The 5 Worst Policies in Biden’s State of the Union Speech
In the political world, the State of the Union address (better known as SOTU online) is kind of our Super Bowl.
In the annual address, the current president provides a summary of their accomplishments over the past year, covers the current social and political landscape, and provides policy plans for the coming months. It is usually filled with fluff, self-congratulations, and a show of partisanship.
Members of the president’s party cheer every tiny progress, while members of the opposite party are often shown scoffing in the crowd. But the speech does hold weight. It’s an opportunity for the president to frame their leadership with their own narrative and seek to persuade the American people to put their continued trust in the administration.
As is tradition, President Joe Biden stepped to the plate last night and provided his first State of the Union. It was bound to be contentious. By virtually any standard, Biden’s first year in office has been an abject failure.
While he and his team have putzed around trying to cram the deeply unpopular “Build Back Better” legislative agenda down the throats of Americans, our citizens have suffered the highest inflation in decades, a stagnated economy, ongoing asinine COVID policies, and more.
In addition to these woes, the week’s developments in Ukraine have led to high tensions and stringent debates over the shape of our foreign policy moving forward. In light of all of this, Biden’s recent poll numbers have reached near record lows. So needless to say, Biden had a lot to overcome last night, and arguably, he did not manage to clear the hurdles.
Here are the 5 worst policies the president pushed in his first SOTU:
1. "I ask Congress to pass proven measures to reduce gun violence. Pass universal background checks. Why should anyone on a terrorist list be able to purchase a weapon? Ban assault weapons and high-capacity magazines."
This is, frankly, bullcrap. Complete fabrication.
The Left continues to perpetuate a pernicious myth that background checks are not already in place. They are. In fact, they are federally mandated for all licensed gun salesmen. The only way one can purchase a gun without going through a background check is to buy it from another individual. Almost 90% of gun sales already have a background check under existing laws and extending that to 100% is completely impractical and not supported by research.
To suggest that someone on a terrorist list could therefore waltz in and purchase a gun is absolutely ludicrous. They think you’re stupid. In fact, they’re betting on it.
Furthermore, criminals usually do not buy their guns legally. In fact, the most common way they obtain a gun is by having someone else purchase it for them. So not only is Biden’s statement rooted in a lie, the policy he is trying to advance through it would do zilch to combat gun violence.
Lastly, there is no such thing as an “assault rifle.” That is a made-up term that has no real meaning in the gun industry. The guns they are typically after when they say things like this are AR-15s, which are literally just rifles.
Ultimately, they really intend to go after all semi-automatic guns, which would include any gun with a mechanism that allows you to load more than one bullet at a time (that even includes a little handgun typically carried in your purse). They use this made-up classification to disguise their true intentions, which is to eliminate gun ownership in this country.
Oh, and don’t forget that we had a ban on “assault weapons” for over a decade in this country, and even left-leaning analysts at Vox admitted it did nothing to reduce gun violence.
Disarming Americans is a very interesting end goal to feature prominently in the State of the Union, seeing as the Left and even Biden himself are currently praising Ukrainians for taking up arms against a government. Inconsistent, much?
Gun Control and Its Racist History
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzLve4KbFCc&t=2s
2. “Unlike the $2 trillion tax cut passed in the previous administration that benefited the top 1 percent of Americans, the American Rescue Plan helped working people — and left no one behind. And it worked. It created jobs — lots of jobs. In fact, our economy created over 6.5 million new jobs just last year, more jobs created in one year than ever before in the history of the United States of America.”
Sir. Are you drunk?
The IRS’ own data shows that the Trump tax cuts benefitted middle, working-class Americans the most. The tax cuts were also a contributor to one of the greatest economies Americans have experienced in decades. Trump had many flaws, but his tax cuts aren't among them.
Frankly, the Left continues to try to gaslight the American people about the results of their economic agenda, but it is no longer working. People have eyes, they see their stock portfolios going down, they notice when their gas bill is higher. And while Americans may not be great at math, most are well aware that the American Rescue Plan contributed significantly to the sky-high inflation we’re currently experiencing.
It also did NOT create jobs. As Brad Polumbo explained for BASEDPolitics:
“The economy only created 6.1 million jobs in 2021… even less than was projected without the stimulus spending. So, not only did the 4 million jobs promised by President Biden, Nancy Pelosi, and his many progressive allies fail to materialize. The Democrats spent $1.9 trillion in taxpayer money—roughly $13,250 per federal taxpayer—and ended up with even fewer jobs overall than was expected if we spent nothing.”
Not only that, but Biden’s legislation was full of pork—crony government handouts that benefited Big Business and the friends of government at the expense of everyone else.
Biden’s gaslighting about his stimulus disaster is transparently false. This kind of manipulation is the behavior of an abuser, which should remind everyone of the real relationship we have with our government.
Republicans were right to boo him for this statement.
3. “First, cut the cost of prescription drugs. We pay more for the same drug produced by the same company in America than any other country in the world.”
Here’s what you need to know about Biden’s “plan” to cut the cost of prescriptions: it’s literally just good old-fashioned price caps. Basically, the government “solves” high prices by legally restricting price levels. What could possibly go wrong?
Only, well, everything.
Price controls have failed to succeed every time they have been tried. They’re anti-free markets and they simply do not work. Instead, they lead to shortages—every time. So Biden’s real plan is to make it to where Americans will struggle to get basic medicines. Great, awesome.
Furthermore, Biden leaves out the only real reason pharmaceuticals are so expensive in the first place: government regulations and cronyism.
Through their ridiculous and costly process to bring a new drug to market, the FDA already significantly stalls innovations and makes it very expensive to produce a new medicine. Companies then have to recoup those losses and make enough off their products to continue researching and developing new drugs.
The way to actually lower the cost of prescriptions is to cut the government and their crony health insurance friends out of the picture, like Mark Cuban recently did with his new pharmacy venture.
4. “Let’s pass the PRO Act... when a majority of workers want to form a union — they shouldn’t be able to be stopped.”
The PRO Act is a union-backed bill Democrats have been desperately trying to pass for over a year. It restricts freelancing and would force millions of Americans back into old-school, antiquated, 9-5 cubicles. It also would allow unions to force people to join them.
Why would they want to do this?
Because unions in the US have always relied on government-backed force. But in recent years, legislation called Right to Work has cut them off from their racketeering in over half the country. And, pro-bono litigation (JANUS VS. AFSCME) has also prevented them from forcing people to pay dues.
And it turns out that when people aren’t forced to join unions, they don’t! Union membership is at an all-time low. So what unions want to do is overturn these worker protections and force people into old school companies so they can get a hold of their earnings.
It’s among the most corrupt bills out there. And similar legislation that passed in California two years ago was so detrimental to the economy it was overturned in mere months. Yet the Biden administration is still working overtime to force it on the whole nation.
5. “We will buy American to make sure everything from the deck of an aircraft carrier to the steel on highway guardrails is made in America from beginning to end. All of it. All of it.”
When it comes to trade policy, Biden is just Trump in a blue hat.
This is nationalist propaganda. And while it makes a strong emotional appeal, it’s very bad economic policy.
American products are more expensive thanks to the vast number of labor laws, taxes, and regulations our government employees. Mandating that all public projects buy American-made goods only ensures taxpayers will pay a premium for all the services we invest in.
There’s a way to naturally incentivize people to support American products: stop making them so expensive to produce.
As usual, the government is trying to fix with its right hand what it broke with its left. And that was the story with pretty much Biden’s entire speech.