When Listening to Presidential Primary Candidates, You Will Hear Lofty Proposals

[MineralMan]

Here's the thing: A President has no power to levy taxes. All such measures must be generated by the Congress. And there's the flaw in all sorts of proposals by candidates. They are just proposals for things a President has no power to create.

The same is true of any proposed spending on programs, any proposed initiatives, and almost every proposal made by presidential candidates. They are only proposals, not necessarily what will happen if that candidate is elected.

Before jumping on such bandwagons, it's important to consider whether the proposals are likely to become reality. In many cases, they will not. Look at the problem in making the ACA happen. Like many, I wanted healthcare to be a single payer system supported by taxation. That did not happen, because Congress would not pass such a thing.

If we are very, very lucky in 2020, we will end up with majorities in both houses of Congress, but each of those people elected to Congress were elected by the people in their districts or states. They will make decisions based on their knowledge of their constituencies, as always.

One can propose Medicare for All, a $1 Trillion plan to reverse global warming, a Guaranteed Basic Income, and many other things that appeal to many people. They can be proposed, but making them happen is another issue. Only what passes in Congress will actually happen, and that's likely to fall short of the lofty goals of such proposals.

That is the reality of our system. We have to work within that reality. We could change the system, but that, too, would require cooperation by Congress and the electorate in our 50 states. Massive changes will not happen, simply due to the inertia designed into our system of government.

So, Elizabeth Warren proposes a wealth tax. That does not mean she can get a wealth tax passed through Congress. I would be very, very surprised if she could. Hell, I'll be surprised if we have a Democratic majority in the Senate after the 2020 election. We might, but we also might well not.

Realism is real. Choose candidates to support who can actually deliver on their promises. Not all promises can be kept.

[Indygram]

1. Choose a leader who inspires, unites and is able to work with the other side

That's how you accomplish things. Fortunately my chosen candidate has both great ideas AND everything required to make for a great leader. He also happens to be the hardest working, most energetic candidate I've ever seen in my whole life.

[MineralMan]

2. Choose the candidate you prefer to support.

I'm not telling anyone who to support. I'm suggesting something to think about as you make your choice.

[msongs]

5. "able to work with the other side"...the other side rejects working with dems nt

[MineralMan]

8. Then, it's even more important to do what's required to get and maintain

legislative majorities, isn't it? Because unless we have those, we have no real options but to try to convince Republicans to do what we want.

That's why its so stupid to focus only on the presidency, like we always seem to her on DU. Do Democrats serve as your legislators, both federal and state? If not, what will you do to help make that happen? Because that's what screws us over and over again. We work really hard to elect a President and ignore the rest. That trick never works.

[TCJ70]

6. Anyone who vows to "work with the other side" is dooming themselves...

...to getting nothing done. The Republicans don’t have any intention of working with a Dem president.

[Indygram]

10. United we stand

Divided we fall

[LibFarmer]

3. You mean I won't ever get my free stuff? nt

[MineralMan]

4. Depends what free stuff you want, really.

[emmaverybo]

7. I wish democratic candidates would not tie their candidacy to big-ticket policies that

1) as this posts points out, might not ever be realized and further
2) do not have majority support among Dems, much less among the electorate at large
3) ignore other, less revolutionary but more pragmatic, ways to accomplish much the same effect
4).ignore systems and programs already in existence, which, because they are tested, have an infrastructure in place, and wider acceptance among Americans, should be the first go to’s

For instance, we can expand and improve Medicaid; lower the age for Medicare and close up the holes in its coverage; lower ACA premiums; allow those who like their employer provided plans to keep them; offer a public option buy in to the self-employed; subsidize county free clinics; work with large hospitals to provide sliding scale plans...we can provide universal healthcare to all children through one of these existing programs or an entirely new system of coverage.

Rather than a basic income program, we could shore up unemployment benefits; increase welfare grants and expand food stamps for low-income families, elderly, unemployed and underemployed.
Roll back the cuts made in these programs—for instance, to job training for people on unemployment—and remove eligibility requirements for single parents until,and unless we have a universal, sliding scale childcare program.

Finally, we can make community colleges affordable and expand the job training offerings they provide. At the same time we can address college debt, loan forgiveness, provide stipends to students in job and career programs so they do not have to take out extensive loans. Work study programs, and paid internships can also be expanded.

