Democrat Debate and Why I Left the Democratic Party

Last night I tuned in to watch the first night of the Democratic Candidate Debates. I was curious as to how the candidates might try to distinguish themselves from the rest of the pack. I had every intention of watching the full two hours but forty minutes in, I was totally reminded of why I left the Democratic Party forty years ago and chose to become an Independent, though I am registered as a Republican. The moderator began the debate questions by stating that 71 or 72% of Americans believe the economy is doing well. Including 60% of Democrats. She then ask Elizabeth Warren what changes would she make or how what she would do to improve things. Warren completely missed the beginning remark about how Americans feel about the economy and commenced a dissertation on how the economy is upside down and only benefits big corporations, big pharm, big oil and the ultra rich. What a minute. If Warren is right, How is it that so many Americans believe the Economy is doing well? Are we all stupid and not understand economics on a gut level? We must not have the education to understand economic nuances that make it so bad for us all. We have been blinded by what or who I do not know. Then to my utter surprise, every other candidate participating in the debate regurgitated what Warren had said. Now I was completely dumbfounded. The American Public and I must be ignorant, stupid or deplorable. How is it that we do not see what these ten candidates see. An Economy that is going downhill. One that is worse than it has ever been and is totally upside down only benefitting those who already have more money than they know what to do with. Then they moved on to Healthcare. The lead in question was a raise of hands of those who belief Private Health Insurance should be completely done away with. Only Warren and DeBlasio raised their hands. Well, I thought, maybe we can have a more sensible discussion on this topic. I was wrong. It turns out most candidates were, in fact, in favor of a move away from Private Insurance to a Government controlled insurance program. They only distinguished themselves by saying it should be gradual or that both a Public and a Private Option should be available. The most favored solution was to turn everything over to Medicare and make Medicare obligatory for everyone. Wait a minute. Haven’t we heard over the years that Medicare is not sustainable in the long run without substantial overhaul? The only reasonable voice on this issue came from John Delaney, who commented that in a survey of the administrators of 1300 hospitals in the United States, when administrators were asked what they would do if the maximum amount they could receive for services was what was paid out by Medicare, they all said, “close our doors.” So not only do the Democrats want to turn over our healthcare to a failing government run program, they want to force all hospitals to close and shut down Private Insurance. I just could not believe my ears were hearing the things being said. Democrats believe they are in a better position to make decisions on the American Publics behalf than the Public themselves. These Elite Democrats are so much smarter, better educated, understand the nuances of every aspect of our lives so much better than we do and that we should just turn over to them all of our hard earned dollars and put them in charge of our lives. It was exactly this attitude by Democrats that led me to leave the Democratic Party forty years ago, despite being raised in a family where everyone was a democrat and for the most part still are.