On Friday, Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA), who is widely considered a possible challenger to 2016 Democratic frontrunner Hillary Clinton, spoke about her “11 commandments” for progressives. Because progressives need one more commandment than God, even if they don’t keep the original 10.
Here are Warren’s 11 commandments, with brief explication.
“We believe that Wall Street needs stronger rules and tougher enforcement, and we’re willing to fight for it.” Except, of course, for the Dodd-Frank bill, which enshrines bailouts of major banks in law. As Gretchen Morgenson of The New York Times reported, “In fact, Dodd-Frank actually widened the federal safety net for big institutions. Under that law, eight more giants were granted the right to tap the Federal Reserve for funding when the next crisis hits. At the same time, those eight may avoid Dodd-Frank measures that govern how we’re supposed to wind down institutions that get into trouble.”
Wall Street is the only sector of the American economy which seems to have completely recovered – and then some – from the real estate crash of 2007 and the stock crash of 2008.
“We believe in science, and that means that we have a responsibility to protect this Earth.” Well, not on abortion, where the Democratic Party platform insists that women should have the ability to kill their unborn babies to the point of birth – and sometimes, even beyond, if President Obama had his way back in the Illinois Senate.
“We believe that the Internet shouldn’t be rigged to benefit big corporations, and that means real net neutrality.” If net neutrality is a ringing rejection of big corporations, why exactly does Google support it? As Robert E. Litan and Hal J. Singer wrote in the Harvard Business Review, “Absent net neutrality restrictions, entrepreneurs in their garages would devote significant energies trying to topple Google with the next killer application.”
“We believe that no one should work full-time and still live in poverty, and that means raising the minimum wage.” Raising the minimum wage kills jobs and simultaneously causes price inflation, all while disincentivizing people from taking measures to elevate their positions in the workplace. But that won’t stop Democrats from pushing minimum wage as a cure-all.
“We believe that fast-food workers deserve a livable wage, and that means that when they take to the picket line, we are proud to fight alongside them.” That’s true except when Democrats push more food stamp funding, which acts as a backdoor subsidy to the fast food companies that supposedly underpay their employees.
“We believe that students are entitled to get an education without being crushed by debt.” Warren does not spell out what type of education we are “entitled to,” so presumably she means that taxpayers should foot the bill for pottery classes or lesbian dance theory majors. Education debt is at an all time high, thanks to the attitude of those like Warren – who, not coincidentally, pulled down a small fortune while greedily sucking up a nearly $430,000 salary at Harvard Law School.
“We believe that after a lifetime of work, people are entitled to retire with dignity, and that means protecting Social Security, Medicare, and pensions.” Unless they go bankrupt. Which they will, thanks to Democrat refusal to make any fixes to entitlements.
“We believe–I can’t believe I have to say this in 2014–we believe in equal pay for equal work.” Except for Barack Obama, of course, who can pay women what he feels they’re worth, because he’s such a swell guy. The notion that anybody opposes equal pay for equal work is both insulting and factually incorrect. Which is why
“We believe that equal means equal, and that’s true in marriage, it’s true in the workplace, it’s true in all of America.” Well, unless you’re religious, white, or male. Then, shut up.
“We believe that immigration has made this country strong and vibrant, and that means reform.” Open borders, Elizabeth?
“And we believe that corporations are not people, that women have a right to their bodies. We will overturn Hobby Lobby and we will fight for it. We will fight for it!” If Warren believes that corporations are not people, presumably the government can shut down the New York Times, since corporations have no rights. As for women having a right to their bodies, we all agree on that – we just disagree that women have a right to kill other people living within their bodies. And as for overturning Hobby Lobby, it would take a constitutional amendment to overturn it – or a packing of the court, which is precisely the sort of hatred for the system that Warren promotes.
Warren’s delightful walk through the 11 commandments completely ignore foreign policy; the 12th commandment would presumably be to destroy America’s credibility on the world stage. But perhaps she’s saving her other commandments for her elevation to goddess by the good folks at MSNBC.
Ben Shapiro is Senior Editor-At-Large of Breitbart News and author of the new book, The People vs. Barack Obama: The Criminal Case Against The Obama Administration (Threshold Editions, June 10, 2014). He is also Editor-in-Chief of TruthRevolt.org. Follow Ben Shapiro on Twitter @benshapiro.