Democracy over dictatorship

To those who lament “the parties are the same” – what are you thinking? Compare their plans!

First, read Project2025.org or Rep. Barbara McLachlan’s excellent summary of it published here (Oct. 3, 2024). Then read about Kamala Harris’ policy proposals, below.

Project 2025 was developed by the Heritage Foundation and Trump’s former administration officials and associates. It specifically names Trump 300 times, laying out an explicit, detailed proposal to create a Christian Nationalist dictator president. Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts called this a “second revolution” – bloodless “if the left allows it to be.” Combined with the total immunity the Supreme Court gave Trump for any “official act” – including assassinating his enemies – Trump would destroy the lifestyle and freedoms we cherish. 

By contrast, Kamala Harris protects workers’ and family’s rights and needs. She will sign bills that ban the rampant corporate price gouging; restore Roe v. Wade abortion and extend the $35 cap on insulin.

While Trump will provide yet more welfare for his rich buddies – on our backs – Harris will work to reverse the divide between the super-rich and us underclass folks. She will provide first-time homebuyers with up to $25,000 for down payments, plus additional support for first-generation homeowners; build 3 million more rental units and affordable homes; and outlaw new forms of price fixing by corporate landlords. She supports small businesses by expanding their startup-expense tax deduction from $5,000 to $50,000.

How will she fund this? By rolling back Trump’s tax cuts for corporations and the mega-wealthy. She will enact a minimum tax for billionaires, quadruple the tax on stock buybacks and increase the tax rate on long-term capital gains to 28% for those earning at least $1 million a year. Meanwhile, she protects those who actually work for a living by guaranteeing no tax increases for those earning less than $400,000 a year (this extends a Biden pledge). She also plans to expand the child tax credit to $6,000 for families with newborns, and make the Democrats’ tax credit enhancements for health care premiums permanent.

That’s not all. Harris will raise the minimum wage; establish paid family and medical leave; eliminate taxes on tips; end sub-minimum wage for tipped workers and people with disabilities; and end four-year college degree requirements for many federal jobs.

We all know that voting rights and access are under GOP attack through voter suppression, gerrymandering, and voter roll purges. Harris will sign the John Lewis Voting Rights Act and the Freedom to Vote Act, as well as the Equality Act to protect LGBTQ+ Americans. Among her many other significant pledges are addressing immigration by signing the bipartisan border security bill, which Trump blocked, and ending the siege on Palestine by securing hostage and cease-fire deals between Israel and Hamas.

Trump plans are to hand control of America to his uber rich class, today’s version of the monarchy we fought to be free from. Harris and the Democrats are clearly focusing financial resources on us – the workers who create wealth in America. Democracy works. Vote blue.

– Kirby MacLaurin, Durango