Kamala Harris: Where Are the Policies? (Hint: Right Here!)

The presidential campaign of Vice President Kamala  Harris has gotten off to a great start — a rush   of enthusiasm about her stepping up to become  the nominee after President Joe Biden decided   not to seek a second term after all, a ton  of excitement surrounding her selection of   Minnesota Governor Tim Walz as her running mate,  lots of positivity coming out of the Democratic   National Convention a couple of weeks ago. And  now, because the Harris campaign started so late,   we’re already heading into the home stretch,  sprinting to election day on November 5! Polls, both nationally and in crucial swing  states, seem to be trending in Harris’s favor,   and though signs still point to a close election,  it also looks to be a very winnable election for   Harris and the Democrats, which is good news for  everyone who isn’t just a gigantic piece of shit. However, despite the success of  the Harris campaign thus far,   despite the enthusiasm the candidacy of  Kamala Harris has inspired, and despite   the harrowing — and hilarious — tailspin into  which it has sent the Trump campaign — there are   still questions about the Harris campaign.  Good questions! Legitimate questions! But,   some of these questions are a lot easier to answer  than the people asking them make them out to be. The question I hear being asked most frequently  about the Harris campaign is “Where are the   policies?” Since Biden announced that he  was stepping down and Harris was stepping   up as the Democratic Party candidate, the  excitement and positivity have been so high   that the campaign has, understandably, mostly  been riding that. It’s been described as a   vibes-based campaign. Republicans have  tried to attack Harris on that basis,   accusing her of running on vibes because she  has no ideas, no practical solutions to the   nation’s problems. Journalists have adopted  a more neutral attitude of detached concern. In a New York Times article with the headline  “Harris’s Early Campaign: Heavy on Buzz,   Light on Policy,” originally published August  19, Reid Epstein writes, “When Hillary Clinton   ran for president in 2016, she had more than  200 distinct policy proposals. Four years ago,   Joseph R. Biden Jr. had a task force write a  110-page policy document for his White House   bid. Now, Vice President Kamala Harris does not  have a policy page on her campaign website.” This is true — if you go to the  Kamala Harris campaign website,   you’ll find it to be — as of this recording,  anyway — kinda bare. Solicitations for donations,   biographies of Harris and Walz,  links to opportunities to get   more directly involved with the campaign,  but that’s about it. No “Issues” section. In an op-ed piece for The Hill, published  August 26, Becket Adams writes, “If you   think the news coverage of Vice President  Kamala Harris’s presidential campaign is   frustratingly paper-thin, you’re not alone. We  know little about her current policy positions   or what she’d pursue as president. But let’s  not be too hard on the journalists. The lack   of robust news coverage is mostly down to  the Harris campaign being a hollow shell,   constructed entirely from feelings and  emotions. It’s ‘good vibes’ all the way   through. It’s hard for the media to  cover something that isn’t there.” Adams then goes on to mention the fact that Harris  has yet to sit for an interview with a journalist   since becoming the nominee — though, by the time  you see this video, she will have done so — as I   was writing this script, it was announced  that Harris and Walz would be interviewed   on CNN on August 29. Adams also comments on the  pitiful state of coverage of the Harris campaign,   lamenting how major outlets such as The New  York Times, the Atlantic, and the LA Times,   have been reduced to publishing articles  about her laugh, or what a good cook she is. Adams writes, “The coverage is terrible, and  we’re drowning in endless ‘joy’ nonsense,   but that’s not entirely on the press.  An evident lack of substance is why,   in defense of the Democratic nominee, certain  journalists and commentators have taken to   speculating about the policies Harris may  or may not pursue as president. They can’t   outright defend her vision because  they just don’t know what she really   believes. When the Democrat runs a ‘vibes only’  campaign, speculation is all you have left.” Here’s my problem with this — because it’s not  completely unfair — the Harris campaign has been   focused way more on optimistic abstract concepts  like joy and change and building a better future   than on specific policies — but, 1) This is hardly  the first political campaign to prefer uplifting   vagueness to leading with concrete