I listened to Bernie Sanders giving a speech in New Hampshire last
night as we approach a critical moment in Campaign ’16. What I heard
from him was, “free stuff, free stuff, more free stuff” with a plan to
fix a 90% tax rate on the upper 1% to magically pay for it all.
It’s a completely irresponsible message – as bad as anything Donald
Trump has said because it is fundamentally impossible to deliver.
You cannot tell voters you’ll dismiss all student loans, pay for all
future college and university tuition, have single payer health care for
all, and a variety of other candy man promises without going through
the checkout lane. Common sense for any objective listener would lead
you to know you cannot tax the upper 1% that high, they’ll get the best
lawyers in America to take that cash into other accounts or real estate
investments. Crushing Wall Street won’t put cash into the government
either.
And how would Sanders work with a Congress that won’t
include other socialists who have to actually pay down the debt all his
new programs?
I respect the fact Hillary Clinton hasn’t taken the
bait. Yes, she’s gone from calling herself a centrist – which she more
or less has been – to calling herself a progressive, but she is not
promising everything to everybody. That will make her a much stronger
candidate come fall.
I know Sanders supporters are as passionate
as the Ron Paul supporters in the past. But passion isn’t enough. There
is a responsibility when making promises. We can all cheer for Santa
Claus, the tooth fairy and Easter Bunny – and the free stuff they give
you – but Sanders is a presidential candidate and he should be more
honest about it.