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My Point of View by Brad Kramer

There’s an old saying , “if you repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.” I’ve heard over and over again from Democrats that the Republican Party is elitist and does not stand for Main Street Americans. But is it?

If we look at where campaign donations come from, who benefited most from the COVID responses initiated by politicians, and how current events will impact middle-class Americans, the results are quite clear. The Republican Party is not elitist.

First, let’s look at a few current events, as they relate to the middle-class. Biden has been proposing trillion-dollar plan after trillion-dollar plan. Stimulus, Green New Deal, infrastructure, families and jobs are all massive undertakings from a president who can barely get through one of his rare press conferences without rambling incoherently or wandering away from the podium, especially when we just had record low unemployment just over a year ago. Will some of these projects and stimuluses help lower to middle-income families? Certainly. At what price though? When debt is increased and the money supply increases to the levels that the Biden administration is pushing them to right now, inflation is the natural result. America has had consistent inflation over the years, but this is undoubtedly going to increase it dramatically. Inflation decreases, or devalues, the dollars in your wallet. Imaging if you put a dollar under your pillow and woke up to find the inflation fairy replaced it with eighty cents.

Stimulus bills and low-interest loans can have their place to stimulate an economy, but at the rate we’re seeing them, we’re trading a bad situation today for a catastrophe tomorrow as inflation destroys the middle and lower-income classes. The wealthy can adapt and profit off inflation in many cases. Only modest amounts of the stimulus packages make it to individuals and small businesses, with much of it going to large corporations. For naysaying trickle-down economics as much as they do, Democrats sure seem to love it. Both President Trump and President Biden’s stimulus packages had those characteristics, but Biden is pitching spending bill after spending bill that will drive inflation through the roof.

There’s a law in economics called Gresham’s law that essentially says, “bad money drives out good money.” Almost every tyrannical government in modern history came about because of this economic law, and America could easily be one of the next if we don’t wake up to the reality of the cause and effect of irresponsible spending.

Second, who donates to the parties? According to the website www.opensecrets.org, which tracks donations and outside influence on political candidates:

• Small donors (you and I) made up 49% of President Trump’s donations, but only 39% of Biden’s.

• Large corporations that we would consider “elitists” contributed substantially more to Democrats compared to Republicans, such as:

— Commercial banks: Democrats 77.9% and Republicans 22.0%

— Hedge funds and private equities: Democrats 81.2% and Republicans 18.8%

— Pharmaceuticals: Democrats 71.7% and Republicans 28.3%

— Securities and investments: Democrats 81.1% and Republicans 18.9%

— Tobacco: Democrats 65.7% and Republicans 34.2%

— Defense sector: Democrats 68.3% and Republicans 31.5%

— Lawyers and lobbyists sectors: Democrats 91.0% and Republicans 9.0%

Look at that list closely. Big pharma, big tobacco, Wall Street, the defense industry — all donating heavily to Democrats to accomplish their goals.

In many races, Democrats are receiving twice as much in donations as Republicans, with much of that coming from large corporations and lobbyists. In many local and state races, Democrats rely on out-of-state contributions. When Dan Feehan staged his second election attempt against Congressman Hagedorn, Feehan had over $2 million in out-of-state donations, compared to about a half million for the Congressman. That could practically be the definition of elites: using money to fund races in other states to improve their business dealings.

Finally, how were businesses impacted by the different responses to COVID-19? In states, like Minnesota, that had the most draconian lockdowns, we’re finding that:

• Democrat governors like Walz, Cuomo and Whitmer contributed to policies that killed numerous seniors in nursing homes through irresponsible policies.

• Main Street (locally owned small businesses) was shuttered while massive corporations like Amazon and Walmart thrived.

• We saw many instances of “rules for thee, but not for me” where politicians like Gavin Newsome, Andrew Cuomo and Nancy Pelosi initiated heavy-handed lockdowns but were caught breaking their own rules, or Walz letting his friend’s candy store open.

Democrats run millionaire and billionaire candidates who made their fortunes while still politicians, who are often the rich, white, old males they profess to despise. Democrats outspend Republicans almost two-to-one because they must spend much more to market a message that doesn’t appeal to Americans, and they get that money from elitist corporations and special interests, while pretending Republicans are the elitists. Who’s really elitist?

Brad Kramer is a member of the Freeborn County Republican Party.