Brad Polumbo of the Washington Examiner highlights the latest odd pronouncement from a member of Congress’ left-wing “squad.”
Today’s a day that ends in “y,” so one of the far-left Democrats in Congress is saying something absurd on Twitter.
This time, it’s Rep. Ayanna Pressley, a Massachusetts progressive. Pressley recently stirred up a storm online when she accused those who disagree with student debt cancellation of “policy violence.” Pressley is a longtime supporter of student debt “cancellation.” This translates as taxpayers bearing the burden of the debt held by college graduates. Yet, Pressley’s latest remarks escalate her advocacy to a new extreme.
“Today, over 43 million people in the U.S. are crushed under more than $1.7 trillion in student loan debt,” the congresswoman wrote in an explosive Twitter thread. “The student debt crisis is multiracial & multigenerational… it is a racial, gender & economic justice issue. [President Joe Biden] can & must #CancelStudentDebt.”
Here’s where it gets wild.
“Let’s make it plain: student debt is policy violence,” Pressley concludes.
That’s right: The Massachusetts congresswoman has coined a seemingly new term, “policy violence,” and is attempting to smear her opponents with it. That includes me.
I oppose student debt “cancellation” because it is actually a regressive policy that forces working-class taxpayers to pay the bills of a wealthier subset of society: the college-educated. I also believe that it’s an (insanely expensive) Band-Aid on a bullet hole. It fails to address the failed federal policies that have made college so absurdly expensive in the first place.
I’m hardly alone in this view. A February 2021 Yahoo Finance survey found that 54% of voters oppose the cancellation of all student debt. Apparently, Pressley believes those of us who hold the radical view that people can pay their own bills are committing an act of violence!