Elizabeth Warren: She is Bringing More Liberal Extremism to the Senate

Impact

In November, Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) defeated Scott Brown (R-Mass.) for the Senate seat formerly held by the late Ted Kennedy. Brown won a special election in January 2010, when his election effectively eliminated the Democratic super majority in the Senate. The new senator is a Harvard Law School professor and an expert in American bankruptcy issues. She is a consumer advocate who was greatly responsible for the U.S. Consumer Protection Bureau.

There is little confusion as to what Warren will bring to the Senate — a hyper-liberal perspective chock full of progressive dogma. Her speeches during her Senate campaign against Brown were right out of Obama’s playbook, and even more in your face. In a nutshell, she despises Republicans, conservatives, banks and bankers, Wall Street executives, and millionaires and billionaires. And she is a shoe-in for membership on the powerful Senate Banking Committee, where she will be able to continue her political jihad against the aforementioned groups in the interest of consumers. Banks and Wall Street firms have done whatever they could to thwart Warren’s consumer advocacy and her political ambitions, to no avail, which will likely increase her motivation to regulate the financial services industry.

If our country elects many more people like Warren, America will begin to move rapidly towards a socialistic society, the demise of capitalism, and the end of exceptionalism. Redistribution of wealth and the emasculation of the banking system are foremost on the minds of people like Warren, and so I regret her election. The new senator will be screaming incessantly that rich people screw poor people, that the affluent don’t pay their fair share (I am so tired of this trite expression), and that conservatives want to take food out of the mouths of babies.

In case you are wondering, I am in favor of sensible and measured regulation, and I believe there are excesses in banking and on Wall Street that need supervision. But this newly elected senator is totally extreme, as her rhetoric clearly shows. I foresee her teaming up with Senator Carl Levin (D-Mich.) in future financial services hearing to discuss sh***y deals. The following comments were extracted from a transcript of one of her speeches.

“People feel like the system is rigged against them . . . they’re right.” Note: This may be true, but it is not the fault or the intent of the wealthy class to perpetuate the situation. Nor is the wealthy class averse to rectifying the status quo. “Billionaires pay lower tax than their secretaries.” Note: This comment is true, but it is because of the impact of capital gains taxes and taxes on dividends. (Both are 15%, as compared to the highest federal income tax rate of 35.) Of course, there was no mention of this in Warren’s comments. “Wall Street CEOs — the same ones who wrecked our economy and destroyed millions of jobs — still strut around Congress, no shame, demanding favors, and acting like we should thank them.” Note: If the senator-elect wants to get anything done in Washington, why would she alienate the people she will have to work with every day? “None of them [hard working Americans] stash their money in the Cayman Islands to avoid paying their fair share of taxes.” Note: Please observe that Warren hit a couple of populist themes in this comment, including stashing (which implies illegal behavior) and fair share (whatever that is.) “These folks don’t resent that someone else makes more money ... We just don’t want the game to be rigged.” Note: The rigging concept again. But of course there is an element of envy. By the way, Warren was paid $200,000 by a major insurance company to help win their legal battle against asbestos victims on top of her $350,000 salary at Harvard. Who’s rigging what? Why did she include herself in the group referred to above? “We fought to level the playing field.” Note: The enemy is legislation, not rich people. The latter are not against lower class people earning more money. They just would rather the money be earned and not be given to able-bodied people who are not working. The federal government should provide jobs to every American. “Republican vision is clear: ‘I’ve got mine, the rest of you are on your own.’” Note: I have never once heard anyone say anything like this. An unhappy America is not good for any Americans. “For years, families had been tricked by credit cards, fooled by student loan programs, and cheated on mortgages.” Note: This is such an unfair comment about what has transpired. In fact, credit cards expedite commerce and are a useful tool if people do not over-extend themselves. Student loans enabled millions of children to go to college who would not have been able to do so. And, lesser mortgage standards were encouraged by Democrats (Barney Frank, wink, wink) to enable every American to own a home, even if they could not afford one. “Where no one can steal your purse on Main Street or you pension on Wall Street.” Note: What a cynical perspective. To suggest such a massive conspiracy against average Americans is un-American.

Elizabeth Warren is a radical who will create more than her fair share of partisanship. She was a bad choice because we need more legislators who understand compromise and comity. It is unfortunate that both parties are increasing the number of ideologues in their caucus, and the American voters are not rejecting this trend.