policy  proposals; 2) It’s working — the Harris campaign   is doing extremely well so far, and why would they  change what’s working when the whole point is to,   ya know, win the goddamn election; and  3) While it’s definitely been a “vibes   first” campaign so far, it’s not “vibes only”  — there is a more substantial side to Harris’s   candidacy, and the broader campaign of the  Democratic Party, if you know where to look. And journalists and pundits who are  complaining about this should know   where to look to find the specific policies  Harris and the Democrats are running on,   because they’re in the same place they always are. During the Democratic National Convention,  the assembled delegates officially adopted a   party platform. They do this every  four years — the Democrats do,   I mean. The Republicans didn’t bother  to adopt a new platform in 2020 — they   just reused the one from 2016 and  blamed it on COVID. Weird how COVID   didn’t stop the Democrats from drafting and  adopting a new platform in 2020 . . . Huh. The 2024 Democratic Party Platform is available  for free online, through the Democratic Party’s   website as well as other sources — I’ll link to it  in the video description as well. It’s ninety-two   pages. It was drafted before Harris became the  presumptive nominee, so there are still a bunch   of references Biden being the candidate, but  the policies are what are important, right?   That’s what these journalists and commentators  who are complaining about the vibes-only Harris   campaign want to know about — the policies!  What are the Democrats going to do if they win? They write about it here, for ninety-two pages.  Granted, not every word on these ninety-two   pages is devoted to laying out specific policy  proposals. There’s a lot of touting President   Biden’s record. There are sections drawing  contrasts between the principles and priorities   of the Democrats and those of the Republicans.  There are lots of generalities — on page seven,   in the chapter devoted to the economy, the  platform reads “Democrats will keep fighting   to prevent the kind of supply chain shocks and  corporate greed that have done so much to raise   prices. And we'll keep investing in American  workers, American jobs, and American families,   bringing factories home to win the race for the  future.” All of which sounds good, all of which   I support — but it’s more of a statement  of intent than a specific policy proposal. There’s a good deal of that throughout  the platform, as there are in all party   platforms. But, there are also lots  of those specific policy proposals   which political journalists and pundits  eagerly and sincerely crave! For example: On page nine, still in the economy chapter:   “Democrats will keep fighting to pass the  Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act,   to give everyone the right to organize for  better pay, benefits, and working conditions,   and to hold abusive bosses accountable  for violating workers’ rights.” Later in the same paragraph: “We’ll work to pass  the Public Service Freedom to Negotiate Act,   guaranteeing public sector bargaining  rights; and to codify a right to organize   for domestic workers, farm workers,  and other unprotected laborers.” Not just particular issues that the  Democrats want to take a particular   action regarding, but specific pieces of  legislation the party is pledging to pass,   and which, implicitly, Kamala Harris  is pledging to sign as president. On page thirteen: “[W]e’ll keep pushing to restore  the expanded Child Tax Credit and Earned Income   Tax Credit, which proved so effective at reducing  poverty before Republicans let them expire. We’ll   work to finally raise the federal minimum  wage to at least $15-an-hour. We’ll fight   for paid leave, better health care, and more  investment in public schools and affordable   housing. . . . We’ll further expand public  transit, connecting communities that have   been cut off for too long. . . . And we’ll  continue to reject Republican proposals to   increase poverty by making devastating cuts to  programs that vulnerable Americans count on.” That’s not quite as specific as the previous  examples — no mention of actual bills they want   to pass — but still, particular issues, particular  policies — expanding the Child Tax Credit   and Earned Income Tax Credit, paid leave,  investment in public schools, investment   in affordable housing, investment in public  transportation, resisting Republican efforts to   cut social welfare programs — raising the minimum  wage to fifteen bucks an hour! Sure, the Democrats   have been trying to raise the minimum wage to  fifteen bucks an hour for so long that by the time   they finally do it, they’ll have to immediately  start pushing to raise it again, because fifteen   bucks an hour ain’t what it used to be, but  still — specific policy, specific goals. From page fifteen, in Chapter Two, which  is devoted to tax policy: “Democrats will   protect everyone earning less than $400,000 a  year from any tax increase; and we will fight   to protect and expand other tax benefits for  working people and families with children.” From further down the same page, and continuing  onto page sixteen: “Democrats will make   billionaires pay a minimum income tax rate of  25 percent, raising $500 billion in 10 years.   