It has become a truism among Democrats and progressives that they have all the kindness and compassion, and Republicans, conservatives, and Trumpers have none. The problem, however, is that while the lefties ooze sympathy for the downtrodden and the poor, their policies, more often than not, serve to keep the less fortunate “down and out,” and in many cases make their plight even worse.
Consider open borders, the pièce de résistance of Democratic Party/progressive enlightenment and altruism. The Biden administration allowed around 8 million “migrants” into the country, losing track of many and letting others stay here indefinitely while their applications for asylum were processed. Over and over again, we were told that deporting a single “refugee” would be barbaric and, well, Trumpian. The truth, however, is that this flood of humanity, mostly into border communities and big cities, caused immense harm to the most vulnerable among us. These migrants competed with poor Americans for housing, jobs, and scare public resources. They helped to engender the runaway inflation that has made daily life a misery for the very downtrodden multitudes that Democrats claim to champion. When working class Americans, of every race, color, and creed, had the gall to complain about their predicament, Democrats retorted that their suffering was “fake news” and the Biden economy was, by definition, GREAT. No wonder so many struggling Americans saw through this nonsense and hypocrisy and voted for Trump and the GOP.
It now falls to Republicans and conservatives, therefore, to be the adult in the room and to undo the damage that leftist “compassion” has done. The first step was naturally to enforce our border laws and begin the arduous process of deporting the millions of illegal immigrants that Biden and friends welcomed into the country. Meanwhile, DOGE has been charged with cutting back on waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as ending well-meaning government programs that simply haven't fulfilled their promise.
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What's missing here, however, is congressional action to help heal a country deeply wounded by Democratic/progressive “kindness.” Congress has a long way to go, but thankfully there are some positive signs. The House is poised to follow the Senate's lead, for example, in undoing one of the Biden administration's most boneheaded initiatives (which is saying something!): an administrative regulation that set a $5 cap on overdraft fees charged by banks.
Now, who likes overdraft fees, right? Let's stick it to those fat cat bankers and mandate zero overdraft fees, or maybe $1 million checks for everyone who has the courage to spend money they don't have... Even better! You can see, if you're not blinded by socialism, the inherent problem with this logic. Overdraft fees exist for a reason: to disincentivize spending more than you have, and to compensate banks for the costs they incur when their customers spend irresponsibly. And what would happen if, say, you whittled overdraft fees down to nothing by government fiat? Banks could no longer afford to keep customers who went into the red. Those customers would be cut loose, and the only clear winners would be...loan sharks! Possibly emergency rooms would benefit, as more legs would be broken. But, naturally, this would only be a concern if you actually cared about struggling Americans – the kind of Americans who might, once in a while, need to write a check for more than they have in the bank, and for whom paying the necessary fees is the lesser of two evils. An overdraft fee at least gets them to their next paycheck, after all. But to understand this simple truth you would have to: 1) genuinely care about the poor, and 2) have some coherent understanding of what it means to be poor. Democrats and progressives generally fail on both counts.
So bravo, Congress, for nixing this outrageous regulation! And special kudos to Senator Tim Scott for leading the fight. The fact is, though, that Congress's momentum for positive change is rather puny compared to the herculean labors already performed by DOGE ($130 billion in savings, and counting!).
It's time, therefore, for you senators and representatives to shift into high gear, to lay waste to hundreds or even thousands of harmful laws and regulations, and to lend your authority, posthaste, to the abolition of agencies like USAID and the Department of Education. That's what we pay you the big bucks for, after all.
You've taken the first step – great! – now all we need is for you to take several trillion more...
Dr. Nicholas L. Waddy is an Associate Professor of History at SUNY Alfred and blogs at: www.waddyisright.com. He appears on the Newsmakers show on WLEA/WYSL.
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