Federal government can partner with state and municipal governments in human services, health, education, and employment to fully fund current programs and restart those that have been skeletonized or done away with. Youth summer employment programs should be universal.

We don’t suggest blowing up roads and bridges to build all new structures as part of an infrastructure plan. I see some candidate’s policy proposals as being not only throwing the baby out with the bath water, but also as involving more investment than is needed both politically and financially.

These policy-bound campaigns overshadow individual candidate qualities, push would-be supporters to premature policy determinations, and will prove a hindrance in the general election unless candidates can manage to gain wide and deep traction for say, Medicare for all, or total student debt forgiveness, or prisoner voting.

Putting on blinders to try to convince the majority of Dem voters that we and the country have dramatically shifted leftwards, in defiance of polls and history, weakens the case.

I will vote for a Democrat regardless of policy positions. Still I’d like to see more have more of a chance.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. These proposals are, of course, only aspirational.

All the candidates know (or should know) that as long as the GOP controls the Senate, not a single thing they propose has a fart's chance in a monsoon. However, their ideas should be evaluated as evidence of their political and ideological inclinations as well as how they will approach governance if they are elected. For example, Warren's proposals are backed by a lot of details and analysis. This suggests that she would be a careful, analytical president who is willing to get down in the weeds, even if her actual proposals never come to fruition. It also tells us that she would advocate for liberal/progressive legislation in Congress (which is also true of the others). Candidates who float ideas with little analytical backing or discussion of how to pay for their proposals might be trying to be inspirational rather than coldly rational, relying on getting elected first and fleshing out policy later.

But one thing presidents can do, even if they can't make proposals turn into laws, is prevent other things from happening. Maybe none of the candidates can make Medicare for All happen, but they can certainly prevent the GOP's Medicare for Nobody. That's important, too.

[MineralMan]

11. Well, during primary season, I'm looking for candidates who make sense.

I'm not the kind of guy who votes for pie in the sky proposals. Not a chance. I want to hear about stuff that has a chance of getting done, not dreams of some sort of utopian fantasy. Those things never end up happening. There's always some reason they can't happen, and what it is is simple reality.

So, when someone steps up and starts talking about Trillion dollar programs to do this or that, or even many things, I yawn and say, "No, that's not going to happen. What's your plan for what actually can happen? That's what interests me."

Sure, I'd love to just forgive every student loan that had been made. That would be a wonderful gesture, and would help lots of people. It would also bankrupt a bunch of lenders, because there's not a trillion bucks lying around to give out to them. I'd love to have bullet 200 mph trains going to and from every city over 100,000 people, and I would like them to use no energy derived from fossil fuels. I think that'd be great. However, I'd much rather see school shootings stop happening and all those AR-15s out there melted down to make new bridges to replace old rotten ones. Now, that wouldn't cost a trillion dollars, but it sure would benefit a lot of people.

Bernie says he'll pay for something out of military expenditures. I guess he's going to shut down the military or something. I don't know, but I doubt that's a feasible thing to do in today's world. I'd rather he invest a bunch of energy in figuring out how to get people to stop making war on other people first, and then think about that. I don't think that's possible, though, so we just might need a military, I guess.

I would love to see everyone be able to walk into any hospital or doctor's office and receive state of the art medical care at absolutely no cost to them. If we spent another of those trillion dollars on that, we could do it, too. But, I don't think we have any trillions out there to spare. So, mabye we'd better take a look at ways to better distribute the cost of healthcare in a more equitable way, instead. And while we're doing that, lets educate a bunch of doctors without forcing them into six figure debt, in exchange for some free service to the poor and those in dire need of care.

I want to see sensible proposals that can be accomplished in a reasonable amount of time. Stuff that a President can oversee in just a single term, perhaps. I'd like to see some incremental changes that start benefiting people right fucking now, not some long-range plan that many won't live long enough to see.

But, that's just me, I suppose...

[emmaverybo]

14. Well me too. And I think for a majority of the electorate.

[emmaverybo]

13. A good case you make. Well argued and gives me fodder to think on.

[MineralMan]

15. Thanks. Getting people to think and reason

is always my goal.