“We’re not going back. America is ready for a new way forward.”
The election is now a little over a month away. Vice President Harris leads most of the polls and is the Las Vegas favorite to win, but the country still knows little about her. Before President Biden’s withdrawal from the race, Harris had an approval rating of around 30%. Still, without the benefit of a primary election, Democrats have rallied around her, and she appears to be on her way to becoming our next President.
When Kamala ran in the 2020 Democratic Primary for President, she garnered only 1% of the vote, primarily because of her radical policy positions. However, since entering the race against Trump, she has modified many of her earlier positions, frequently repeating, “Let us think of what can be, unburdened by what has been…” Political observers wonder whether her beliefs have changed or if her handlers have formulated a platform to make her more electable. When asked why Kamala has changed so many of her positions, Bernie Sanders explained, “She has an election to win.”
Let’s review her background and some of her earlier policy positions to understand her better.
Her Family Background
Kamala comes from parents with stellar academic credentials.
Her father, Donald Harris, originally from Jamaica, obtained a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of California at Berkeley. He held faculty positions at several universities before receiving tenure at Stanford, the first black professor to receive tenure in the Economics Department. His writing and teaching criticized traditional economic theory and market economies, arguing that capitalism leads to economic inequality and uneven development. He taught Marxist Economics as part of his teaching responsibilities and wrote that Marx influenced his views.
Donald J. Harris – Wikipedia
EconomicPolicyJournal.com: What the Father of Kamala Harris Thinks About Marxism
Kamala’s mother, Shyamala Gopalan Harris, immigrated from India to pursue doctoral studies in Biology at the University of California at Berkeley, where she met Donald Harris. The couple met in 1962 at a meeting of the Afro-American Association at Berkeley. This far-left group originally proposed the Kwanza holiday and played a part in organizing the Black Panthers.
Both parents were political activists, and some commentators have suggested that this must have influenced Kamala’s views from an early age.
The couple had two daughters, Kamala and Maya. For a short time, they lived in Zambia, where Shyamala’s father was working. In 1971, they divorced, leaving Shyamala to raise the two girls.
In 1976, when Kamala was 12, her mother took a job at McGill University and moved the two girls to Montreal.
Kamala did not have a typical American childhood or upbringing. She lived in Montreal until 19, missing an American education and socialization.
Kamala Harris in Canada: What we know about her childhood in Montreal | National Post
Kamala’s younger sister, Maya, is also a lawyer. She attended Berkeley as an undergraduate and Stanford for her law degree. Maya was a student activist at Stanford University. She was closely associated with Steve Phillips, one of the leading Marxist-Leninists on campus, and a long-time affiliate with the League of Revolutionary Struggle, a pro-Chinese Communist group.
Like her parents and sister, Maya is a political activist. She was the Racial Justice Political Director when she worked for the ACLU. During the 2016 campaign, she was Hilary Clinton’s representative to the Democratic Party Platform Committee.
Kamala’s Education
Kamala attended middle school and high school and her freshman year of college in Montreal. For the last three years of college, she transferred to Howard University, a traditionally black college in Washington, D.C. She attended Hastings College of the Law in San Francisco and passed the Bar Exam on her second try in 1990. Kamala arguably has the least impressive academic credentials in her family. Since she attended high school in Canada, is it possible Kamala never took a course in American History?
Kamala’s Career
In 1990, a year after graduating, Harris served as Alameda County Deputy District Attorney.
In 1994, she became the mistress of 60-year-old married Speaker of the California Assembly Willie Brown. Brown appointed her to the Unemployment Insurance Appeals Board and the California Medical Assistance Commission. Harris’s connection to Brown was noted in media reportage as part of a pattern of California political leaders appointing “friends and loyal political soldiers” to lucrative commission positions. Harris has defended her work.
In 1998, she became San Francisco County Assistant District Attorney and ran the Family and Children’s Services Division in the San Francisco City Attorney’s Office. She served two terms as District Attorney of San Francisco from 2004 to 2010. She was elected Attorney General of California in 2010, U.S. Senator from California in 2016, and Vice President in 2020.
Early life and career of Kamala Harris – Wikipedia Early life and career of Kamala Harris – Wikipedia
https://www.cnbc.com/2024/09/17/harris-trump-election-cnbc-fed-survey-economists.html
Kamala’s Positions from 2016-2023
Equality vs. Equity
Kamala has given several speeches contrasting equality and equity. (See links to videos.) This is one of the most troubling parts of her ideology.
Politicians used to say that everyone should have equal opportunity. That was what they meant by Equality or economic justice.
