Pete Buttigieg is articulate, intelligent, and, at least on the surface, looking to reach across the aisle.
He has traveled the country during his campaign, saying things such as “freedom does not belong to one political party,” and “security is not a Left or Right issue.” So it’s not exactly surprising that the media narrative surrounding Buttigieg’s insurgent presidential campaign has painted him as a moderate Democrat, a fresh but relatively safe alternative to the radicalism offered by candidates such as Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., and Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass.
It’s too bad this narrative is a sham. On Thursday, Buttigieg finally updated his campaign website with a policy platform, and his issues page reads like a socialist’s Christmas list, betraying his image as a supposed moderate.
On healthcare, for example, Buttigieg is hardly any less radical than the other Democratic candidates. He all but endorses Sanders’ “Medicare for All” plan, which would require more than doubling federal income and corporate tax revenues to be affordable and abolish all private health insurance. Yet in his usual veneer of moderation, Buttigieg masks his support for socialized healthcare by calling for a Medicare buy-in, a public option that would, in his words, just be “a pathway to Medicare for All.”
Buttigieg also goes all in on a federal $15 minimum wage, even dubbing it a “security” issue. This means that just like many of the other Democratic candidates, he wants the federal government to nearly double the minimum wage, with little concern for how this would hurt small businesses, lead to layoffs, and usher in automation. That’s not exactly economic moderation.
Here’s your friendly reminder that @PeteButtigieg is a radical, not a “moderate” as media spin would have you believe.
Per new issues page on campaign website, he supports:
— $15 min wage
— Medicare for All
— Green New Deal
— Reparations for Slavery
— Debt-Free College— Brad Polumbo (@brad_polumbo)
May 16, 2019
Still, one area where Buttigieg’s supporters cling to his supposed moderation is that, unlike many other 2020 candidates, he has rejected the idea of “free college for all.” Yet when you look at the actual higher education plan the South Bend, Ind., mayor rolls out on his website, it isn’t so moderate after all.
He calls for “massive government investment in higher education to make public tuition affordable for all and completely free at lower incomes” — saying that even middle-income families should pay zero in tuition. Are we supposed to believe that asking most people to pay nothing for a degree that increases their lifetime earnings by $1 million is a moderate position?
Buttigieg’s radicalism extends to the realm of social issues. Most people would agree with him that the wealth gap between whites and African Americans is concerning. Yet only one in four Americans is on board with the idea of race-based reparations, and his platform calls for a “commission to propose reparations policies.”
Buttigieg flirts with an all-out endorsement of the outlandish idea that modern-day Americans should pay for crimes committed centuries ago. Based on his embrace of this radical, race-based policy, it’s fair to say that Buttigieg is just as addicted to identity politics as the rest of the Democratic Party’s far-left members.
In fact, Buttigieg has a lot in common with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, D-N.Y., the far-left freshman who has become the millennial Left’s new hero. Ocasio-Cortez’s signature proposal is the so-called Green New Deal, which would cost up to $93 trillion and involve the biggest expansion of government spending in nearly 100 years. Yet for all his supposed moderation, Buttigieg is on board with this far-left fantasy, at least in concept. He promises in his platform to “implement a Green New Deal” and “build a 100% clean energy society.”
As if his policy radicalism weren’t enough, Buttigieg also wants to radically reshape the American political system. He’s called for packing the Supreme Court with more justices, and even a constitutional amendment abolishing the Electoral College.
Add in his support for third-term abortion, and Buttigieg’s radicalism is laid bare. Let’s just hope that, come 2020, voters can look past the media narrative and see Buttigieg as the far-left candidate he really is.
Brad Polumbo (@Brad_Polumbo) is an editor at Young Voices.