by Steve Cortes
When Florida was hit by severe storms and Hurricane Ian in 2022, Vice President Kamala Harris He demanded that “communities of color” must be first in line for aid, and that aid should be prioritized “in a manner that allocates resources on the basis of equity.”
She did it many times similar claims, distinguishing “equity” from equalitystating that “not everyone starts in the same place.”
Of course, equality, meaning providing everyone with a fair chance, is a laudable and very American ideal. But “equality,” meaning enforcing the same results regardless of ability or work ethic, is a profoundly un-American concept. In fact, equality is literally Marxist—and has led to misery everywhere in history, becoming a driving force of social construction.
As part of Harris’s general radicalism on the issue of “equality,” she has repeatedly stated that she advocates for reparations based on race for slavery in America and discrimination in decades past. Harris even co-sponsored legislation in the Senate to establish a commission to study reparations.
But a modern poll out of Michigan reveals how strongly Americans reject this radical and discriminatory idea. Punishing people for crimes they did not commit, in many cases for historical wrongs that occurred long before they were born, is a cruel injustice.
In this key battleground state, only 28 percent of likely voters support reparations, while 60 percent oppose them and 12 percent are unsure. voteThe poll, which drew more Democrats than Republicans, was conducted by TIPP for American Greatness. The poll surveyed more than 1,000 registered voters in Michigan and 741 likely voters, with a margin of error of +/- 3.7 percent. Importantly, the views of those opposed to reparations are much more intense in this survey, with 48 percent strongly opposing and only 16 percent of Michigan voters strongly supporting reparations.
Not surprisingly, among white voters—who would pay, not receive, these “penalty” taxes—only 18 percent support reparations, while 70 percent oppose them. Similarly, among independent voters in this key swing state, only 19 percent support reparations while 69 percent oppose them.
Given how close the overall presidential race is in Michigan, this issue could tip the scales in Trump’s favor by underscoring just how radical and out of step with sensible Midwesterners the California candidate is. The most crucial result of this poll is that Harris is up just 1 percent in the multi-candidate race and up a small 2 percent in the two-candidate race.
By such a slim margin, within the margin of statistical error, a polarizing issue like reparations could tip Michigan back to Trump and secure an Electoral College victory.
When it comes to messaging on this crucial issue, Trump and his allies should point out that campaigns to blame historical wrongs only create modern discrimination with heightened social hostility. We need only observe South Africa today to establish this reality.
Do we really want to go down this path of intense racial division, telling hard-working Latinos, Asians and white Americans that they have to pay their black neighbors for sins they never committed?
Like me he wrote on Harris’ obsession with race: “Consider, for example, Harris’ own position on the issue [reparations] problem. Since she is half Native American and half Black, will she get half the payment? Or will she have to pay on her Native American side, collect as the Black half, so to her it will be the equivalent of laundry? These questions seem ridiculous… because they are! The whole concept of payments and preferences based on race is ridiculous and patently anti-white, anti-Latino, anti-Asian.”
That is why it is crucial for Republicans in the final stretch to emphasize Marxist principles of “equality,” expose Harris’ extremism on reparations, and thereby gain electoral advantages.
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Steve Cortes is a former senior advisor to President Donald Trump, a former Fox News and CNN commentator, and the president of the League of American Workers, a right-wing populist group that advocates for workers’ rights.
The views and opinions expressed in this commentary are those of the author and do not reflect the official position of the Daily Caller News Foundation.
Photo “Kamala Harris” by Kamala Harris.