Kamala has a different, more extreme definition of equality. She says equality means everyone should have not just equal opportunity but equal amounts of money. She explains further that since everyone did not start with the same amount, some should get more than others. In other words, we should take from some and give to others until everyone has the same amount.
The idea that everyone should have the same amount of money is radical. It’s a core Marxist idea, but Harris gets away with saying this because she always implies that the concept is an answer to racism. I am surprised the media has not asked her about this. Everyone should be concerned about this communist idea coming from the next President.
Equality vs. Equity – Harvard Law School | Harvard Law School
Flashback: Kamala Harris seeks to define ‘equity vs. equality’ | Fox News Video
Political positions of Kamala Harris – Wikipedia
Immigration
Harris took several progressive stances on immigration when she sought the Democratic presidential nomination in 2020. She wanted immigrants who were in the country illegally to be eligible for government healthcare, and she wanted to decriminalize border crossings.
Kamala Harris’ views on key issues over the years – WHYY (NPR)
Illegal crossings began to spike soon after President Biden took office in January 2021. That spring, Biden tasked Ms. Harris with tackling the root causes of migration from northern Central America. It was a thankless assignment – a long-term solution for a problem that was making daily headlines. (CSMonitor)
In Guatemala that June, where she bluntly warned migrants, “Do not come,” Ms. Harris sat for an interview with Lester Holt, NBC News Anchorman. Asked if she planned to visit the border, she answered, “We’ve been to the border.” And when Holt noted that she hadn’t been there, she retorted defensively, “And I haven’t been to Europe.” (CSMonitor)
Given her history, it’s hard to believe that she now says she would seal the border. As Bernie says, “She has an election to win.”
How would Kamala Harris govern? Her past career offers signals. – CSMonitor.com
Trump vs. Harris on the Issues: From Immigration and Taxes to Healthcare and Foreign Policy – WSJ
Taxes
Kamala says that she would not raise taxes on households with less than $400,000 in annual income, but households below this income threshold would be affected if the 2017 tax reduction were allowed to expire.
Harris’s campaign has endorsed all of the proposed tax increases from Biden’s most recent budget.
Under that plan, the top marginal income-tax rate for individuals would climb to 44.6% across almost all income types, compared with today’s lower top rates (23.8% on capital gains, 29.6% on some business income, and over 39% on wages). High-income people would still pay lower rates on some of their income, but those marginal rates at the top matter because they can affect investment decisions.
Harris, adopting Biden’s plan, would create a novel system that would tax the unrealized capital gains of people with net worth exceeding $100 million. Currently, capital gains aren’t taxed until assets are sold, and they are exempt from income tax at death, giving people an incentive to hold assets and pass them to heirs.
Under the Harris plan, that top slice of households (about 0.01%) would pay an annual minimum tax of 25% of their income—using a broader definition of income that includes unrealized gains.
Corporations would face a 28% tax rate, up from 21% today, and large companies would pay a 21% minimum tax instead of the current 15%. They also would pay higher taxes on foreign profits. The higher corporate rate would apply on a broader tax base because the 2017 law removed some breaks, and the increase would push the U.S. back toward the high end of countries’ tax rates.
“Vice President Harris’s campaign pledge to raise the federal corporate tax rate to 28% would have devastating consequences, resulting in higher prices, lower wages, and fewer jobs,” said a statement from the RATE Coalition, a group of companies that includes Target and Altria.
https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/kamala-harris-tax-plan-2024-election-10f95d18?st=ARKvt8&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
Exclusive | The Presidential Campaign Proposals Americans Like Best – WSJ
Race and Reparations
Kamala seems to be obsessed with race, or at least she knows how to leverage the issue for her benefit. As Senator, she co-sponsored a federal bill to study race-based reparations. As a candidate in 2019, she promised Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network that, as president, she would sign a reparations-study bill into law.
When asked recently about her position on reparations at the Black Journalists Conference, she dodged the question with her signature word salad response.
“We need to speak truth about the generational impact of our history, in terms of the generational impact of slavery, the generational impact of redlining, of Jim Crow laws.” Harris said.
“I could go on and on and on,” she added. “These are facts that have impact, and we need to speak the truth about it. And we need to speak truth about it in a way that’s about deriving solutions.”
Several academics who favor reparations say it’s not so much about compensation related to slavery but more about closing the income and wealth gap between blacks and other ethnic groups. It’s associated with Kamala’s position on equity.
