The Democrats' Fire Sale

Proving that the supply of stupid ideas in politics is endless, we bear witness to serious talk about cancelling student loans coming from the administration and leftist harridans such as Elizabeth Warren. Via executive order. Without legislative concurrence. In the midst of a massive inflation spike born of excessive creation of money.

What could possibly be the purpose of such a giveaway, especially ahead of a mid-term election that's already stacking up to be a Blueblood-bath? It's not likely to buy many votes that aren't already in the Blue Team tank. As National Review's Jim Geraghty points out, the prime beneficiaries will be "white Americans under the age of 40 who have graduate degrees and live in high-income, majority-white neighborhoods — in other words, extremely online Democrats." It'll further invigorate Red Team voters and be a smack in the face to a long list of Americans, many of whom are considered part of the Blue Team’s traditional base.

Beyond the mid-terms, what would happen next? Would the student loan system be restructured? Would the Democrats try to socialize tertiary education (aka "free" college)? Would colleges be on the hook for students’ loan defaults hereafter? Would there be reining in of loans for useless and vanity degree pursuits?

Or would the existing system that supposedly imposed these 'unfair and unjust' loans simply continue as-is, so that another debt cancellation can be ginned up when the Dems are next in power?

What of the people who got their educations without borrowing? What of those who scrimped, saved, worked while studying, or otherwise made their own way? What of those who mortgaged homes or sold assets rather than taking student loans? What of those who paid off their loans? What of all those who opted to go the trade route rather than borrowing for an education that hasn't offset their debt?

What of the bigger message against personal responsibility? What of the moral hazard, i.e. “go ahead and borrow beyond your means and for a useless degree - you won’t have to pay it back” signal to the upcoming generation of college aspirants?

This is an idiocy born of the basest "votes and elections are bought" political mindset, and gestated in the progressive echo chamber. It's moronic on more levels than I can count. That it's being given serious consideration tells us much about those running our country and our lives.

"They can't be this stupid," is what keeps coming into my head. I'm tempted to say "yes, they can," but I also want to consider a different possibility.

I warned that the Dems might adopt a "shoot the moon" strategy after their lackluster performance in the 2020 election, a performance that forecast a high likelihood of losing the House in the mid-terms. Rather than play to the center to try and preserve their paper-thin majorities, they'd seek to cram as much progressive fantasy in the two years they had, and rely on gridlock to cement their legislative gains thereafter. Fortunately for most, a couple centrist Senators opted to save the party from its worst excesses, leaving whatever can be done via executive order as their only option going into November's election.

If they can't get Big Laws passed, they can at least try to grift as much as they can. A giveaway to their new core - the overeducated white urban intelligentsia (and, transitively, to the universities that have been crafting and inculcating the progressive vision) - fits this perfectly, no matter what damage it does to the nation. Similarly, the effort to patriate as many Southern Border crossers as possible, and fly them in the middle of the night to airports all over the country.

Is this a strategy of "burn it down, blow it up, and blame the other team for the mess that's left behind?"

I'm cynical, but am I that cynical? I typically default to Hanlon's Razor, but can they really be that stupid?

Some ideas are so stupid that only intellectuals believe them. -- George Orwell

The Best-and-Brightest on the Left are telling each other that their unpopularity is a combination of poor selling of all they've done for the people (see: infrastructure bill and other giveaways) and insufficient spending/largesse/big-government-legislation. Even as the reality of their spending is smacking everyday Americans in the face via inflation and other problems. Really, this is their answer - spend more, make government bigger, sell the entire store for votes.

Who's to save us from the Best-and-Brightest?

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Yours in liberty,

Peter.