We’ll end the preferential treatment for capital  gains for millionaires, so they pay the same rate   on investment income as on wages. We’ll put an  end to abusive life insurance tax shelters, and   stop billionaires from exploiting retirement tax  incentives that are supposed to help middle-class   families save. We’ll eliminate the ‘stepped-up  basis’ loophole for the wealthiest Americans,   so they can’t avoid paying taxes on their  wealth by passing it down to heirs. Democrats   will close the ‘carried interest’ loophole, which  wealthy fund managers have long used to halve tax   rates on their own personal pay, so they pay a  lower rate than some teachers or firefighters   do. That’s wrong. And, we’ll increase our new  stock buyback tax to 4 percent to discourage   stock buybacks that benefit executives and wealthy  shareholders, instead of workers and consumers.” Again, no mention of particular pieces of  legislation, but clear, specific policies with   numbers attached. What do the Democrats intend  to do regarding taxes? This. They wrote it down. The whole platform contains that kind of  policy. In the chapter on lowering costs,   it states that the Democrats support expanding  Medicaid, increasing federal investment in   mobile and rural health clinics, increasing  regulations designed to prevent surprise billing,   expanding prescription drug price caps  that currently only apply to seniors   on Medicare to apply to everyone, and  requiring drug manufacturers that raise   prices faster than the rate of inflation  pay the difference back into Medicare. That chapter also describes a plan  to make housing more affordable by   expanding federal rent assistance,  forcing corporate landlords to cap   rent increases at five percent  or else lose federal tax breaks,   and tax credits and down-payment  assistance for first-time home buyers. Regarding education, the platform proposes  making community college and trade school free   for all Americans, increasing investment in  Historically Black Colleges and Universities,   expanding Pell Grants to increase the  maximum award and make them available to   millions more students, continuing  to push for student debt relief,   and giving public school teachers a raise and  providing additional supports for teachers   and other school personnel to make working in  public education a more sustainable profession. Climate change: the platform proposes continuing  to expand investment in clean energy, investing   in long overdue upgrades to the power grid,  and, on page thirty one, “To help find new   ways of generating and storing energy, reducing  emissions, and boosting climate resilience,   we’ll launch an Advanced Research  Projects Agency for Climate (ARPA-C),   modeled on the defense research agency  that’s behind breakthrough technologies   like the internet and GPS, and the new  ARPA-H that the Administration created   to transform medicine. We’ll also establish a new  national lab for climate research and innovation,   affiliated with an HBCU, Hispanic-, or other  Minority-Serving Institution, to ensure the   opportunities of the future are available to  everyone, and built by everyone. And we will   continue to invest in climate research across  NASA, NOAA, the National Science Foundation,   and other agencies, to make sure that America  leads the world in clean energy innovation.” Page thirty-three, continuing to  page thirty four: “We’ll require   that low-carbon materials and clean power be  used in all new federal buildings by 2030,   and invest in upgrading VA hospitals, federal  offices, and K-12 public school and community   college buildings, making them innovative,  energy efficient, and safe places to learn.” To help people deal with the ongoing effects of  climate change and build more climate resilient   communities, from page thirty six: “Going forward,  Democrats will work to pass the bipartisan   Disaster Resilience Tax Credit, to help low- and  middle-income families and small businesses invest   in preparing for and easing the impact of storms,  heat, floods, and other natural disasters.” From the chapter on gun regulation and criminal  justice reform, page forty: “Democrats will   establish universal background checks, a step  supported by the vast majority of Americans,   including gun owners. We will once again ban  assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. We   will require safe storage for guns. Democrats will  end the gun industry’s immunity from liability,   so gunmakers can no longer escape accountability.  