RiceLad15
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I Root For: Rice Owls
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RE: 2020 Presidential Horse Race Thread
(08-26-2019 02:23 PM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: (08-26-2019 02:06 PM)RiceLad15 Wrote: (08-26-2019 01:31 PM)GoodOwl Wrote: (08-26-2019 06:54 AM)Owl 69/70/75 Wrote: I will comment on your points.
(08-25-2019 11:07 PM)GoodOwl Wrote: Democrat candidates actual proposals;
1) Open borders - drop-dead show-stopper for me
2) Abolish ICE - drop-dead show-stopper for me
3) Switch from Constitutionally controlled republic to Socialism - I think "switch" is a bit strong, but certainly tending strongly in that direction
4) The Green New Deal - drop-dead show-stopper for me
5) Government funded abortions for all - drop-dead show-stopper for me
6) Abortions up to the point of birth and infanticide after - drop-dead show-stopper for me
7) Increased taxes - we need additional tax revenues to balance the budget, but we are not going to get there by raising tax rates for the "rich" and corporations; I much prefer the Bowles-Simpson/Domenici-Rivlin approach, lower and flatter rates with broader definition of taxable income (fewer exclusions and deductions), with consumption tax (D-R only); this is the logical extension of the Reagan/Bill Bradley/Dick Gephart 1986 tax law
8) Elimination of the 2nd Amendment - I wouldn't say eliminate. but definitely emasculate, and for something that won't work; without te 2nd Amendment, all the rest are worthless; drop-dead show-stopper for me
9) Overhaul of the 1st Amendment - without the 1st and 2nd (and 4th and 10th, which both parties seem fine with ending) Amendments, all the rest are really, really worthless; drop-dead show-stopper for me
10) Free healthcare for illegal aliens - drop-dead show-stopper for me
11) Free college education for all - drop-dead show-stopper for me; not everybody needs to go to university; we need to beef up our vocational education at both the HS and community college levels
12) Free healthcare for all - do Bismarck universal private care and be done and dusted; single-payer/single-provider is a drop-dead show-stopper for me
13) Male to female trans abortions rights - drop-dead show-stopper for me
14) Voting age lowered to 16-years-old - oppose
15) Felons voting from prison - drop-dead show-stopper for me
16) Free childcare - this is not really a bad idea; we need to reorient our whole welfare system toward getting people to work, and this helps that
17) Guaranteed income even for those unwilling to work - I support replacing our current welfare system with a subsistence level universal basic income, using either Milton Friedman's negative income tax or the Boortz-Linder prebate/prefund; that plus Bismarck health care plus a minimum wage job (at today's MW) would put anyone above the poverty line; nobody falls through the cracks, and you eliminate the "welfare trap"/"poverty trap"; that's not what democrats are talking about here, and their approach is another drop-dead show-stopper for me
18) Government eliminating all current student debt with tax dollars - drop-dead show-stopper for me
19) Expansion (packing) of the Supreme Court - I'd go with 12 justices, one from each federal judicial circuit and one from the DC Circuit, to get some intellectual diversity; senior justice would be Chief Justice and non-voting except to break a tie (which can only happen with 11 if there is a vacancy or somebody recuses)
20) Elimination of the Electoral College - drop-dead show-stopper for me
21) Reparations for blacks - drop-dead show-stopper for me
22) Reparations for gays and lesbians - drop-dead show-stopper for me
23) Forced busing of school children - I don't think this is necessarily all bad, but there should be other alternatives
24) Bribe young adults into national service with taxpayer funds - I think the bribe things like debt forgiveness are awful; but what I would support is some sort of two-year universal service requirement, that could be military, Peace Corps, AmeriCorps VISTA, or the like; that's very un-libertarian of me, but I am very concerned about division in this country, and this strikes me as one way to fix it; as a Vietnam vet acquaintance once told me, "It's hard to be a racist after a black man drags your ass out off a rice paddy"
25) Pushing constant racial division - yes, they do, and this is a drop-dead show-stopper for me
I won't comment on Trump, because I'm not a fan--except by comparison to the alternatives.
I appreciate the clarity your response provides. Would be interested in the same from, say Lad, among others, if they'd care to comment as you did. Thanks, Owl#s.
I'm not touching that list with a 10-ft pole. It's a bad-faith, incredibly biased request and you know it.
If you actually pull together a thoughtful list of proposals from Dem candidates, I'll respond. But when the first line of a list about what Democratic candidates want, starts with "Open Borders," continues with wanting to eliminate the 2nd amendment, includes "switch to socialism," I am not going to waste any mental capacity on it, because you obviously didn't either.
Why don’t you pull together what you believe to be a thoughtful list of what you believe democrat candidates want? I think some of Good Owl’s list may be a bit hyperbolic, and I so stayed where I felt that. You apparently think it’s totally off-base, so what do you think is on base?
It isn't totally off base. Some of the bolded items are generally held by the entire party. But plenty of it is either completely off base, only held by a few candidates in a loaded field (see UBI - haven't seen anyone outside of Yang propose it), an intentional misrepresentation of the position, or not even a position that is really agreed upon or held, but debated about.
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