A New Way Backward: Why Kamala’s Policy Platform Would Harm Americans

Just one day before her debate with President Donald Trump, Vice President Kamala Harris finally released her policy platform to the American public — and it’s just as progressive as you would expect.

The website touts the platform as a “New Way Forward,” a framing that echoes her frequent refrain “We’re not going back.” But in the few areas where her platform actually proposes specific policy positions, one thing is crystal clear: with Kamala Harris as president, we will indeed be going back – to an even more extreme version of President Biden’s failed leftist agenda.

From her foreign policy and border plan, to her economic policies, to her social agenda, Harris espouses an extreme progressive ideology far more radical than her boss. Her platform would mean disaster for the economic stability, national security, and moral fabric of this country.

Given rising international tensions, Harris’ foreign policy views warrant particular scrutiny. The Biden-Harris approach has led to the first major land war in Europe since World War II, the largest massacre of Jews since the Holocaust, an inflamed Middle East, and a growing threat from totalitarian regimes in China and North Korea. Her platform to address these threats only perpetuates the misguided leftist approach: appeasing adversaries and avoiding escalation at all costs. This strategy has failed to deter aggression and severely damaged U.S. national security. 

But the most urgent foreign attack is the one happening at the southern border. Harris’ platform claims she knows the border is a breeding ground for crime and violence, but she and Biden failed to take any action addressing the crisis until a few months before the election. Border entries remain at historically high levels — over 10 million illegal migrants have been encountered since Biden took office in 2021 – and illicit fentanyl seizures are up 480% from 2020’s interceptions. 

The influx of illegal migrants into sanctuary cities has created an overflow of chaos and crime into surrounding suburbs, displayed most recently by Venezuelan prison gang violence in Denver’s Aurora suburb. Every state is a border state under Harris’ philosophy, which leaves communities reeling from the mounting violence, crime, and economic burden of mass migration. Enough is enough — too many Americans have been attacked, assaulted, and killed by illegal migrants in crimes that could have been prevented by sound policy and strong borders. 

Harris’ reckless immigration and foreign policy positions bleed into misinformed economic policies. In the name of “building an opportunity economy,” Harris’ platform proposes communist style price controls, continues Biden’s massive federal regulations that are projected to cost the American economy $1.69 trillion, and increases the corporate tax burden. Her proposals are likely to send the country spiraling into recession, sending jobs overseas, increasing the deficit, and worsening the economic pain Americans are feeling from four years of the Biden-Harris administration. The U.S. economy will only flourish when we eliminate burdensome regulation, reduce spending, encourage investment here at home, and lower taxes as we did through the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. This is the path toward prosperity for all.

On social policy and abortion, Harris’ leftist agenda is in full force. Harris voted to block a 2019 bill that would require medical care for babies born during failed abortions, and during the debate, she refused to answer whether she supports abortions up until the moment of birth. As President, she would seek to reinstate Roe v. Wade, which, contrary to the impression left by the debate moderators, allowed individual states to sanction abortion at any time.

Harris’ alarmingly progressive social platform also includes expanding and normalizing the transgender agenda, pushing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion policies, and targeting faith-based institutions. These policies will decay our moral fabric, undermine civil society, incite division, and cause unimaginable harm to the next generation of Americans.

Am I Racist? Is In Theaters NOW — Get Your Tickets Here!

In light of her extreme positions across the board, it’s no surprise that nearly half of respondents to a recent New York Times and Siena College poll think Harris is “too liberal or progressive.” Her progressive vision of freedom can only emerge by sacrificing our fundamental rights and privileges. Her “freedom to reproductive healthcare” means trampling the rights of the faithful. “Freedom from fear of gun violence” means revoking Second Amendment rights. The “freedom not just to get by, but to get ahead” means tax hikes and higher welfare spending.

What America needs now more than ever are policies that reflect the country’s traditional values and meet the urgent needs of Americans suffering under crippling inflation, crime, the opioid epidemic, and significant international unrest. The Harris agenda is not, in fact, “A New Way Forward,” but a far more extreme version of the well-known failed policies of the current Biden-Harris administration. The Vice President is right, America will not go back.

* * *

Tim Chapman is the President at Advancing American Freedom, a public policy advocacy organization founded by Vice President Mike Pence. Chapman has more than two decades of service in the conservative movement and as an advocate for public policy.

The views expressed in this piece are those of the author and do not necessarily represent those of The Daily Wire.