OPINION:
Vote buying is illegal in the United States.
The law says: “Whoever makes or offers to make an expenditure to any person, either to vote or withhold his vote, or to vote for or against any candidate; and whoever solicits, accepts, or receives any such expenditure in consideration of his vote or the withholding of his vote — Shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than one year, or both; and if the violation was willful, shall be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than two years, or both.”
For fact-checkers, that’s 18 U.S. Code 597 — Expenditures to influence voting.
Politicians have managed to circumvent the law by calling what they do by another name and offering incentives other than direct cash payments to voters to check the box for a certain candidate. “Walking-around money” on Election Day has long been a tradition, especially in big cities with large minority populations.
Some critics say President Biden is engaging in a more sophisticated type of vote buying in his attempt to forgive student loan debt.
Last week, U.S. District Judge J. Randal Hall in Georgia announced that he would let a temporary restraining order that had frozen the Biden plan expire. The ruling had more to do with the plaintiffs’ lack of “standing” than with the president’s constitutional authority to forgive loans, which the Supreme Court has ruled he does not have.
That has not stopped Mr. Biden from trying to circumvent the high court. Judge Hall directed that the case be transferred to Missouri since the states that sued asserted that Mr. Biden’s plan would most harm the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority.
Few if any have discussed whether student loan forgiveness would make a noticeable difference in the lives of those with college debt, make no difference or harm them now and in the future.
Financial adviser Ric Edelman has examined the issue. On a recent podcast, Mr. Edelman said: “Studies are now showing that the people who had those student loans, who now don’t have to repay them are still under financial stress. Borrowers who were late on payments or even defaulted on their student loan debt are often still dealing with other financial problems, like low credit scores, and other debt, like credit card debt.”
Mr. Edelman cites a study by University of Chicago professor Constantine Yannelis, who concluded: “For the typical borrower, the forgiveness is nice, but not life-changing.”
Aside from the argument that forgiving student loan debt is unfair to those who have already paid off their loans and others who are or will be piling up future debt (and don’t Democrats constantly tell us they are all about “fairness”?), the only logical though probably cynical answer to the question of why this is occurring so close to the election is that Mr. Biden is trying to “buy” more of the youth vote.
It didn’t seem to work this time for Mr. Biden. NPR reported in June, before Mr. Biden dropped out of the race, that “among younger Black, Latino and Asian American voters, who overwhelmingly sided with Biden in 2020, and at higher rates than young white voters did, support has considerably faltered, according to the University of Chicago’s latest GenForward survey.”
It looks like this form of “vote buying” may not be working. With just a month to go until the election, it’s too late for Democrats to devise an alternative plan.
• Readers may email Cal Thomas at tcaeditors@tribpub.com. Look for Cal Thomas’ latest book, “A Watchman in the Night: What I’ve Seen Over 50 Years Reporting on America” (Humanix Books).
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