Literally Everything That Is Wrong with the Democratic Party Establishment (There Is No Democratic Party Establishment) In One Paragraph

Pelosi also questioned the policy wisdom of cancelling student loan debt:

“Suppose…your child just decided they, at this time, [do] not want to go to college but you’re paying taxes to forgive somebody else’s obligations. You may not be happy about that." pic.twitter.com/eArtzO3xc1

— Michael Stratford (@mstratford) July 28, 2021

Roll Tape!

In a discussion of college debt, Nancy Pelosi insisted that only Congress has the power to forgive student debt, and that Joe Biden could not do unilaterally.

I am not particularly surprised by this, though I am not sure that she is right.  It is natural that the Speaker of the House would insist on the prerogatives of the legislative branch.

What followed, however, was a statement of opposition to the idea of forgiving college debt which is stunning in is moral and intellectual bankruptcy:

Suppose…your child just decided they, at this time, [do] not want to go to college but you’re paying taxes to forgive somebody else’s obligations. You may not be happy about that.

The moral calculus here is that no one should support a government policy if they do not personally from that specific policy.

This is completely antithetical to both effective government as well as the basic concept of the public good.

The government will do things because these things support the public good, not because every single person benefits from these actions.

I don't oppose food stamps because I don't get them, (though I would support a restructuring of the program to end its legislative linkage to a profoundly corrupt program of agricultural subsidies). and I do support reductions in defense even though I am working for a defense contractor.

The idea that government should be nothing but a source of swag is pernicious to society as anything that I've heard from the Republicans, and it's so crazy that it almost makes Ayn Rand sound same ……… Almost.