5/3/2018 - Laura Hollis Townhall.com
While the November
elections may seem like a long way off (at least for those of us not running
for office), we need to be thinking about the consequences of those elections.
As I have noted before, Democrats running for
office this year have been styling themselves as “centrists,” taking policy
positions that seem taken from Republican platforms. But there is no indication
that any Democrats will govern from the center these days, and every reason to
think that they will succumb to the pressure brought to bear by the
“progressive” wing of the Democratic Party and move left. The more Democrats
there are in Congress, the further left that body will go.
So before you vote for
a Democrat for Congress, it’s worth asking -- what would a Congress controlled
by Democrats do?
First and foremost, of
course, is the impeachment of President Donald Trump. Many of the left’s
mouthpieces make no bones about the fact that this is their end game. Others
(including best-selling author and talk show host Mark Levin) warn that the investigation
into collusion between the Trump campaign and Russia has morphed into a thinly
disguised (and arguably unconstitutional) effort to drum up anything to justify
impeachment.
The risks to the
country if Democrats play fast and loose with the law to unseat a duly elected
president are grave. But the enormity of that effort obscures the other threats
to American liberty if so-called “progressives” get control of the government.
What would a
progressive America look like? Recent headlines provide plenty of sobering
evidence.
Progressives tout their
commitment to “universal health care,” often using the National Health Service
of Great Britain as an exemplar. But the distressing cases of Charlie Gard and Alfie Evans present an abject
lesson in what can go wrong when personal health care choices intersect with
the progressive viewpoint that government knows best. British hospital staff
told the parents of both gravely ill children that it was in their children’s
best interests to die, and the parents were prohibited from taking those
children elsewhere for alternative treatments.
American colleges and
universities -- enclaves of progressive thought -- should also give us insight
-- and pause.
Recent surveys show that nearly 20
percent of college students think violence is justified against speech one
finds offensive. More than twice that number think that the U.S. Constitution
prohibits “hate speech.” (It does not.) The protests -- and even riots -- we have seen on
university campuses bear this out with frightening clarity. Less violent but
more insidious are the widespread campus policies restricting speech and
conduct (think “trigger warnings,” “safe spaces” and “microaggressions”) that could potentially cause offense.
The Obama
administration’s notorious “Dear Colleague” letter purported to advise
colleges how to investigate and deter sexual assault on campus. In practice,
those recommendations gutted due process for anyone accused of
sexual misconduct, depriving them of the presumption of innocence, the right to
counsel, the right to confront their accuser and even the right to appeal. Over 150 lawsuits alleging violations of
due process have been filed since 2011.
Other abuses of legal
process should get our attention, like the “John Doe” raids conducted in
Wisconsin against conservative political activists -- later declared
unconstitutional. In many essential respects, these are of a piece with the
conflicting standards we increasingly see applied by the FBI and the Department
of Justice, the
Federal Election
Commission and
even the IRS -- to Democrats or
progressives versus Republicans or conservatives.
Disregard of existing
laws is also behind much of our current immigration crisis. The progressive
embrace of unlimited immigration (aided and abetted by distinctly
non-progressive businesses that want cheap labor) has given us de facto
open borders, rampant crime in border states, gang activity, “sanctuary cities”
and staggering expenditures.
Cities and states run
by progressive politicians also provide cautionary tales of mismanagement.
Chicago has strict gun control laws and one of the country’s highest rates of
gun violence (although the numbers are down this year,
thankfully). Reports of widespread trash,
used needles and human feces all over downtown San Francisco shocked the
country. Fully one-third of the residents of Portland, Oregon, have considered leaving, because of the city’s
massive homeless problem. The state of Illinois -- run by Democrats for decades
-- is facing an unfunded pension
liability of
$250 billion.
And then there are
Democrats’ dreams of taxpayer-funded abortion on demand, a completely disarmed
citizenry, higher taxes and a Supreme Court populated by liberal justices who
believe the Constitution is a “living document.”
At the local, state,
and federal level, there is ample evidence to demonstrate that progressive
policies crush civil liberties rather than protecting them, leave the most
vulnerable among us victimized, and break the bank (and the backs) of ordinary
citizens.
Americans cannot fall
prey to the thinking that midterm elections are less important than
presidential elections. There is far too much at stake.
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