Ok… this topic typically puts people instantly into a defensive posture. But my goal is to present things in a way that allows people to see things from a different perspective than usual to build independence of thought. I can’t think of a more important front right now on which to achieve that, so here goes.
It appears the Democratic party is poised to possibly end up with the White House, the Senate and the House of Representatives this week. I’m neither a Republican, nor a Democrat, but I see a few things that make me more worried about this outcome than a lot of others.
Most of the Democrats I know embrace their politics as aligned with their desire to be good people and to do good things for others. In and of itself, that’s a noble intent. But judging any policy, effort or law on its intent while ignoring its actual results would be a real failure to see your convictions through.
Red Flags are Flying
And therein lies my deep concern with today’s crop of progressive policies and politicians. Despite the stated positive intent of their policies, even a surface look at the evidence suggests actual outcomes that – at the very least – do not accomplish their goals.
A long list exists of cities and states that currently live under Democratic control and have for decades. They present great test cases for understanding how liberal policies actually impact the people who live with them. We can look to places like Baltimore, New York, Hartford, New Jersey, Philadelphia, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles and California and see if liberal policies deliver the results they promise.
So, what do we see when we look at those places?
Almost universally, we see high crime rates, high taxes, housing crises, high rates of homelessness, deep fiscal problems and high minority joblessness. Further, North American Van Lines moving trends 2019 shows people leaving these places in droves.
Oddly, the people moving out of those places as they become less and less livable move – even during a Trump presidency – to places like South Carolina, Tennessee, Idaho and Arizona. Now this isn’t some blanket endorsement of all conservative policies. But clearly, some major things going wrong in Democratically controlled regions work better in areas controlled by Republicans.
A Dubious Proposition
As Democratic politicians make their pitches this fall, all I hear them saying is, “If we just implement the same policies that fail consistently at the local and state level on a national scale, everything will be great!” It leaves me more than a bit unsettled.
Here’s what I’d ask of Democrats: Take your goodness one crucial step further. Focus on results, not intent. Be open to solutions falling outside your standard approaches when you find ones that aren’t working. It isn’t at all uncommon for unintended consequences to literally cause the exact opposite effect of what you’d intended. I believe the Democratic suite of policies is rife with such things, but nobody dares bring it up in today’s polarized, cancel-culture environment.
If the Dems win as expected next week and they don’t look hard at the very real, very obvious impact of many of their policies, all of us will suffer together.