Saturday night, the Democratic Presidential candidates joined up again to debate the best way to ruin America.  To their credit, all of the candidates seem quite capable of accomplishing this task. But listening to them drone on, it’s clear they have only one tactic up their sleeve: tell people that everything should be free.

If something is already free, it should give better benefits.  If it isn’t free yet, elect them and they’ll make sure their constituents receive it for free.

Of course, there’s no such thing as “free,” really, when you are discussing goods and services. Previously, people were paid for the provision of those goods and services; if you make them free, you’ve destroyed people’s paying jobs and/or likely made it so that no one will provide that good and/or service anymore.

Of course, what they really mean by “free” is “paid for by United States taxpayers,” But that doesn’t quite have the same ring to it.

At the forefront of the Democrat political circus right now is the astonishingly absurd idea of tuition-free and “debt free” college education.  Clinton and Sanders echo each other on this one, both advocating for public colleges and universities to magically transform to tuition free campuses.

During the last debate, Clinton stated, “We should have debt free college if you go to a public college or university.  You should not have to borrow a dime to pay tuition.” What a grand idea!  Why stop at college tuition, though?  Why not debt free housing, too? The government bureaucrats can’t be bothered to budget appropriately and efficiently.  It is fitting that they wouldn’t expect the people they lead to live within their own means.

When the Democrats are done delivering their free college line, one of their other favorites is the “free health care” line.  For the record, this freebie is being extended to everyone, including illegal immigrants.  By the way, this term “free health care” is severely misleading since it is health insurance, not health care, that is being given away.  But “free health care” sounds so heroic, it’s easy for them to demonize anyone who sees any of the major flaws in the idea as being uncaring, selfish people.

Social security benefits should also be enhanced, the Democratic candidates claim.  Forget the fact that social security is running out of money the way it stands now.  Let’s make it a race and see whose plan can deplete it more quickly.

The way Democrats discuss these issues shows the shallowness of their thinking and their inability to come up with actual policy. No real thought has gone into any of these issues or how the government will pay for them. Democrats treat a political platform as indistinguishable from a Christmas list; forget the “pay for” and just focus on the free stuff people want to receive.

Another giveaway from the oh-so generous (with your money, of course) Democratic candidates: paid family leave.  Bernie Sanders has called for 12 weeks of paid leave for women after giving birth, adding “Simply stated it is an outrage that millions of women in this country give birth and then are forced back to work because they don’t have the income to stay home with their newborn babies.”

The entire premise of someone being “forced” back to work because they don’t have income to stay at home is a pure manipulation of words.   But again, the Democrats would rather offer something for nothing than allow one to be personally responsible for their own life choices. Of course, paid family leave at least isn’t paid for with personal income taxes, it’s instead paid for by a de facto tax on job creators that will (like it or not) lead to increased discrimination against women in the workplace.

And, that is what it has come down to this election season.  Democrats claim that their affinity for “free stuff” makes them the more generous, charitable, and altruistic party.  In reality, they are just more willing to take money that does not belong to them, that was earned with the hard work of other people, and give it to voters they want to bribe.

They know they have virtually nothing else to run on, especially not the failed policies of the last 8 years.  So they move down their laundry list of the average person’s responsibilities, declaring everything should be free.  Then they hope there are enough voters who are complete freeloaders or lack the critical thinking skills necessary to understand you can’t run a country by making everything free except to run it into the ground.