Democratic presidential hopeful Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders speaks at a primary night event. (Photo credit: TIMOTHY A. CLARY/AFP via Getty Images)
If Americans are used to anything, it’s hearing politicians make campaign promises that they forget about when they get in office and never fulfill.
But when a candidate’s whole campaign strategy is based, not only on promises they won’t keep, but promises they cannot possibly keep, it’s a horse of a different color, not just disappointment about breaking promises, but totally dejected disappointment about a whole platform that collapses as the impossibly of the grandiose promises dawns on a totally deflated electorate.
Although socialist doctrine runs deep in the rhetoric of several of the Democratic candidates, the weeding out began in New Hampshire and it appears that Bernie Sanders will be the last man – or woman – standing in the hardcore socialist category.
Let’s look at some of Bernie’s campaign promises, examine the feasibility, the method of funding them and the effect they would have on the citizens and the future of the nation.
Bernie has promised to forgive all student loans, which currently stands at over $1.3 trillion.
Bernie has promised Medicare For All, but the Urban Institute has projected it would cost $34 trillion beyond current federal healthcare expenses to fund the single-payer plan in the first decade of operation.
Bernie has signed on to the Green New Deal. Studies have shown that the cost of the Green New Deal would be around $93 trillion.
There are many other cradle-to-grave provisos we could go into, but let’s just deal with the $128.3 trillion it would require to finance the promises we have so far.
Just to realize the enormity of the numbers we are dealing with, the $93 trillion for the Green New Deal alone would translate into $600,000 for every household in America.
Of course, Bernie tells us that the rich would “pay their fair share” to cover the utopian socialist society he is proposing, but think about this:
If you confiscated, not taxed a portion, but took the entire fortunes of the 20 richest people in America it would amount to under $1.1 trillion, probably enough to finance Bernie’s Shangri-La for a few days.
The entire nation now takes in about $4 trillion a year, goes further into debt every year, and we now already have a national debt of $23 trillion.
So, after the super-rich have contributed their “fair share” and there is about a $20 trillion per annum shortfall, where do the eyes of the politicians turn?
The tax rate goes into an upward spiral with tax brackets falling lower and lower and tax rates going higher and higher until EVERYBODY is paying 60 percent of their income to Internal Revenue.
And still, there is a shortfall of several trillion dollars.
And the truth of the matter is that the numbers will never reconcile; it is impossible to service the kind of debt Bernie Sanders’ socialist programs would accumulate.
It’s like a man who can only afford the payments on a motor scooter getting the credit to buy a fleet of Lamborghinis.
Bernie’s one-payer health care plan would put private insurance companies out of business, causing massive unemployment, a catastrophic upheaval in the stock market and result in a caliber of healthcare you don’t even want to think about.
Bernie’s attitude toward private enterprise, the taxes he would levy on them and the business atmosphere that would be created under a Sanders administration would drive most industry offshore, resulting in rampant unemployment and other fiscal shortfalls.
Would there be demonstrations of outrage from the people who voted for Bernie in good faith, lost their jobs, their homes, their future and their patience?
Of course there would be, and some would result in violence, “requiring” a firm federal hand to bring about law and order.
And therein lie the seeds of a totalitarian full-blown communist government.
The problem with socialism is that it always becomes so top-heavy and requires such sacrifice from the people, that the only way to quell the widespread unrest is by force. That’s the way dictatorships are born and how free nations are ravished.
Am I saying that Bernie Sanders has designs on being a dictator?
I am not, but I am saying that the kind of government he is proposing has a history of creating dictatorships, deprivation, unrest and chronic unhappiness.
Unfortunately, our universities have conditioned millions of young people into not only accepting, but embracing socialism and Bernie Sanders has a hardcore, dedicated following that only sees the glittering surface and has no idea what lies beneath.
Let’s hope and pray they won’t have to learn the hard way.
Pray for our troops, our police, and the peace of Jerusalem.
What do you think?
God Bless America
— Charlie Daniels
Charlie Daniels is a legendary American singer, song writer, guitarist, and fiddler famous for his contributions to country and southern rock music. Daniels has been active as a singer since the early 1950s. He was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry on January 24, 2008.