The ‘Moderate’ Democrat Candidates Who ‘Aren’t Socialists’ Like Bernie Are Still Wildly Extreme

For anyone wondering if there were any centrist or “moderate” Democrats who could appeal to independent voters and threaten President Trump’s reelection bid in 2020, the first two debates answered that question. There aren’t.

In 2004, Rep. Dennis Kucinich ran on the ideas of socialized medicine and taxpayer-paid education from kindergarten to college. His platform was derided by the majority of political commentators as far outside the mainstream, even downright wacky. Kucinich’s proposals were bad then, and they’re bad now. But in this election cycle, most Democrats running for president are either lined up with 2004 Kucinich or further to his left.

The narrative many in the media spun is that this race is a battle of socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders and far-left Sen. Elizabeth Warren versus numerous “moderate” or “mainstream” candidates such as Mayor Pete Buttigieg or former vice president Joe Biden. What we have witnessed from the first two debates, however, is that all the candidates are now pandering to a radicalized Democratic Party base far out of step with most Americans.

In 1962, Democratic President John F. Kennedy advocated one of the largest tax cuts in American history. Now? Democrats like Sanders openly advocate taxing the middle class to pay for lavish spending projects like full free college tuition and taxpayers paying off student debt. Sen. Kamala Harris openly bragged that “when” she became president, she wouldn’t hesitate to pass anti-Second Amendment measures with no input from Congress. Harris’s threat should send a chill up the spine of every freedom-loving American.

On January 23, 1996, Democratic President Bill Clinton declared in a State of the Union Address that “the era of Big Government is over.” Twenty-three years later, every major candidate in the second Democratic primary debate raised his or her hand in support for taxpayer-funded health care for illegal immigrants. All seem bent on the elimination of America’s sovereignty. Most of them support a version of the socialist “Medicare for All” program Sanders has proposed, which would end private health insurance. Unrestricted access to abortion seems so “automatic” it was hardly mentioned in the second debate.