We will pass a national red flag law to prevent   tragedies by keeping weapons out of  dangerous hands. We will increase   funding to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, and  Firearms (ATF) for enforcement and prosecution,   and to the Federal Bureau of Investigation  (FBI) for firearm background checks. And,   because the gun violence epidemic  is a public health crisis,   we will fund gun violence research across  the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and   National Institutes of Health (NIH) as  well as community violence interventions.” Page forty-two: “Democrats will take action to  expunge federal marijuana-only convictions. We   will combat drug trafficking and expand the use  of drug courts, interventions, and diversion for   people with substance use disorders. We will fund  a new Accelerating Justice System Reform grant   program to provide jurisdictions with critical  resources to foster community trust and safety,   reduce inequity and justice system involvement,  and alleviate burdens on police. We will expand   access to public defenders and step up civil  rights enforcement, including by boosting funding   for the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division  and hiring 50 new Assistant U.S. Attorneys.” Page forty-four: “We continue to  strengthen [the Violence Against   Women Act]; keep guns out of  the hands of domestic abusers;   and expand housing and legal services for  survivors. To keep students safe on campus,   we will work with schools to implement and enforce  Title IX and end sexual harassment and assault   in our nation’s schools. We will eliminate the  rape kit backlog. And, we will strengthen legal   protections for and support survivors of deepfake  image-based sexual abuse building on the federal   civil cause of action established under the  president’s reauthorization of VAWA in 2022.” Page forty-eight, on voting rights: “Democrats  will pass and President Biden” — now, presumably,   President Harris — “will sign the John  R. Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act   and the Freedom to Vote Act to fully  secure the right to vote in every state,   ensure fair congressional maps for every American,   modernize and secure our elections, and curtail  the corrupting influence of money in politics.” Page fifty, on reproductive rights: “With a  Democratic Congress, we will pass national   legislation to make Roe the law of the  land again. We will strengthen access to   contraception so every woman who needs it is  able to get and afford it. We will protect a   woman’s right to access IVF. We will repeal  the Hyde Amendment. And in his second term,   President Biden” — again, presumably  President Harris will do the same   thing here — “will continue to support access to  FDA-approved medication abortion, appoint leaders   at the FDA who respect science, and appoint  judges who uphold fundamental freedoms.” Page fifty-one, women’s rights: “Democrats  will work to pass the Paycheck Fairness   Act and end pay inequity not  just in the federal workforce,   but throughout the economy with penalties for  companies that discriminate against women.” Page fifty-three, racial equity:  “By investing in community lenders,   we’re driving an estimated $130 billion more in  loans to Black and Latino communities over the   next decade. Going forward, we’ll double  that funding for [Community Development   Financial Institutions], and expand and  make permanent a New Markets Tax Credit,   to encourage development in  places too long left behind.” Page fifty-six, LGBTQ equality:  “Democrats will pass the Equality   Act to codify protections for LGBTQI+  Americans and their families. We will   prohibit employment discrimination in the  federal government, including contractors,   and make federally-funded seniors  programs LGBTQI+ inclusive.” Page sixty-two, arts and humanities: “Democrats  will fund the National Endowment for the Arts,   the National Endowment for the Humanities, and  art and music education in public schools.” Page sixty-three, D.C. statehood: “We  unequivocally support statehood for D.C.” Same page, representation for Puerto  Rico and other U.S. territories:   “Democrats support the enactment of  the Puerto Rico Status Act/H.R. 2757,   and promote full civic and political  representation for Puerto Ricans.   