Reparations stokes racial resentment — and Kamala has backed it to the hilt (msn.com)
Police and Law Enforcement
When Kamala was the District Attorney of San Francisco, she had a reputation for being tough on crime, but since George Floyd died in 2020, she has taken a 180-degree turn. She repeatedly said that police should be defunded. In a radio interview, she suggested that law enforcement should be reimagined or that police may not be needed at all. Lately, she has touted her earlier role as a prosecutor who was tough on crime, so it’s unclear what she really believes.
Harris, in 2020, said, ‘We have to redirect resources’ from police – ABC News (go.com)
Kamala Harris praised ‘Defund the Police’ movement in June 2020 radio interview | CNN Politics
Kamala Harris Calls For Decriminalization Of Sex Work (theroot.com)
Kamala Harris’ views on key issues over the years – WHYY (NPR)
Student Loan Forgiveness
Harris would likely continue Biden’s efforts to forgive student loans.
Abortion Rights
Harris has been a strong supporter of abortion rights. She once proposed legislation that would have banned states from placing restrictions on abortion and voted against a bill that would have banned abortions after 20 weeks of pregnancy. It’s unclear whether she would support abortion restrictions of any kind.
Kamala Harris’ Views on Abortion, the Economy, and More | TIME
Changing the Supreme Court and Making D.C. a State
Kamala has voiced support for Supreme Court term limits, expansion of the Court, and for D.C. statehood.
DC Mayor says she’ll work with Harris to make the capitol a state in DNC roll call – Washington Examiner
Harris Has Expressed Being “Open” to Supreme Court Expansion | Truthout
Will Harris move faster than Biden on Supreme Court reform? – POLITICO
Foreign Policy
Kamala has only briefly discussed her foreign policy priorities. She’s said she supports Ukraine and favors a two-nation solution to Israel. She tends to favor globalism as opposed to Trump’s America First agenda.
Priorities as Senator
Ms. Harris churned out more than 130 bills and resolutions; only four became law. Her bills reflected her interests: legal representation for detained unauthorized immigrants, the inclusion of gender identity and sexual orientation in the census, a tax credit for overburdened renters, and aid for working parents by helping elementary schools stay open longer. A version of her bill defining lynching as a federal hate crime was eventually signed into law in a slightly different form.
Harris, notoriously, had the most left-wing voting record in the Senate when she was there, more left-wing even than socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT), but she does not want to be burdened by that. She wants voters to accept her shallow pretense that she arrived on the political scene only six weeks ago when President Joe Biden was dethroned by Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and former President Barack Obama.
Kamala Harris’s burdens of the past – Washington Examiner
When she was elected to the Senate, Kamala appointed Karine Jean-Pierre as her Chief of Staff. That’s the same Jean-Pierre who has performed poorly as Biden’s Press Secretary. But she checks some essential boxes for Kamala – immigrant, female, black, and lesbian. Jean-Pierre, who immigrated from Haiti, worked closely with the pro-Communist China/Communist North Korea Workers World Party. This group supported Jean-Bertrand Aristide, the former far-left Communist president of Haiti, and the radical Lavalas movement. Hiring Jean-Pierre gives us a clue what criteria Kamala will use in filling critical positions in her administration.
What would a Harris Presidency Mean for the Country?
Some commentators say a Harris Presidency would be a little left of the Biden years. Of course, it would depend on Congress. If the Democrats controlled both houses of Congress, Kamala could push through more of her initiatives and steer the country further toward socialism.
Based on her history, her priorities would be –
- Income redistribution to achieve equity
- Abortion rights
- Promoting women, LGBT+, and non-whites
- Open borders
Kamala wants to change the country. She often says, “Let us look forward, unburdened by what has been.” She also says, “We are not going back. America is ready for a new way forward.” This is also the slogan of the American Communist Party.
Kamala has no history with America. Her parents were immigrants, both with radical anti-U.S. beliefs. She attended middle school and high school in Montreal and has probably never taken a course in American History. Her college training was at Howard, a black college with many radical professors.
She’s held public office but she has no roots in America. Everyone is shaped by their family, schooling, and developmental years and America has not shaped Kamala.
Everyone should ask, but especially a straight white dude in his 70’s – how would a Kamala presidency affect me?
Kamala and I have absolutely nothing in common. My family has been here for many generations, and family members have fought and died in wars. We have deep roots in America, but Kamala has no allegiance to the America I have known from my youth. She probably hates it. In her eyes, people like me are part of the problem.
It’s entirely possible that during a Kamala Presidency, old white people with a bit of money would be targets. After all, where does most of the wealth reside in this country? With billionaires? No, it’s with older individuals who have saved a little.
The Ordinary Blog 