Looking ahead to progressive regression

So, OK, fellow citizens, let's all veer leftward, let's sign onto Bernie Sanders' socialism, Alexandria Ocasio Cortez's vision of a "brutal, barbarian" America and The New York Times' revelation of a slave state that survived the Civil War. Let's pack the Supreme Court, get rid of federalism, ignore failed public schools, shrink police and the military, call riots peaceful protests and rely on bureaucrats to try to reverse elections they don't like.

Well, they won't try to reverse the one coming up if the polls are right. They point to Democrats winning the presidency, the Senate and the House. And, yes, there are Democrats of merit, but there is also a sour, vindictive, ideologically inane mood, dishonest leadership in Congress and provocation by no less a provocateur than President Donald Trump. In a host of ways and prior to the virus, he energetically, unbelievably accomplished more in one term than Barack Obama in two, but he was also a joke that didn't make you laugh.

Neither will we be entertained by Joe Biden's befuddled rise from the basement, especially given what seems to be a leftist infection. His climate change plan would do away with fossil fuels and could thereby shut us down far more decisively than COVID-19. There is an answer, and it isn't replacement by renewable fuels, which would never do the job, but nuclear power that frightens people when it shouldn't. There are still other sensible approaches, but none of it will mean anything if China does not go along. Biden's science denial in talking about "an existential threat" should not lead us to extremes.

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Our traditional public schools are a mess, doing a terrible job of teaching reading and math, and Black parents and Republicans among many others correctly see charter schools under certain circumstances as an answer. Thomas Sowell's research supports them, but it is not clear how Joe Biden stands on that, although he does have a plan for free community colleges (that are already free for the poor) and free state universities in which the government pays the tuition through a tax plan inadequate to the point of unendurable debt accumulation.

Will he handle the COVID-19 virus better than Trump? Well, know first off what too many fail to note, that it is the states in charge of the most important virus policies, not the federal government, even though an abuse of power and rhetorical overkill can have their consequences. It does look as if Biden is more inclined to boost a further shutdown, and yes, careful restrictions and requirements are needed. But go too far with this shutdown business and you may abet long-term economic misery, killing more than you save.

You can almost surely look for a packed court that will give us a leftist oligarchy and the end of the Electoral College telling small states to go to you know where. The economy will struggle to stay afoot under the planned tax assault, and wait, have you noticed, a slew of Democrats don't seem to believe in capitalism anymore? Nothing has served humanity better as a matter of rising from material misery, but "whoa" is the command as more regulatory bridles and tethers are sought.

And, oh, those regulations will multiply as you start worrying what words you can and cannot say because someone identifies them as a hate crime and Democrats rise again to try to amend the First Amendment. The issue was a critical movie about Hillary Clinton, who should at least be spared criticism during the last days of a campaign, right?

With his hugs and all, Biden seems like a nice enough guy, but he has already changed to say taxpayers should fund abortions, and who knows what else you will have to pay for to keep him popular with the leftist crowd. Trump is an issue, but not the only one.

There's more, but this is enough to scream about.

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Jay Ambrose
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Jay Ambrose, formerly Washington director of editorial policy for Scripps Howard newspapers and the editor of dailies in El Paso, Texas, and Denver, is a columnist living in Colorado.