We will work to end its unequal  treatment by the federal government,   and fight to provide equal access to federal  programs like Medicaid, SNAP, and the CTC.” “Democrats also support self-determination  for the U.S. Virgin Islands, Guam,   the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana  Islands, and American Samoa. We will create   a Congressional task force to study equal  voting rights and House representation;   and we will work to ensure equal access to  federal programs like veterans’ benefits,   the Affordable Care Act, Medicaid, and SNAP  food assistance for all those eligible.   Democrats support funding to improve critical  health care facilities in the territories,   including construction of a state-of-the-art  medical complex in Guam that co-locates health   agencies on a single campus for a more integrated  healthcare system that will benefit the region.” I’m only on page sixty-three, y’all! This  goes on for almost thirty more pages! I’m   only quoting bits that refer to specific  policies or the intention to address specific   issues. I won’t go through the whole thing. I  think you get the idea. There’s a link to the   entire document in the video description. Read  it if you’re interested. I’m sure you won’t   like everything in it — I don’t — I’m sure there  will be policies or proposals in there which you   think don’t go far enough — I know I felt that way  about some of the platform when I read it — but,   it’s there, in writing, and while there is  a lot of looking back at the accomplishments   of the Biden administration, and some  generic “Democrats will fight for x, y,   and z” sort of promises, there  are also a ton of specifics. Are Kamala Harris and Tim Walz out there on the  campaign trail giving wonky policy-based speeches?   No. Is the Harris campaign focusing more on joy  and vibes than on reading out the party platform   like I’ve just been doing? Yes. But it is utterly  disingenuous to claim, as Becket Adams does in   that op-ed for The Hill, that we have no idea  what Kamala Harris believes or what she will do as   president, or that this campaign is the political  equivalent of Seinfeld — a show about nothing. And, you know, for all the complaining  from commentators like Adams about how   thin the coverage has been of the “vibes only”  Harris campaign, I think it might be giving the   current crop of American political journalists a  bit too much credit to assume that the coverage   would be any better if they were focusing on  the issues and policies rather than the vibes.   In that same New York Times article I referred  to earlier, the one with the headline calling   the Harris campaign “Heavy on Buzz, Light on  Policy,” where he observes that the Harris   website lacks a policy page, Reid Epstein spends  most of the story writing . . . about policy! Epstein describes how, though she  usually doesn’t go into too much detail,   Harris’s stump speech is full of policy proposals: “As president, she says, she would  seek to increase the minimum wage,   introduce more robust child care  and paid family leave programs,   and keep down the costs of groceries,  housing and prescription drugs. She has   endorsed the bipartisan border security bill  that former President Donald J. Trump helped   tank early this year and the voting rights  bill that House Democrats passed in 2021,   only for it to run aground in the Senate. And Ms.  Harris also calls for new gun control measures and   makes an applause line out of her support for  enshrining abortion rights into federal law.” Epstein goes on: “On Friday [August 16], after three weeks  of delivering roughly the same stump speech,   Ms. Harris made her first foray into policy with  an economic address in North Carolina. She called   for expanding the child tax credit, including  a $6,000 credit for parents in the first year   of a child’s life; proposed $40 billion in tax  incentives for new housing construction; and   endorsed a federal ban on price gouging — though  she offered few details on how it would work.” That article by Reid Epstein includes a  link to another article by Reid Epstein,   from late July, about how Kamala Harris  has changed her positions on certain issues   since she ran as a candidate in the Democratic  Presidential Primary in 2020. For a candidate   who is light on policy, it sure seems like  journalists know a lot about her policies,   and are perfectly capable of writing  about those policies, when they want to! The thing is — and this is just my own  speculation, so take it for whatever   it’s worth — writing about policy is boring.  