A Unicorn in Every Pot - The American Spectator | USA News and Politics
A Unicorn in Every Pot
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Most Americans recognize the phrase, “A chicken in every pot and a car in every garage.” Yet few could tell you, without a surreptitious glance at Wikipedia, that it was Herbert Hoover’s 1928 campaign slogan. It was obviously meant to imply that he would preside over an era of prosperity. A year after his inauguration in March of 1929, the stock market had crashed and the nation’s economy had imploded. The voters would be wise to remember that morsel of history as they inhale the aroma of boiling unicorns being prepared for them by Democrats hoping to replace President Trump in 2020.

Most of the declared Democratic candidates have, for example, endorsed the Green New Deal—a proposal so detached from the laws of economics and physics that the bill’s Senate sponsor vehemently objects to bringing it up for a vote. Ed Markey (D-MA) coordinated his introduction of the Senate version (SR-59) with the rollout of its House variant (HR-109) by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY). Inexplicably, however, when the Senate Majority Leader, Mitch McConnell, announced that he will call up the Green New Deal for a vote in the Senate, Markey accused him of sabotage.

Don’t let Mitch McConnell fool you: this is nothing but an attempt to sabotage the movement we are building. He wants to silence your voice so Republicans don’t have to explain why they are climate change deniers.McConnell wants this to be the end, this is just the beginning.

Senator Markey failed to explain exactly how a floor vote will silence anyone. His real problem, of course, is precisely the reverse.  Every Democratic senator running for president is a co-sponsor of the Green New Deal and, if it gets a vote, they will look like fools when it is overwhelmingly defeated. Kamala Harris, for example, has praised the proposal thus: “The Green New Deal is a bold plan to shift our country to 100% clean and renewable energy.” Her ability to deliver on such extravagant promises will be seen as negligible when she is but one of a few far-left nuts to vote “Yea.”

The Green New Deal is by no means the only mythical creature they are selling. There is also “Medicare for All.” This is, of course, nothing more than a rebranded version of the same government-run, single-payer scam the left has unsuccessfully peddled for decades. Yet four of the five Democratic senators running for president — Cory Booker, Kirsten Gillibrand, Kamala Harris, and Elizabeth Warren — have long since endorsed the single-payer plan Bernie Sanders has been hawking for years. Amy Klobuchar has been a little more cautious. The latest Morning Consult poll suggests this is wise:

The laser focus on expanding the government’s role in health care has coincided with a double-digit slide in net support for “Medicare for all” among voters from January to February.… Although “Medicare for all” enjoyed net support of 27 percentage points (calculated by subtracting the share of opponents from the share of supporters) among registered voters at the onset of 2019, that share dropped 15 points in the Feb. 7-10 survey, to 12 points.

This is consistent with a survey conducted by the Kaiser Family Foundation last month. It found huge decreases in support for nationalized health care when the details were revealed to respondents. When merely asked if they supported Medicare for All, the majority responded in the affirmative. However, when asked if they would support the program if it meant paying higher taxes or losing their employer-based coverage, the number of positive responses plummeted. The Morning Consult poll also revealed that even the “no details” question failed to produce a majority in favor of M4A:

“Medicare for all” has enjoyed majority support since November, thanks to the widespread, bipartisan popularity of the Medicare program.… But with the latest poll showing that 50 percent of voters support Medicare for all — now shy of a majority — Democrats are likely to find that turning Medicare for all from pipe dream to policy will be an uphill climb.

But Medicare for All and the Green New Deal leave plenty of room in the pot for more unicorns. Among the most sought after breeds is free college tuition. When Democratic presidential candidate Julian Castro proposed two years of free college for all Americans, he faced an immediate backlash—from the left. Castro immediately adjusted his position. But even the New York Times has come out against this bad idea. In a column titled, “Free Tuition Is Not the Answer,” Vassar President and Professor of Economics Catharine Hill writes that free tuition would mainly benefit wealthy students:

Even zero tuition wouldn’t eliminate the need for loans, since room, board and travel expenses would still be a constraint for some students.… For wealthy students this wouldn’t be a constraint. Students with less money would be forced to choose options at lower cost and lesser quality.

This doesn’t even factor in the cost to the taxpayers. Yet what do we get for our money? The Wall Street Journal reports, “According to the National Assessment of Adult Literacy, literacy rates for people with bachelors and advanced degrees plummeted between 1992 and 2003 (the only years studied).” If you want more evidence that the money is wasted, listen to Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez sometime. She allegedly graduated cum laude from Boston University with a BA in international relations and economics. My three-year-old granddaughter sounds like Marie Curie compared to this woman.

But AOC is a genius compared to 2020 candidate Cory Booker, who wants to toss yet another unicorn into the pot—a federal jobs guarantee. According to the Washington Post, Booker would create a pilot program for a job guarantee in 15 communities across the country: “Booker’s plan would create a three-year pilot through the Labor Department for jobs that pay at least $15 an hour — jobs that could then fulfill some certain social vacuum, like building parks or schools.” His fellow candidates, Kamala Harris, Elizabeth Warren and Kirsten Gillibrand, are also determined to get this unicorn in the pot.

Obviously, this is a bad idea if one considers only the cost to the taxpayers. But as the Wall Street Journal points out, it gets worse: “According to the Economic Policy Institute, 39% of the workforce, some 54 million people, now earn $15 an hour or less. All would have an incentive to quit and join the federal program.” In a time of low unemployment, the government would compete with the private sector for employees, reducing economic productivity while accelerating wage and price inflation. It is difficult to think of an adjective that truly captures the sheer stupidity of such a policy.

Sadly, the Green New Deal, Medicare for All, free college tuition, and a federal jobs guarantee are only stragglers in the herd of mythical creatures the Democrats plan to round up and feed the voters. They are utterly bereft of genuinely useful policy ideas to offer the nation. So, instead, they will promise a unicorn in every pot. Herbert Hoover didn’t cause the Great Depression, but if any of these people make it to the White House and implement any of their awful ideas, they may well succeed in causing one.

David Catron
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David Catron is a recovering health care consultant and frequent contributor to The American Spectator. You can follow him on Twitter at @Catronicus.
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