OPINION:
If Vice President Kamala Harris and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz are elected president and vice president of the United States, Americans can look forward to higher prices, a deepening crisis at the border and increased civil unrest. Ms. Harris’ pick of Mr. Walz as her running mate affirms that the Democrats are on track to push one of the most radical agendas in American history.
Prices have gone up 20% during the Biden-Harris administration. I pay about $1.25 more per gallon of gasoline than I did four years ago. Housing prices have been up nearly 30% in Wisconsin, my state, since President Biden and Ms. Harris took office.
Mr. Walz embraces these horrible ideas even though the average household in Minnesota has spent $30,000 more since January 2021. It would have been worse if Mr. Walz got his way, as he proposed increasing the gas tax by 70%. That would have made Minnesota’s gas tax the fourth-highest in the nation.
High prices and high taxes mean less take-home pay for working families and older adults. That is what we are likely to get with a Harris-Walz administration.
We can’t afford four more years of these failed policies.
Border security is another big issue for most Americans. It is a national security crisis when fentanyl coming across our southern border can make its way to Duluth, Minnesota, or Superior, Wisconsin, and take the lives of teenagers there and across the country. We need leadership, instead of failed policies, to secure our border.
Mr. Biden named Ms. Harris to be the point person on immigration. She was supposed to address the root causes to reduce illegal immigration. She abandoned that charge. More people, drugs and guns crossed the border illegally, and our country is facing an invasion.
Heart-wrenching reports of crimes committed by violent foreigners who entered our country illegally appear regularly in the news. Rape and murder are often part of these horrible stories. We must put an end to this crisis.
Mr. Walz seems to want to open the border even more. As a candidate for governor, he supported Minnesota’s sanctuary state status. Even New York Mayor Eric Adams is backing away from sanctuary city status.
Mr. Walz opposed the construction of a wall along the border when he was in Congress. He called it “ridiculous.” I bet he doesn’t call fences around farms in Minnesota to keep coyotes and wolves out of the chicken coops ridiculous. We need to do the same to keep criminals, drugs and guns from making their way into our country.
As governor, Mr. Walz signed a law that gave illegal immigrants driver’s licenses. He wants to reward people for breaking the law. This makes it harder to track people with a criminal record in another state. Yet it also makes it easier for people who are not citizens to vote in our elections.
We will be less secure under the policies of a Harris-Walz administration.
When the Black Lives Matter protests turned into riots, Mr. Walz stood on the sidelines. His failure to take decisive action led to massive fires and property loss. Despite a request from the mayor of Minneapolis, his failure to quickly deploy the National Guard led to massive unrest. Once law enforcement started arresting the rioters in Minneapolis, then-Sen. Kamala Harris went on social media to raise funds to bail them out of jail.
My friends in Kenosha, Wisconsin, understand what it is like to have a weak governor who is afraid to call out the National Guard. They saw buildings burn to the ground, and they heard the statements of Mr. Biden and Ms. Harris that fueled the flames of dissent.
This is part of a pattern. In 2020, Ms. Harris said: “Defund the police, the issue behind it is we need to reimagine how we are creating safety. When you have many cities that have one-third of their entire city budget focused on policing, we know that is not the smart way and the best way or the right way to achieve safety. For too long, the status quo thinking has been you get more safety by putting more cops on the street. Well, that’s wrong.”
Mr. Walz holds similar views about law enforcement. The results have been disastrous. During his tenure, homicides in Minnesota have gone up by 73%, aggravated assaults are up 49% and vehicle thefts have increased by 55%. Shifting support away from law enforcement does not work.
We will be less safe under a Harris-Walz administration.
The selection of Mr. Walz as Ms. Harris’ running mate is a clear warning to those of us concerned about high prices, border security and public safety. We would be wise to focus on these important issues.
• Scott Walker is president of Young America’s Foundation and served as the 45th governor of Wisconsin from 2011 to 2019.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.