A society can be judged by how well it protects those who are vulnerable.  Not by the number who have been made dependent on government via welfare — that is not protection — but by the protection individuals and traditional institutions like the church, private charitable organizations, and the schools extend to children, the mentally ill, the sick, the disabled, and the elderly.

By that measure, America fares much better than third-world countries and second-world nations like Russia and Venezuela, but it fails in comparison with many other first-world countries.  According to one ranking, the U.S. had the second highest rate of poverty among the 20 OECD nations (highest was Costa Rica).  Numbers can lie, but no one can deny that poverty exists in America, and poverty contributes to vulnerability.  And Biden/Harris have made poverty worse.

Between 1959 and 2023, average American incomes grew at 3.2%, but during the Biden/Harris administration, incomes declined, including the worst year (the 2022 decline of 4.2%) since 1959.  Because of the effect of compounding, those declines will continue to affect workers for decades to come.

Under Trump, the median average household income rose from $61,372 to $67,521, more than a 10% increase despite the effects of COVID in the last year of his term.

The fundamental meaning of “conservatism” is the inclination to conserve or protect.  One cannot claim to be a conservative unless one is caring, heedful, concerned, and skeptical regarding change for its own sake.  Above all, to be a conservative is to be protective of life and especially of human life.  Watching the news reports of illegal aliens’ crimes, including the murders of Laken Riley, Jocelyn Nungaray, and Rachel Morin, conservatives are understandably upset, but why is it that progressives do not seem to care?  If they did, those who control the Senate under Chuck Schumer would take some action about illegal immigration.

As Fox News reporters point out, House Democrats have been caught on video downplaying the influence of illegal immigration in the murder of Houston 12-year-old Nungaray, with one telling Fox Business, “I don’t know who she is.”  As widely reported, President Biden refuses even to speak the names of these victims.  And the violence goes far, far beyond the killing of these young women, as bad as this is.

Compared to the drumbeat for prosecution that followed the death of George Floyd, there seems to be little sympathy for these helpless and truly innocent victims.  I surveyed video coverage of Nungaray’s murder and found a number of stories on Fox News and its local affiliates in Houston, but nothing of note on ABC, CBS, and NBC.  No wonder Democrats in Congress have never heard of her.

They should not just have heard of her; their hearts should be pouring out to her and her family.  They should care about what happens on their watch, especially since these murders might have never taken place had the border remained closed, as it was when Trump left office.  Biden’s and Harris’s border policies have taken the lives of hundreds and probably thousands of innocent American citizens.  When it comes to drug overdoses and poisonings, the number is over 100,000 each year.

Conservatives are upset because they see people dying unnecessarily.  Liberals seem more concerned with climate change (which, I believe, has not taken the life of any American), transgender “rights,” and abortion “rights.”  They want to spend trillions of dollars addressing a problem that doesn’t exist, and they want to ensure special privileges for those who attempt to change their sex and who wish to kill fully formed fetuses and even born or almost born babies.  Who is on the side of life — liberals or conservatives?

Liberalism teaches a “look the other way” attitude toward crime and violence.  It’s not coincidental that New York has instituted a no-bail system in dealing with most offenses or that California imposes no punishment on those shoplifting less than $900 per incident (and that, as a result, many retailers are closing down or leaving the state).  This culture of lawlessness and callous disregard for the rights of others, and especially the rights of the vulnerable (including small business owners), is growing worse and worse.  Shoplifting overall has increased by 16% between 2019 and 2023, but in liberal states and localities like San Francisco, it has increased far more.

Again, those who are hurt by this liberal disregard for law and order are the poor and the weak.  When the nearby grocery or pharmacy closes as a result of shoplifting, those with no access to transportation suffer.

The vulnerability of women and children, and the need for ever-larger government programs to assist them, is liberals’ stock in trade.  Not surprisingly, these programs over a period of a century have not improved the lot of the poor.  It is the expansion of the private economy that has done that — with real per capita GDP growing from $8,016 in 1923 to $81,610 in 2023.  The private economy has improved the average living standard by a factor of ten.  How much have FDR’s, LBJ’s, Obama’s, and Biden’s giveaways improved life?

Based on outcomes, one can see that liberals care less about the vulnerable and more about increasing government power.  This is especially apparent under Biden and Harris.  It is estimated that since Biden took office, the ordinary  American has lost 7% of purchasing power based on the gap between inflation and wage growth, though the actual number is higher since higher nominal wages drive incomes into higher tax brackets.  A compassionate president would work to increase the real, inflation-adjusted, after-tax purchasing power of Americans, especially those in lower and middle incomes.  Biden has done the opposite.

By contrast, Trump, who is truly compassionate toward the American worker, brought prosperity to ordinary citizens.  Inflation averaged 1.5% under his leadership, and real wages increased by some 12% overall, so net real wages grew by 6% despite a Democrat-led Congress hostile to business interests.

Every human being, whether young or old, or unborn, is precious and should be protected to the best of our ability.  Biden has practically no record of accomplishment in this regard, and Harris even less.  It is conservatives who truly care about life and the condition of the poor, and conservative policies translate this concern into action.  The demonstrated results under Trump, including his record of closing the border, testify to his concern for those who are vulnerable.  In November, we will have an opportunity to return to a society in which the vulnerable are protected as a result of economic growth and rising incomes.

Jeffrey Folks is the author of many books and articles on American culture including Heartland of the Imagination (2011).

Image: Gage Skidmore via Flickr, CC BY-SA 2.0.