The 2022 mid-term election season officially kicked off on March 1, when Texas held its primary races for the upcoming election this November.
Among the noteworthy outcomes from the nation’s first primary races was the victory of self-avowed socialist Greg Casar, running on the Democratic Party’s ticket for the U.S. House of Representatives seat in Texas’ 35th Congressional District.
Casar, who is a member of the Austin City Council, absolutely crushed his nearest primary opponent, Texas state Rep. Eddie Rodriguez, by more than 40 points.
So, who is Greg Casar?
According to his campaign website, Casar is “an Austin City Council Member and movement organizer who has supported working families from San Antonio to Hays County to East Austin. The proud son of Mexican immigrants, Greg has passed policies to protect families from being separated, raised wages for thousands of workers, and has successfully fought to expand civil rights protections.”
More importantly, where does Casar stand on the issues that matter most to Texans?
Well, for starters, Casar is an advocate of Medicare for All, the single-payer health care system that would put all Texans (and Americans for that matter) on government-run health care. Per his campaign website, Casar writes, “Health care is a human right and we must ensure every working family has access to the doctors and prescriptions they need to stay healthy—and there is no better solution than passing Medicare For All.”
Actually, there are several better solutions that would provide Texans with superior health care coverage than Medicare for All. However, most of these options would empower individual consumers while reducing the role of government in the health care field, something Casar is obviously opposed to.
Like all good socialists, Casar is also a strong supporter of government make-work programs and government-provided housing. In his own words, “Working Texans deserve a champion in Congress who will fight for a $15 minimum wage with benefits, a strong labor movement, and a jobs guarantee.” He also believes “affordable housing is a human right” because, “Everyone deserves a safe, affordable, sustainable home,” courtesy of Uncle Sam.
But, Casar really displays his socialist bona fides when it comes to his environmental agenda, which, of course, is predicated on passing the Green New Deal. As Casar explains, “Our planet is burning, flooding, and freezing all at the same time. Fighting the climate crisis must be a top priority for every country in the world. We can create good paying-union jobs while we become the global leader in renewable energy. … The federal government is best positioned to make the kinds of large investments we need. A Green New Deal is our path to addressing the climate crisis, affordable housing, public transit, and good-paying jobs.”
At this point, you might be wondering how Casar thinks we could afford his exorbitant socialist policy program. After all, the U.S. national debt is $30 trillion and counting. Yet, fear not, Casar knows exactly how we will pay for the boatload of spending he would like us to embark upon: “make sure corporations pay their fair share so that we can fund health care, child care, schools, and good jobs for Texans.”
Never mind that corporations already pay their “fair share” in general. Or that even if we taxed corporations at insanely high rates, it still would not produce nearly enough revenue to cover Casar’s socialist spending binge. Or that hiking taxes on corporations would hit consumers with higher prices for goods and services.
Greg Casar, like almost every out-of-touch socialist before him, cannot be burdened with these “details.” Because if he were to get in the nitty gritty of his big government proposals, he would instantly see they are unaffordable, counterproductive, and unpopular with the vast majority of freedom-loving Texans.
PHOTO: Port Arthur, Texas. Photo by David Wilson. Attribution 2.0 Generic (CC BY 2.0).
Chris Talgo ([email protected]) is the editorial director and a research fellow at The Heartland Institute, as well as a researcher and contributing editor at StoppingSocialism.com.
