Money Grows On Trees?

Democrats in Blue States never learn.

First, New York City elected Zohran Mamdani as mayor, an extreme Socialist who is a combination of Bernie Sanders and AOC on steroids. Mamdani continues to promise goodies to New Yorkers without a plan to pay for them all.

Illinois Democrats chose their representative to replace retiring Senator Dick Durbin in the United States Senate. In a solidly reliable Blue State, the Democratic primary winner is assured of going to Washington. And that person is likely Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, the only sixth-ever Black woman to serve in the Senate.

Stratton has learned nothing from President Trump's resounding victory over Kamala Harris, another woman of color and a former senator herself. Trump won all seven battleground states in a feat not achieved since President Reagan in 1984. Trump also won the first non-consecutive second term since Benjamin Harrison in 1892.

Currently serving as Illinois' Lieutenant Governor, Stratton is running on a platform centered on three core themes: making life more affordable, expanding economic opportunity, and protecting the rights and freedoms of all Illinoisans.

But once one peels the onion, one can see that Stratton's promise is the same-old, tired, ultra-Left-wing campaign agenda, which ignores all of America's current macroeconomic problems, including unbridled immigration, America's mounting debt, and an increasingly competitive and aggressive China. In effect, Stratton wants to forget what voters said in 2024.

Stratton insists that America's problems result from leaders prioritizing the interests of the wealthy over those of ordinary families—the classic us-versus-them rhetoric that aims to further divide the state.

At the federal level, her affordability agenda includes ending what she characterizes as Trump's trade war and its associated costs to working families, raising the federal minimum wage to $25/hr, securing Medicare for All, and passing a middle-class tax cut funded by a tax increase on those earning more than $1 million annually.

In the Senate, she says she would prioritize restoring the Department of Education; abolishing ICE, passing the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, restoring the abortion protections of Roe v. Wade, and enacting common-sense gun safety legislation.

Now, let’s unpack her positions.

A $25 federal minimum wage could dramatically accelerate the replacement of low-skilled workers with automation. When human labor becomes significantly more expensive, businesses face a powerful financial incentive to invest in robots, kiosks, and AI-driven systems that can perform the same tasks at a fraction of the long-term cost. Fast food chains, retail stores, warehouses, and manufacturers are already rapidly deploying humanoid robots and automated systems. A wage floor that high would hasten that transition, eliminating the very jobs it intends to protect, leaving the most vulnerable workers unemployed rather than better compensated.

Her support for Medicare For All, Bernie Sanders's favorite program, is likely to go nowhere. In its current form, Medicare is one of the most unwieldy and complicated federal programs ever administered. If Stratton is pushing for Medicare as an inexpensive solution, we have a surprise for her. Medicare is not cheap.

Part A – Hospital Insurance covers inpatient stays, skilled nursing facilities, and hospice care for those who have put in 40 quarters of work. There is no monthly premium if you meet the work requirement, but the 2026 deductible is $1,736 per benefit period, with significant daily copays for extended stays.

Part B – Outpatient Coverage covers doctor visits, preventive care, ambulance services, and medical equipment. The standard 2026 premium is $202.90/month. After meeting the $283 annual deductible, Medicare pays 80%, and patients pay 20%, with no cap on that 20%, which is a significant financial risk.

To cover gaps left by Parts A and B, Medicare patients often enroll in a Medicare Advantage Plan (Part C). This all-in-one alternative that typically includes drug coverage and extras like dental, vision, and gym memberships, but comes with network restrictions and frequent pre-authorization requirements. Medicare Advantage could cost up to $200/month in some states.

Part D – Drug Coverage works in three stages: a deductible phase ($590), an initial coverage phase where you pay 25% until you reach $2,000 out-of-pocket, and a catastrophic phase after $2,100, where you pay nothing for the rest of the year. Skipping Part D enrollment when first eligible can result in lifetime penalties, so enrolling even without current prescriptions is strongly advised.

Stratton proposes that everyone, regardless of whether they have met the required work minimums, receive Medicare. Our question to her is: how would she fund it? She can't double-dip into the millionaire tax revenues because she wants to use that money to pass a middle-class tax cut.

As a Black leader, Stratton wants to bring DEI back to Washington, even after Americans resoundingly defeated the Biden administration's DEI-based political agenda.

Moving on, the John R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act is designed to restore and strengthen the original Voting Rights Act of 1965. Its centerpiece is restoring the federal preclearance requirement, compelling states and jurisdictions with a history of voting discrimination to obtain the Department of Justice's approval before enacting changes to voting laws. The Supreme Court has repeatedly voted to water down preclearance requirements, allowing elections to proceed without federal interference.

It also strengthens protections against vote dilution and vote denial, and updates the coverage formula to reflect recent evidence of discrimination. Additionally, it requires officials to publicly announce voting changes at least 180 days before an election.

Democrats have aggressively argued against federal intervention to pass voter integrity measures in the Save America Act, but are fine with using the power of the federal government to impose Washington's will on states for perceived discrimination.

Abolishing ICE has been the favorite position of many Left-leaning leaders. Bill de Blasio and Bernie Sanders were the only 2020 presidential candidates to support abolishing ICE outright, and both lost their primary bids. We cannot imagine how a would-be senator can advocate for abolishing a law enforcement agency whose sole purpose is to protect Americans by deporting criminal illegal aliens.

In politics, it is easy to promise and much harder to pay. Illinois may feel insulated from that reality, but the math does not change. Playing Santa with ever larger promises may win applause in the moment, but the bill always comes due. Every new benefit, every higher mandate, and every expansion of government carries a cost that someone must bear. If those costs are ignored or disguised, they do not disappear. They show up later in lost jobs, higher prices, and fewer choices for the very people these policies are meant to help.

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