Fewer people are going to click on a link,   or buy a newspaper, or listen to a podcast,  or watch a video, to find out about the policy   proposals of a given candidate. It’s way  more interesting to tell people about how   the candidate they’re all excited about now is  fucking up and headed for disaster. Crisis is   sexy. Chaos is sexy. Someone stumbling and  falling — or, predicting that someone will   stumble and fall any second now — that gets  attention. Sober and detailed presentations   of legislation you support and policies you  intend to enact if elected? Not so much. So, I get it — I hate it, and I do not  excuse it, let’s be clear — but I get it. Except . . . if Kamala Harris is running  on vibes only, if Kamala Harris’s campaign   is — supposedly — light on ideas and solutions,  what the hell do you call the Trump campaign? I showed you this year’s Democratic Party  platform. There it is — ninety-two pages.   The Republican Party’s platform — they did bother  to draft one this time — is sixteen pages. I’ll   link to it in the video description, as well,  so — if you’re interested — you can compare. Democrats. Republicans.   Which one seems more substantial to you?  Ninety-two pages — that’s the length of   a feature-film screenplay. Sixteen pages — that’s  three pages more than the length of the script of   this video. I guess the Republicans figured they  could afford to skimp on the platform since they   already spent over nine hundred pages describing  their fascist wet dreams in Project 2025. But hey, see for yourself — read them both! Read  the Democratic Party platform, read the Republican   Party platform, and you tell me which one has  more policies and solutions. You tell me which   one seems like the work of serious people wanting  to govern, and which one seems like a hastily   assembled, intellectually vapid, under-cooked,  overwrought fascist propaganda pamphlet. Better yet, since most of the “where are  the policies” complaints about Harris are   referring specifically to her campaign events  and not the party platform, watch Kamala Harris   give a speech at one of her rallies, then watch  Trump give a speech at one of his bund meetings,   and tell me which candidate spent more time  proposing practical solutions to problems   that actually affect peoples’ lives, and  which candidate used the time to rant and   ramble about the same shit they’ve been  complaining about for almost ten years. Why is the story “Kamala Harris’s campaign  is about style over substance” and “Kamala   Harris is running on vibes not policy”? Why  is that what I’ve heard over and over and   over again from mainstream political  media for the last month and a half,   while hearing practically nothing from those  same mainstream outlets about how utterly empty   the Trump campaign is? If “Harris is running  on vibes” is considered a valid take, surely   “Trump is running on vibes” is just as valid,  the only difference being that Harris is running   on good vibes like joy and optimism, and Trump  is running on grievance, resentment, and fear. So, why aren’t we getting that story? Why  are we constantly hearing about how light   on policy Harris is, when Trump and the  Republicans are far lighter on policy,   and when Trump or one of his surrogates does  talk about specific policies he would enact as   president, it’s always something equal parts  preposterous and horrifying, like wanting to   arrest millions of people who are or are suspected  of being undocumented immigrants and hold them   indefinitely in military concentration camps  near the border until they can be deported,   a project which would take years if not decades  to accomplish, and is also, ya know, Nazi shit? A little more balance, that’s all  I’m asking for. And a little more   honesty. If you really care about what  Harris and the Democrats’ policies are,   they’re easy to find. If you’re a  journalist and you want to report on that,   report on it. I wish you would. If you have  questions for Harris about specific policies,   ask her about them — again, I wish you would.  Interrogate her about policy, challenge her   about policy — go for it! But, do the same  for Trump — admittedly, actually discovering   specific policies proposed by Trump’s campaign  will be more difficult, but not impossible. Journalism is not just important, it’s vital  to a healthy, functioning democracy. The public   needs to be informed, we need to know what  our representatives and leaders are doing,   and what those who are running for  those offices intend to do if elected.   So if you’re a political journalist, especially  one who writes for a major mainstream outlet,   report on that. Please. But if you don’t,  at least stop insulting our intelligence by   pretending that the reason you aren’t writing more  substantive stories about the Harris campaign is   because there is no substance to be found. You  know, I know, we all know — that’s horseshit.