OPINION:
After a performance by Megan Thee Stallion giving her “hardest twerk,” Democratic candidate and Vice President Kamala Harris laid out her campaign platform in Atlanta: Securing the border, strengthening the economy, “freedom to vote” and “safety from gun violence.” (While she also wants to stop former President Donald Trump’s “extreme abortion ban,” it’s hard to even respond, given that Mr. Trump has explicitly and repeatedly said he would not minimize abortion access.)
Knowing nothing more, I’d think it’s half Republican platform and half President Biden standard talking points. But an inch below the surface lies the dangerous and maddening reality of what she’s really promising:
Devastating our safety and economy with 10 million border crossings
In April, the House Committee on Homeland Security released a fact sheet showing that since the Biden-Harris administration took office, there have been more than 9.5 million known illegal crossings, with millions more unknown. Under a Harris administration, we would see a repeat of that, but worse, now that the cartel infrastructure is established.
Ms. Harris claims she would sign bipartisan legislation to secure the border. The legislation she mentions would have streamlined entry into the United States, not stopped it. Regardless, this immediate mention of legislation is problematic. In blaming Congress rather than the administration for conditions at the border, she acknowledges that she would not do anything to close the border but rather whine about the need for (bad) legislation.
And what has she actually done for the border in her time as vice president? Ms. Harris has never spoken with the Border Patrol chief. And her stance on border security appears to be “working” to provide Guatemalans with “drought-resistant crops.”
Taxing the poor
Ms. Harris’ economic vision is handouts (in health care, child care and paid leave) and medical price fixing. But handouts don’t solve the problem that Americans are struggling with. Handouts bloat the system with borrowed cash, exacerbating inflation and putting even more strain on the lowest-income Americans’ wallets. They also run up our national debt, locking our children into outrageous tax burdens (not to mention failing infrastructure and schools) as we barely pay our interest. Giving Americans the financial security they seek means a robust job market (which means optimistic employers) and affordable and plentiful energy.
Moreover, Ms. Harris cast the tiebreaking vote for a 2022 law that demanded pharmaceutical companies sell their drugs at a loss. A socialist takeover of medicine reduces innovation and productivity. Drug companies cannot operate in a country that simply steals their products, and she should not be proud of passing a law that so blatantly threatens our well-being.
Increasing voter chaos and distrust
Fearmongering on voting is so tiring. Everyone who wants to vote can vote. Stacey Abrams conned Americans into giving her millions of dollars to bring a lawsuit saying the opposite and lost. She couldn’t identify anyone who was unable to vote in Georgia. Given that voting is so easy, what would the bills Ms. Harris supports do? Oh, give the Department of Justice power over local elections to block anything from voter ID to maintaining voter rolls. If you think we have a crisis of electoral confidence now, wait until DOJ starts rolling back popularly elected integrity measures.
Exacerbating gun violence
Almost 10 people are shot every day in Chicago, according to 2022-2023 statistics. But Ms. Harris won’t talk about that, which is a huge disservice to Americans who want and deserve safe communities. Instead, she waves around words like Mr. Biden did: background checks, red flag laws and an assault weapons ban. Now, background checks already exist on licensed dealers, Republicans have already passed support for red flag laws, and courts across the country have ruled that assault weapons bans are unconstitutional. But mostly, none of these have done anything for liberal cities across this country.
Kamala Harris won’t answer questions from the media, but her policies must speak for themselves. Americans have lived for four years under Mr. Biden’s and her leadership, encouraging drugs and unvetted people to cross the border illegally, funding massive global instability and exacerbating our national debt to a shocking $470,230 per child.
Pop star-studded rally or not, this is the choice in November.
• May Mailman is the director of the Independent Women’s Law Center (iwlc.org).
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