It’s official. What we all knew was coming has arrived. Elizabeth Warren has set up a presidential exploratory committee and has unveiled her progressive platform. So far, Warren’s presidential bid appears to be policy-focused rather than rhetorical, and her platform will likely appeal to a lot of progressives. Let’s take a gander at what Warren wants to accomplish as president.
Of course, any presidential campaign will feature plenty of rhetoric, and Warren appears to be focusing on class battles. In a video sent to supporters, Warren argued: “America’s middle class is under attack. How did we get here? Billionaires and big corporations decided they wanted more of the pie. And they enlisted politicians to cut them a bigger slice.”
Elsewhere, Warren has claimed that she’s a “capitalist to the bone.” She’s not of the same Democratic Socialist vein as Bernie Sanders, but many of her policies do line up with Sanders and the progressive wing of the Democratic Party. For one, she sponsored Senator Sanders’ bill to federalize national health insurance.
While Warren is a proponent of government intervention, she’s also supported some measures to roll back government interference. In most instances, Warren tries to give small consumers more choice and flexibility. Rather than building more federal housing, for example, Warren wants to roll-back restrictive local zoning laws.
In another instance, Warren called for deregulating the hearing aid industry, allowing consumers to purchase devices over the counter. Warren has also lambasted large technology companies for anti-competitive behavior. One could argue that rather than being anti-market, Warren wants to enforce genuinely free markets.
Further, this past summer Warren unveiled her Accountable Capitalism Act. The Act would require American corporations to have 40 percent of their board selected by company employees. In theory, this would make companies more responsive to their employees.
Still, this policy path could make things difficult for Warren. The right could still label her as “big government,” while far-left progressives may balk at her more centrist approach. And there’s some baggage she’ll have to deal with as well, most notably her Native American heritage claims, which led Trump to label her “Pocahontas.”
