When Texas Democratic Party primary voters filled out their ballots on Tuesday, they encountered two propositions, on which they were invited to vote “for” or “against,” that mentioned the Federal Reserve. One proposition said the party should promote a “national jobs program” for infrastructure projects financed through the Federal Reserve. The other proposition proclaimed that Texans should “have the right to refinance student loan debt with the Federal Reserve at a 0% interest rate.” The voters approved both propositions, as they did the other ten propositions on the ballot, with over 90 percent support.
These results may be disappointing for people who understand the detriments of the Federal Reserve, as described in detail in Ron Paul’s book End the Fed, and who think the Federal Reserve should be abolished. But, the results are also understandable. People want good things, whether more jobs or new, improved infrastructure or relief from interest payments on loans, and they are willing to use the Federal Reserve as a means to achieve such.
At the same time, I suspect that Texas Democratic primary voters would not have as overwhelmingly supported propositions stating that the Federal Reserve should be used to support a big increase in drug war incarceration or in the rounding up and deporting of people who are in America in violation of United States immigration laws. More than ten percent of the voters, and maybe even a majority, would, I expect, oppose such proposals given their disagreement with the goals. There also would have been less support for a proposition supporting the Federal Reserve’s long history of facilitating the US government’s militarism and wars.
Here is the text of the two propositions that mention the Federal Reserve:
Proposition #2 Student Loan Debt:
Should everyone in Texas have the right to refinance student loan debt with the Federal Reserve at a 0% interest rate, as relief for the crushing burden of debt and an investment in the next generation of Americans?
Proposition #5 National Jobs Program:
Should the Democratic Party promote a national jobs program, with high wage and labor standards, to replace crumbling infrastructure and rebuild hurricane damaged areas, paid for with local, state, and federal bonds financed through the Federal Reserve at low interest with long term maturities?
