Some observations on the Vice-Presidential debate. If it weren’t for the 2 minute appearance of the pesky fly on the head of Vice President Mike Pence, the memorable visuals from the 90 minute war of words would have been those of Senator Kamala Harris snickering, shaking her head in feigned disbelief, and playing the “you’re disrespecting me because I am a woman of color” card. The Senator was on the ropes much of the time and those contrived facial gymnastics were clearly nervous defense mechanisms.
The memorable one liner of the night came from the Vice President. ….” you are entitled to your own opinion, but you are not entitled to your own facts…” Pence used the line more than once when confronting Harris with reality.
In fairness, the line is not a Pence original. Ironically, it was the late Democratic senator, diplomat, and sociologist Daniel Patrick Moynihan that first coined the phrase. The Senator from New York is probably best known for his controversial 1965 study titled: The Negro Family: The Case for National Action.
It was Moynihan’s conclusion that the high rate of minority families headed by single mothers would greatly hinder progress of blacks toward economic and political equality that caused all the controversy back in 1965. Sadly, and tragically, it was President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society and welfare programs which started as far back as 1935, that proved Moynihan’s findings were correct.
An objective and historical look at President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society is necessary when assessing The Green New Deal and it massive increase in government programs that Senator Harris supports. Indeed, she is own record as saying, “I support a Green New Deal, and I will tell you why. Climate change is an existential threat to us, and we have got to deal with the reality of it.” Let’s take a look at factual, historical reality, not the fantasy reality of the socialists.
LBJ ballooned the size and cost of the federal government with his “Great Society.” LBJ’s legacy has cost American taxpayers an estimated $30 trillion dollars and added 80 welfare programs to an already bloated federal government.
The program is even more costly when viewed through the prism of its efficacy. By the very indices of those charged with executing the Great Society social programs, they have not worked. Yet, year after year we, the taxpayer, continue to fund the failing programs.
As social critic Irving Kristol has observed, “the welfare state came gradually to be seen less as a helping hand to those in need, a ‘safety net,’ and more as a communal exercise in compassion toward an ever-expanding portion of the population.”
It is easy to see why it was “ever-expanding”: The War on Poverty created negative incentives. Instead of promoting the growth of healthy families, the welfare system discouraged them. A single mother could receive larger payments from Uncle Sam by remaining single than by marrying the father of her child. Over time, many fatherless children entered the world. The welfare checks showed up month after month, regardless of how their parents spent their days. As these boys and girls grew up without fathers around, they came to regard such households as natural.
The social safety net, designed to be a temporary help to the people in need, instead kept them trapped in government dependency. A modern-day plantation if you will. The prescient Senator Moynihan, keep in mind a democrat, knew this full will way back in 1965.
The study and conclusions of a powerful and well-respected Democratic Senator is a stark reminder of how far left the Democrat Party has moved during the last 55 years. It is something to consider when going into the voting booth in November.
Oh, and you might consider, prior to voting, some of the realities of the Green New Deal Senator Harris proudly and vigorously supported prior to being picked for Vice President on the Biden ticket.
Reality number one:
The Green New Deal includes many radical programs that have nothing to do with so so-called “green” energy. Such as, basic income programs for all, single-payer health care, and federal job guarantees.
Reality number two:
The Green New Deal would do nothing to curb global warming. There is no realistic scientific evidence that global warming will be catastrophic or that there is anything mankind can do to stop it. But for argument sake, let’s say that global warming must be slowed down, The Green New Deal does nothing to achieve that goal.
Reality number three:
Renewable energy costs a lot more than fossil fuels. The Institute for Energy Research estimates that new solar power generation is nearly five times more expensive than using existing fossil fuel-powered electricity. Wind power is 3.5 times costlier. Of course, these higher costs would drive up the cost of just about everything.
Reality number four:
The Green New Deal would empower and give government funded handouts to left-wing special interest groups and industries. The wording of the Green New Deal says it would “deeply involve national and local labor unions to take a leadership role in the process of job training and worker deployment,” and it promises the “funding (of) massive investment in the drawdown of greenhouse gases.” That is merely a code phrase for giving billions of taxpayer dollars to renewable-energy companies.
Reality number five:
The Green New Deal would run up the national debt by tens of trillions of dollars. Conservative estimates put the cost in the just the first 10 years at $40 trillion dollars. It is estimated, singularly, the single-payer health-care proposal in the Green New Deal would cost more than $32 trillion.
Pence’s use of Moynihan’s quote certainly has legitimacy today as we read, see, and hear most everything the socialist candidates have to say regarding public policy and the future of our constitutional republic. Keep that in mind come November 3rd and vote your conscience.
That’s it for this edition of Freedomline.
