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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

Let’s play name that quote. Guess who said it!

“[Illegal immigration] costs the taxpayers of the United States a lot of money. And it’s unfair to Americans who are working every day to pay their own bills. It’s also unfair to a lot of people who have waited in line for years and years in other countries to be legal immigrants.”

“I have met thousands and thousands of pro-choice men and women. I have never met anyone who is pro-abortion.”

“I have never believed that additional gun control or federal registration of guns would reduce crime… In my opinion a national register or ban of handguns would be impossible to carry out and may not result in reductions in crime.”

They were quotes by Bill Clinton, Hillary Clinton and Joe Biden. If you read this column regularly, you frequently read the Democrats insist Republicans have become more and more radicalized over the past few decades. It’s not the Republican Party that has changed. The above quotes could easily have been made by a modern Republican, but they were instead made by leading Democrat politicians a few years ago. You would be hard-pressed to find a Democrat who would hold any of those positions today.

The Democrats that our grandparents knew is no longer the Democratic Party we know today.

It’s become common for Democrats to go after the character of the speaker rather than the issues. If you believe the rampant crime at the border and flood of fentanyl across our border is a problem, you are “racist.” If you don’t agree with having drag queens at your children’s library story hour, you’re a “homophobe.” Are you a white guy? You’re part of the oppressive “patriarchy.” A previous Democrat MPV asserted that Republicans oppose abortion so rapists can choose who has their babies. That is an intellectually lazy and sick accusation!

The latest MPV from the Democrats talked about the Republican’s “war on Social Security.” You can hardly classify a few minor bills that have little chance of passing, across generations of politics since Social Security was created where the Republicans held the majority, a “war.” If we really wanted to wage “war” on Social Security, it would have already been eliminated. However, like a sports figure who recently characterized football as being like military deployment, and then rightfully got corrected, I think we should rethink characterizing the other side as waging “war.” If Democrats can’t defend their position, they often simply declare Republicans have waged a “war” on it.

How many Democratic columns are simply blaming some elusive white patriarchy, capitalism or Wall Street for all our evils today? What are they really doing? What if you could blame some unknown boogeyman on problems that everyone has? Are you struggling financially? It must be someone else’s fault! It’s Wall Street’s fault!

Who exactly is Wall Street, and who are all these “wealthy” shareholders? It’s probably you. Do you have a 401(k) or PERA or other pension? Then you are one of the shareholders that Democrats complain about every time they blame problems on Wall Street.

Democrats will complain that high-paid CEOs are the problem. There’s only a handful of CEOs in the country who make millions. And often, the person inciting the debate has a very lucrative career of their own (like Elizabeth Warren making $429,981 for two years of part-time teaching or Nancy Pelosi’s fortune estimated to have risen from $41 million to $115 million during her time as Speaker).

Most CEOs and business owners don’t come close to being millionaires, with many business owners having employees that make more than themselves. As a consultant, I have the privilege of working with many business owners who care deeply about their employees and community and pour more of their income into supporting their community’s needs instead of building their own fortune. In your own community, you find many projects that were quietly funded by local business owners who care more about you than buying another vacation home. Yet, Democrats want you perpetually angry at CEOs and business owners, demanding we pay an ever-increasing “fair share.”

It’s time we start looking at what we can build together rather than blaming some elusive boogeymen and making up outrageous claims that if you don’t agree with someone, they’re an extremist or part of another class of people that you insist are at “war” with you. Problems need solutions. Not scapegoats like phony “wars,” patriarchy and a long list of fake phobias.

Sources: William J. Clinton “Public Papers of the Presidents of the United States, William J. Clinton, 1995, Bk. 1, January 1 to June 30, 1995”, Government Printing Office
Hillary Clinton NARAL 30th Anniversary Luncheon on Jan. 22, 1999
Joe Biden during 1985 Senate gun legislation debate

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County GOP Party.