November 12, 2024 The Sun Bay Paper Page 14 Candidate Harris: A feast for skeptics One privilege of citizenship is expressing ourselves at election time. Sadly, rather than showing reverence for this important process, campaigns have become times of division, with candidates and voters alike often on their worst behavior. So, rather than personalities, it often becomes simply a choice between policy agendas. Regarding candidate Harris and democrats, an unusual amount of discernment and skepticism should be ever-present. Consider my list of concerns. “Immigration/border control” is a huge concern. We’re all familiar with the flood of illegal border crossings. The prior administration correctly pursued a border barrier along with points of entry and technology to facilitate a “stop-and-sort” process. The current administration favors legislation with the likely continuation of high levels of illegal border crossings, and there’s no plan to build the essential border wall. Good “economic policy” demands that first we return to a disciplined budgetary process. Our current process doesn’t allow careful analysis of spending, taxing, and borrowing decisions. Legislators delay the difficult debate process until emergency action is necessary. Inadequate time remains for close scrutiny of all 12 budget categories. Democrats have resisted republican attempts to return to budgetary “regular order.” The current administration’s vision for “Mideast peace” depends on finding a “two-state Israel/Palestinian solution.” We’ve learned over many years of trying that the decision makers for the Palestinians will accept nothing less than eliminating the nation of Israel. The solution will be “The Abraham Accords,” an agreement between several Arab nations and Israel. That project gained momentum before Biden’s administration scuttled further efforts. Harris is definitely on the wrong side of this issue. “Election integrity” is a cornerstone of our republic. Controls were loosened during COVID and many still need to be reestablished. I’m referring to basic things such as voter ID requirements and ballot security. Without soul-searching and securing our voting process, sometime in the future we will suffer result-changing frauds. Democrats and their presidential ticket are too comfortable with the loosened voting processes and controls. My “energy policy” ideals usually conflict with the Harris/ Walz/democrat policies. Their habit of “cramming down” the elimination of fossil fuels, is potentially disastrous economically. Contrary to common sense, they are willing to eliminate power sources before there are dependable “green” replacements. Their habit of ignoring “clean nuclear energy” expansion proves my point. And often, green technology and battery manufacturing is environmentally “dirty,” and depends on enemy supply sources such as China. Harris’s past statements create concern because she seemed willing to end fracking before a dependable “green” alternative is developed. And we lost an important opportunity by not selling fossil fuels into Europe and other areas. Instead, Russia and Iran have financed their terrorism and aggression by making those sales. I’m concerned with the “gender-bending foolishness” inherent in the Biden/Harris support for changes to Title IX protections, i.e. biological male athletes competing against females. If this transformation could befall hardfought protections in Title IX, it could happen anywhere. America must stop treating the concept of being female as an abstraction. “Law enforcement policies” cause skepticism because Harris created a fund to bail-out 2020 rioters, supported defunding police, endorsed George Soros’s “progressive prosecutors,” supported local governments ignoring ICE immigration processes, and endorsed eliminating cash bail. “Abortion” policies will stand forever as a leading divisive force in America. A “cease-fire” on this issue demands two things. Keep the issue and its legislation at the state level for the foreseeable future; and diminish the influence of the two extremes, i.e. “total ban” vs. “no limits” on abortion. Harris wants to return to “Roe” which is no path to peace. “Education rebates,” aka student loan forgiveness, is near and dear to democrats and the Biden/Harris administration. The problem is that usually, a majority of these funds go to those needing it least. Check out a study by the Wharton School. We should also be sensitive to issues like: America’s role in this complex and dangerous world; gender affirming care for minors; instituting damaging price controls; Supreme Court packing; support for banning private health insurance; subtle free speech issues and……, you finish the list. A ”perfect storm” is gathering, resulting from the Bide/ Harris recent penchant for combining serious problems with foolish “fixes.” Let’s step off that path. Steve Bakke Visit my website at myslantonthings.com Last issue’s puzzle solution to ‘Baby Face’
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