MANCHESTER, New Hampshire – Democratic presidential candidate Rep. Dean Phillips broke with President Biden’s views on reparations and universal basic income in an exclusive interview with The Post, revealing new details about his campaign platform.
Phillips (D-Minn.) has been gradually rolling out his policy proposals since launching his campaign in late October, and his website promises more to come “as he hears from people across America.”
Headlines about the 54-year-old have been dominated by Phillips’ insistence on making the incumbent’s age and poor poll numbers a focus of his campaign.
But in a half-hour conversation with The Post at his campaign headquarters in New Hampshire, Phillips confirmed that he would agree to pay reparations to African Americans for slavery and experiment with a universal basic income, both proposals associated with the left wing of the Democratic Party.
He also explained his plans to secure the border and criticized some Americans for being “ignorant” about Israel.
Compensation
Phillips said he believes in reparations, which to him means that all disadvantaged communities should receive government investments to improve their standard of living.
“I believe reparations must begin by acknowledging the injustice that was committed against black Americans,” he began.
Democratic presidential candidate U.S. Rep. Dean Phillips (D-MN) speaks during a campaign stop at the New Hampshire Veterans Home in Tilton, New Hampshire. REUTERS
“For me, the answer is to invest in all communities that are underrepresented, disenfranchised, have been segregated or have been subjected to horrors.”
“That means excellent education for everyone, that means excellent health care for everyone. That means child care and preschool education, and it also means housing for everyone. To me, that’s the best way we can make amends: to do it by laying the foundation for everyone. “That certainly includes black Americans because the injustice is horrible.”
Federal cannabis legalization and criminal justice reform are also forms of “reparations,” argued Phillips, who joins independent presidential candidates Cornel West and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. in supporting the broad actions.
Biden has remained silent on reparations, to the dismay of some liberal Democrats.
New York State Governor Kathy Hochul was joined by the Rev. Al Sharpton, center back, New York State Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie, second from right, Majority Leader New York State Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins, second from left, and others. while signing a slavery reparations bill at the New York Historical Society on Tuesday, December 19, 2023 in New York, NY James Keivom
Universal basic income
Phillips also said he would be open to experimenting with universal basic income due to the emergence of artificial intelligence.
“I think a UBI pilot should be started,” he told The Post. “There have been a few. “I think it’s time to do more, because we are going to lose millions of jobs due to artificial intelligence and right now we have no plan to address it.”
The Minnesota lawmaker added that he thought initial trials of UBI programs “have been really promising.”
“If you trust people with resources, they usually figure out how to take care of themselves,” he said. “But if they don’t have resources, they have to depend on the public system or the private sector.”
Harris County, Texas, recently announced it would give a monthly payment of $500 to each resident for up to 18 months. The cash will be drawn from unused COVID-19 relief funds.
“I think it’s worth exploring. But that doesn’t mean that money alone solves the problem. “We need to raise all the bases of support, as well as ensure that people have a little money in their pockets,” Phillips added.
Securing the border
Phillips has championed southern border security since launching his campaign, telling The Post he would also be open to using “barriers” when necessary and also vowing to reinforce the northern border with Canada, which has seen a surge in migrant crossings.
Thousands of migrants wait to be processed by U.S. Border Patrol at a makeshift transit center after crossing the Rio Grande into the U.S. from Mexico in Eagle Pass, Texas, on Dec. 20, 2023. Go Nakamura for NY Post
“The wall is a metaphor for security,” he said. “I believe in border security. That means barriers in some places, that means technologies, that means human resources, and it means understandably reinvented ports of entry.
“It is a national security crisis. And it’s not just about the southern border. We do not have a northern border. “We have fields where they can walk.”
While there have been a record number of illegal border crossings under the Biden administration, Phillips said the crisis is the fault of both sides.
“I don’t know why almost every president in my lifetime has failed to protect our borders,” he said. “I don’t understand. And this notion that ‘Canada is our friend?’ Well, there is going to be a crisis, I guarantee it. Whether it is another pandemic, lack of access to water, hunger or war, at some point there will be a crisis in which our borders will be much more important than what we believe.”
Medicare for all
Medicare for All, prominently championed by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), is a policy that has been “proposed for generations” and the United States “is an outlier among all developed nations” in that it allows citizens left without any coverage. Phillips argued.
Dean Phillips speaks at the opening of his office in Manchester, New Hampshire. Dean Phillips for president
“I’m going to present this as a non-progressive notion; it’s actually a remarkably centrist and moderate notion: that everyone should have insurance,” he said. “The government should not get involved in care, in provision, in hospitals, at all. The thing is, there should be a single payer to cover the costs, and if we did that, we would spend a lot less money.”
Phillips acknowledged that the policy would lead to increased federal taxes but would reduce costs for Americans overall.
“In some cases, taxes would have to go up a little bit, but in most cases they would go down for people because the money is already being collected. They’re just not taxes,” she said. “I think they tax us every time we pay our health insurance premium. That’s a tax. So it depends: If right now we’re talking about a federal tax versus the health care tax, well, the health care tax is probably twice as much as necessary.
“So ultimately, the dollars will have to go to the government to pay the bills? Yes. But it will be reduced… I would say we could get to a point where at least a third, if not half, of our total expenses could be reduced.”
The middle east
Phillips, who is Jewish, backed a two-state solution for Israel and the Palestinians following the Jewish state’s ongoing war against Hamas.
Massive pro-Palestinian protests broke out across the United States after the terrorist group launched an unprecedented attack in southern Israel on October 7, killing approximately 1,200 people, including 33 Americans.
“I think two things can be true at the same time. Israel has a right to exist, and it needs it, and the United States should support it. And I believe that Palestinians have a right to exist and deserve self-determination and also security and opportunity,” Phillips said.
Referring to the wave of anti-Israel and anti-Jewish sentiment across the United States, Phillips said that “many Americans are ignorant of history.”
Phillips supports a two-state solution to the Israeli conflict. REUTERS
“Many Americans ignore the fact that there are approximately 200 majority-Christian nations in the world, approximately 140 majority-Muslim nations, and only one majority-Jewish nation in the world. That alone is reason for understanding and support.
“I think that he [Benjamin] Is Netanyahu’s government responsible for some of Israel’s problems right now? Absolutely,” he added. “I think the settlement policy, the judicial reform initiative and others have made preserving Israel more complicated. I think Hamas must be eliminated.”
Phillips has focused his campaign on New Hampshire, where Biden is not on the ballot following a dispute over primary scheduling between Granite State officials and the Democratic National Committee.
He has called Biden’s age “dangerous” for the United States and is fighting to gain access to the polls in states that choose not to hold Democratic primaries because they already have an incumbent in office.
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Source: vtt.edu.vn