Americans Don't Want to Pay for Democrats' Absurd Projects

Sen. Bernie Sanders is an ignorant socialist. Let’s get that out of the way.

When he’s not insulting the constitution, he’s angry that his multi-trillion-dollar boondoggle is stalled, recently claiming, “Poll after poll shows overwhelming support for the $3.5 trillion Build Back Better legislation – and the need to lower prescription drug costs, expand Medicare to cover dental, hearing and vision, greatly improve home health care, make child care and housing affordable, establish Paid Family and Medical Leave and address the existential threat of climate change.”

But in the next paragraph of his manifesto, Sanders gives away the game, noting, “Yet, polling also shows that despite President Biden having introduced this proposal five months ago, a majority of Americans have very little knowledge as to what is in this bill.”

“It is hard to ask people to have faith in their government when they have little understanding of what their government is trying to do,” he concludes.

He may be correct on the latter portion, but it also debunks his claims.

Like the calamitous Afghanistan withdrawal, a wrongheaded policy is often popular until most Americans know what’s in it.

Sanders, who never compromises, naturally does not blame himself; like Nancy Pelosi earlier this month, he blames the media for not “educating” us.

“The foundations of American democracy are threatened not only by extremism, but by ignorance and lack of knowledge,” the octogenarian argues.

Did Bernie just describe himself and his cult?

Sanders is perpetuating a myth that a massive social welfare state is popular with voters. In reality, most Americans don’t want the stuff his ilk constantly says we do.

During Sanders’ second consecutive failed presidential run, the Washington Post found more than two in three Americans supported taxing wealthy families to fight climate change; when asked if they themselves would pay only $2 extra each month on their electric bills, however, support fell to below half. That same year, when a poll asked people if they’d fork out $10 more per month on their energy bills to “combat climate change,” the vast majority said “no thanks”.

Newsflash to Bernie and his fellow travelers:

In a free market, popularity is determined by what people will pay for out of their own pockets; in command-and-control left-wing economies, it only matters what other people will pay for.

Politicians like Sanders and, increasingly, Biden peddle fairy tales of everyone being happy while portraying the opposition as greedy tyrants stopping us from reaching utopia. It’s a cynical ploy, but if one does not bother with numbers or think deeply about policy, it has an insidious effect.

And then adults who actually ask realistic questions like “Where’s the money coming from?” and “Will this actually help?” are demonized for bursting their bubbles.

Bernie is standing up to all the imaginary people that are against taxing the rich.

When it comes to Communists, the strawman genocide always precedes the actual genocide. https://t.co/EpUj3yZlnP

— AG (@AGHamilton29) October 24, 2021

Meanwhile, Biden’s promise that his $3.5 trillion package won’t cost anyone making fewer than $400,000 annually a single cent remains a noxious lie.

I’ve read for years that you could confiscate the wealth of the “top 1%” of earners, and it still would not cover the gargantuan bill for the Green New Deal alone. But even if the rich could pay for it all, should a small cadre be relied upon to stop economic catastrophes?

No, because when they fail, that allows demagogic populist politicians—on both sides—to claim they alone can save us. When they invariably fail, voters feel deceived and exhibit grievance.

It’s a vicious and unproductive cycle. Bernie Sanders show know it, and frankly, we all should.