “Clinton Says She’s ‘Been Called Many Things’ but This One Word From Sanders ‘Was the First'” HERE)

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Hillary and Bernie Vilify Sheriff Joe Arpaio for His Hard-Fought Battle Against Illegal Immigration

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The Democrats don’t like Arizona’s popular Sheriff Joe Arpaio and his strong enforcement of the laws against illegal immigration. He’s one of their poster children for Republican white men who don’t care about people, especially immigrants. Even better, he’s what The New York Times called an “immigration proxy” for Donald Trump: an attack on Arpaio is also an attack on Trump, and they don’t even have to say Trump’s name.

Hillary Clinton said at a rally with numerous Latino supporters that Arpaio had treated his “fellow human beings with disrespect and contempt,” referring to his tough stance on illegal immigration. She went on, “It just makes my heart sink. We are better than that.”

At a rally in Flagstaff, Sanders warned, “It is easy for bullies like Sheriff Arpaio to pick on people who have no power. If I’m elected president, the president of the United States does have power. Watch out, Joe.”

Sanders’ wife went to tour Arpaio’s outside jail in the desert last month, known as “Tent City,” where she got into it with him. She asked him about the charges of racial profiling he’s facing now in federal court for arresting illegal immigrants, and complained about how hot it was in the tents. He ignored her question, and said that the conditions are similar to those endured by members of the U.S. military “fighting for our country” overseas, who are also living in tents in desert regions.

Not surprisingly, Arpaio supports Donald Trump for president (even though, as I’ve written previously, Ted Cruz has a stronger record on border security). “None of the candidates were talking about immigration as an issue until he brought it up,” Arpaio said at a rally for Trump in his home town of Fountain Hills last month. “He has opened the door to get people talking. Maybe something will get done about it.” He agrees with Trump that Mexico will pay for a wall on the border with the US.

The two became friends when they worked together in 2012 to retrieve President Obama’s birth certificate to determine whether he really was a natural born citizen and eligible to be president. “I’m not trying to say he copies me,” Arpaio said about the relationship recently. “It just so happens we see eye to eye. He’s somewhat like me. Or I’m like him. I don’t know which way it goes.”

Who’s the Bully?

Sanders called Arpaio a bully. Arpaio’s supporters would ask who’s the bully when people force their way over a border and overload limited federal safety net resources in a country drowning in public debt, and who commit crimes at a far higher percentage than the population at large? It is true that most illegal immigrants aren’t dangerous and are just looking for a better life, but it is also true that there is no more money left to provide additional benefits to millions of unskilled immigrants, and many dangerous illegal immigrants aren’t being prosecuted or deported.

Conservative observers in Arizona believe the legal proceedings against Arpaio for racially profiling are really an attempt to stop him from arresting, prosecuting and deporting illegal immigrants. The fact that he is 83 years old and continues getting elected is evidence the people of Arizona — and the people around the country they represent — support his efforts to secure the border.

Clinton may describe them the way she does, but these people have common-sense concerns about the number of people sneaking into this country and the problems that come from illegal immigration. When the Democratic candidates use Sheriff Joe Arpaio as a punching bag, they’re punching a lot of voters at the same time. (For more from the author of “Hillary and Bernie Vilify Sheriff Joe Arpaio for His Hard-Fought Battle Against Illegal Immigration” please click HERE)

Watch a recent interview with the author below:

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Bread Lines for Bernie

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After Bernie Sanders visited the Marxist Sandanista regime in Nicaragua on a propaganda tour, he argued that the bread lines in major cities were a good thing. “American journalists talk about how bad a country is, that people are lining up for food. That is a good thing!”

The bread lines had been caused by the radical regime’s socialist agricultural policies of land seizures from farmers. Those farmers who refused to be drawn into Soviet-style communal farms rebelled, along with Indian and Creole racial minorities, and became the core of the Contras, the heroic resistance fighters whose mass murders at the hands of Sandinista terrorists were cheered by American leftists.

What had been productive farmland vanished into a warren of newly invented government agencies run by leftist university graduates with no agricultural background obsessed with seizing land, but with no idea of how to run it. The remaining farmers were forced into grinding poverty by a government purchasing monopoly while the profits went not to their farms, but to the political class of the Sandanistas who lived in luxury while farmers fled and city workers waited on bread lines.

Think of them as the Bernie Bros of Nicaragua. Except they wore khaki fatigues, not pajamas. And instead of angrily tweeting, they marched their victims into churches and set them on fire. (Read more from “Bread Lines for Bernie” HERE)

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