Snatching Defeat From The Jaws Of Victory

The Democratic party is great at shooting themselves in the foot. This year they are on verge of blowing an election that was theirs to win. President Donald Trump has never polled above 50% approval since he took office and many voters are fed up with his antics. Yet the Democratic party is blowing a great opportunity by rushing to nominate Bernie Sanders as their presidential candidate.

Bernie Sanders first isn’t even a Democrat. He is an independent Senator from Vermont who caucuses with the Democrats. But what is most disturbing are his political beliefs and the proposals he is advocating. He calls himself a socialist and is advocating “Medicare for All” with no deductibles, no copayments, no premiums and eliminating all private health insurance companies. He also wants to forgive all existing student loan debt and make tuition free at all public colleges and universities. All of this would be paid for by increasing taxes on billionaires in a great “redistribution of wealth” in the United States.

This, along with other ideas, were outlined in his book Our Revolution which has made Bernie Sanders a millionaire through royalties on the book.

But if you think that you have heard all this before, perhaps you have since this is from the same playbook of Lenin that he was advocating 100 years ago in Russia. Of course Lenin won and established a socialist state in Russia that became the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. In case anyone remembers, the USSR collapsed in 1991 as this experiment in a large socialist state failed. The problem was that there just were not enough billionaires around to completely fund the programs and in the end everyone became poor as a result.

But that may be ancient history for many young people in 2020. During most of the 1990s Venezuela was the wealthiest country in South America. Venezuela’s oil exports had made that nation very wealthy, but the wealth was unevenly distributed. So, in 1998 Venezuela elected a socialist President, Hugo Chavez who promised to “redistribute the wealth” and impose heavy taxes on the wealthy to finance social programs. The oil industry was nationalized.

Almost immediately foreign investment in Venezuela dried up. The oil exports that had made the nation wealthy also dried up. Their banking system collapsed. President Hugo Chavez sought aid from China, but was rebuffed. Now, twenty two years later, Hugo Chavez is dead and Venezuela is an economic basket case that cannot provide enough food to feed its citizens. Crime is rampant as wealth has left the country.

But none of this registers with Bernie Sanders or his followers. It is easy to campaign offering “free stuff”; but another matter paying for it.

Bernie Sanders has a long association with socialism and the old Soviet Union. In 1988, as the Soviet Union was on the verge of collapse, Bernie Sanders and his new wife took their honeymoon in the Soviet Union. A year later as the west was “winning” the cold war, Bernie Sanders was supporting the Soviet Union.

As Mayor of Burlington Vermont in the 1980s; Bernie Sanders advocated for the elimination of private charities and to have the government be in charge of all charitable giving. That is the same thing that Lenin did once his party took control of Russia in 1917.

If all this is news to you now, should Bernie Sanders become the Democratic candidate for President, all this and more will be well known to the world. No doubt Donald Trump is salivating at the prospect of Bernie Sanders being the Democratic nominee for President. If you are a Democrat and intend to vote in the primary this month; remember that a vote for Bernie Sanders in March may as well be a vote for Donald Trump in November.

Mark my words; if it appears that Bernie Sanders will become the Democratic nominee, I wouldn’t be surprised if Michael Bloomberg doesn’t decide to run as a third party independent candidate for President. He has the money to mount a credible independent campaign nationally, just as Ross Perot did in 1992. Michael Bloomberg could pull away enough moderate Democrats who don’t like Bernie Sanders socialism and enough Republicans fed up with Trump’s antics to win. If there is a three way race; Bernie Sanders would finish third and might get the three electoral votes from Vermont.

Lee Kamps

Lee has been working with Medicare, Medicaid and private health insurance since he began working at the Erie County Welfare Department in January 1973 where a major part of his job was determining eligibility for Medicaid. He went into the private insurance business in 1977 with Prudential Insurance Company and within a short time had become one of the company’s top sales agents. In 1982, he was promoted into management where he managed two field offices and as many as thirteen sales agents. After leaving Prudential in 1986, Lee decided to become more focused on health insurance and employee benefits. He has advised many local employers on how to have a more cost effective employee benefit program as well as conducted employee benefit meetings and enrollments for many area employers. The companies Lee has worked with ranged from small “mom and pop” businesses to local operations of large national companies. Lee received his B.S. degree from Kent State University where he has been active in the local alumni association. He has completed seven of the ten courses toward the Certified Employee Benefit Specialist designation. He has taught courses in employee benefits and insurance at Cleveland State University and local community colleges. In addition, Lee is an experienced and accomplished public speaker. He has been a member of Toastmasters International where he achieved the designation of “Able Toastmaster – Silver” in 1994. He has also served as a club president, Area Governor and District Public Relations Officer in Toastmasters as well as winning local speech contests. Lee has also been a member of the Greater Cleveland Growth Association’s Speaker’s Bureau where he was designated as one of the “official spokespeople for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame” prior to the hall’s opening in 1995. He has given talks and presentations before many audiences including civic organizations, AARP chapters and many other community groups. With the implementation of the Medicare Modernization Act (Medicare drug bill) in 2006, Lee has shifted his focus to Medicare and helping Medicare beneficiaries navigate the often confusing array of choices and plans available. As an independent representative, Lee is not bound to any one specific company or plan, but he can offer a plan that suits an individual person’s needs and budget. In addition, Lee is well versed in the requirements and availability of various programs for assistance with Medicare part D as well as Medicaid. While he cannot make one eligible, he can assist in the process and steer one to where they may be able to receive assistance.

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Volume 12, Issue 3, Posted 11:17 PM, 03.01.2020