GIESBRECHT: Is Kamala working for Trump?

Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba judge.Democrats listening to Kamala Harris outline her new plan to impose price controls on the American grocery industry must be asking themselves if Harris is secretly working for Trump? How else to explain her bone-headed plan to impose price controls on grocers — a plan that plays right into Republican accusations that Harris is a Communist. Because price controls on groceries are the first step any communist leader takes. When even Democrat-friendly newspapers, like the Washington Post tell you that, even Harris and her handlers must be asking themselves if they were wise to expose their socialist leanings so brazenly.We Canadians of a certain age well-remember Pierre Trudeau’s disastrous price control legislation in 1975. Trudeau Sr. had his strengths, but — as is the case with his son — economics was not one of them. In fact, the “economists” he seemed to admire were ghastly dictators, like Mao Tse Tung, and Fidel Castro. Their “economic policies” didn’t just impoverish people, they killed them! Trudeau Sr.’s laughably juvenile wage and price control legislation was an unmitigated disaster.The reasons for this are not hard to understand. In fact, they are elementary economics. Here, American economist, David Friedberg — who is not a conservative — shreds Harris’s crazy plan. He explains in no uncertain terms, why government “control” of the food industry can only end in food shortages, mayhem, and serious damage to the entire economy. In fact, price controls on food, and all of the other government “controls” that followed, are exactly what initiated the decline in failed states, such as Venezuela, Cuba and North Korea. Authoritarians play to the masses by promising them cheap groceries, gas etc. to get their support. And it seems to work for a while. But then reality sets in. Small grocery stores go out of business, and sell out to the giants. Those giants take cost-cutting measures that result in food shortages and general economic pain. “Controls” — namely government take-over — are placed on the other industries, and the free market dies. Those in power, and their friends, do just fine. But, as we see in Venezuela today, the losers are the ordinary people who fell for the “cheap food” bribe in the first place.Anyway, it will be interesting to see how this plays out. Canadians have no vote there, but we gobble up American politics — particularly in an election year. Our own politics are rather bland and uneventful by comparison. And this American election year has been a doozy. First, there was the debate, where the obvious cognitive decline of a president, who the Democrat media machine had insisted right up to the debate was “the best version of Joe Biden ever” was painfully exposed to the world. Then there was the assassination attempt, with Trump rising triumphantly immediately after being shot, shaking his fist, and yelling “fight”. This was followed by Biden refusing for a month to accept demands from his colleagues that he accept reality, and step aside as a candidate for re-election. Then, when the Democrat elite succeeded in forcing him out — after humiliating, badgering and threatening him for a month to step aside — they immediately hailed him as a selfless George Washington, who sacrificed himself for the good of the country. Then, to top it all off, a vice-president, who had been universally regarded as mediocre — at best — is now being presented as some combination of Barrack Obama and the Second Coming.So, there is absolutely no doubt that American politics is hugely entertaining for us. One simply doesn’t know what’s coming next.But it is important too. What happens in America does not stay in America. And that is particularly so for its closest northern neighbour. We aren’t that important to them, but they are definitely very important to us. Put another way, we have the words of Pierre Trudeau, who likened living next to America like sleeping with an elephant — every move that elephant makes us impacts us profoundly. So, if a potential candidate for the presidency starts advocating openly socialist policies, like price controls, that is a very big deal for us. Because it doesn’t take much of an imagination to see how much the struggling current Liberal/NDP alliance now occupying Ottawa would love to be thrown a lifeline by a newly elected President Harris. Price controls? Absolutely! In fact, let’s not just have them on groceries, but everything else as well! The Trudeau/Singh “supply and confidence” agreement could get a second wind.Plus all of the other extreme progressive policies openly advocated by Harris would be like manna from heaven for the Trudeau/Singh cabal, and would validate their progressive policies. Women in men’s sport? Sure, let’s have more of them. Surgery and puberty blockers for children? Bring them on! Culture wars on steroids.That’s to say nothing about the “green” policies that a Harris win would almost surely be eagerly imitated by Trudeau/Singh. The alarming rise in inflation that was largely caused by the Biden/Harris spending orgy on all things “green” (bringing little in concrete results except fat contracts for friends) would inspire even more anti-fossil fuel “carbon zero” measures here. Escalating carbon taxes would be the least of our concerns, as climate hysteria would go into overdrive.So, the possibilities for Canadian conservatives of Harris convincing voters that her “price controls” and similar big government/socialist agenda are what they should vote for are rather frightening.But, for the moment, I think the Republicans are rejoicing. They dodged one bullet when Harris rejected the rather moderate Joel Shapiro as her running mate, and instead, chose the progressive Tim Walz. Walz is known for his famous line that “One person’s socialism is another person’s neighbourliness”. He has also visited Communist China at least twenty times, and disturbingly seems to admire their autocratic system. Plus, his authoritarianism during the COVID lockdown years would be admired by even the most extreme lockdown zealots here. But for now, I’m guessing that Harris’s adoption of the worst kinds of socialist idiocy — government-imposed price controls, which basically morphs into a government takeover of the economy — will be greeted by Republicans with smiles. Now, they only have to bypass the Democrat media, and explain the wrong-headedness of socialism to the voters. It is not a hard task, because socialism has never worked. Any time. Anywhere.And I wonder if some moderate Democrats are even asking each other if Harris might be some kind of a Trump plant — a Manchurian candidate pretending to be a Democrat, in order to let Trump coast to victory.Brian Giesbrecht is a retired Manitoba judge.