OPINION: This article may contain commentary which reflects the author's opinion.
Vice President Kamala Harris offered up a plan to provide tens of thousands of taxpayer dollars to black men in a shameless bid to “buy their votes,” but it’s not likely to come to fruition because it’s unconstitutional, according to former New York Lt. Gov. Betsy McCaughey (R).
In an op-ed for the New York Post, McCaughey took Harris to task not only for introducing such a “divisive,” biased program but also for the motivations behind it.
“Kamala Harris is rushing to fix a growing hole in her support: black men. She’s trying to buy their votes with thinly veiled taxpayer-funded giveaways — ‘fully forgivable’ $20,000 loans — she says are meant just for them,” the former New York official noted.
“The money can be used to ‘purchase a van for a catering business . . . buy professional hairstyling equipment and chair space for a barber shop, buy lawn mowers and tools for a landscaper, and more,’ according to a statement from her campaign,” McCaughey continued.
She went on to note that under Harris’ plan, white men struggling to start their own businesses should have the same opportunity to apply for and receive those funds under the Constitution, but it doesn’t appear that Harris is truly interested in equality.
McCaughey writes:
On Monday, as Harris traveled to Erie County, Pa. for a stop at a local black-owned coffee shop, her campaign announced she’s unleashing “the untapped ambition” within the black community.
She promised one million “loans,” up to $20,000 apiece, to “Black entrepreneurs and others who have historically faced barriers to starting a new business or growing an existing business.”
That language suggests white men won’t be eligible — because the phrase “historically faced barriers” is one (like “historically underserved” and “socially disadvantaged”) that has a specific meaning in the federal code: They are shorthand for eligibility based on group identity, not on hardships an individual applicant has faced.
These kinds of ‘equity-based’ government handouts are already being challenged in court, the former lieutenant governor pointed out. She also wrote that just two days after Harris announced her program, an unnamed aide walked it back to The Wall Street Journal, claiming that it would actually be “open to everyone.”
“Of course, what is said on the campaign trail by an anonymous flunky is one thing. Congress would have to actually pass a law to authorize spending billions on ‘forgivable loans’ to aspiring entrepreneurs,” McCaughey wrote. “And would Harris, as president, sign a law with language that excluded whites from benefits? You bet.
“After all, she backs the Downpayment Toward Equity Act, a bill to boost homeownership that reserves the largest grants for buyers from a ‘socially and economically disadvantaged group,’ defined as being ‘Black, Hispanic, Native American or Asian American,'” she added.
The former New York official went on to point out that Harris has consistently dismissed the notion of equal treatment, advocating instead for equity. In a Twitter post from November 2020, she argued that treating everyone the same, irrespective of race, fails to acknowledge that “we’re not all starting from the same place.”
Harris clarified that equitable treatment involves providing additional support to certain individuals “so that we all end up in the same place.” On their first day in office, the Biden-Harris administration declared that “equity” would serve as the guiding principle for all federal departments and agencies, including the Small Business Administration, McCaughey pointed out.
She also mentioned just a few of the programs the Biden-Harris regime has launched during their tenure that blatantly discriminate against white Americans that have already been found unconstitutional by federal courts.
“After decades in which reverse discrimination created resentments and racial tensions, Americans are finally making strides toward the society our Constitution promises — one in which people are treated as individuals, not pigeonholed according to their group identity,” writes McCaughey. “But Harris just doesn’t get it. She would be the Equity President.”
