“Getting Something DONE” vs. “Standing Firm and Doing What’s RIGHT”

 

 

 

 

An awful lot of the DC Republican establishment is lashing out at conservatives who were unwilling to go along with John Boehner and Eric Cantor’s tail-tucking surrender on taxes and the “fiscal cliff.”  You’ve seen it in the pages of National Review and The Weekly Standard.  You’ve seen it on Fox News and in online diatribes like this one on the RedState.com site:

[…] I am thoroughly disappointed at the House GOP for their all-or-nothing approach.  The Representatives who refused to vote for Plan B are denying political reality: They are ignoring the fact that taxes on the rich are going up one way or the other. President Obama is in until 2016 and will not sign a bill to extend rates for people making over $1 million; in fact, his current target is $400 thousand to move from 35% to 39.6% on the top marginal rate.

House Republicans have just shown that they would rather every rate to go up on January 1st than to extend them for 99.81% of income earners. They insist that millionaires, .19% of Americans, not pay more taxes, or else they will kill the negotiations.

This is both politically foolish and irrational.

It’s politically foolish because Republicans have just affirmed Obama’s accusation of us during the campaign: That we are beholden to millionaires. Earth to the House GOP: 53% of November 6th voters support raising taxes on the rich. You are acting against the will of the people. […]

Geniuses allegedly on our side, like THIS guy, have decided to accept as FACT the narrative championed by the Bolsheviks in 1917, the McGovernites in 1972, and the current Occupy-centric American Democrats:  Successful people got that way by taking advantage of the less fortunate, and it is time for the oppressed to rise up and get revenge.  

The GOP used to be the party of conservatism — championing the idea of working hard, playing by the rules, and enjoying the fruits of your labor.  What happened to pushing for serious spending cuts — not just cuts in growth?  What happened to supply-side theory — cutting taxes to spur economic growth and increased tax revenue?

  Instead of standing firm, doing what’s right, and educating the American people about the beauty of capitalism,  the GOP’s “wise men” have decided to take the easy route and accept the class warfare narratipve leftists have been pushing on the low-information, Kardashian-worshipping, View-watching Obama voters.  There’s NOT ONE example of punitive, redistributive economics producing economic growth and pulling people out of poverty.

In the early 90s, I worked on Capitol Hill for the late Senator Jesse Helms.  At that time, the Senate Republicans were being led by wet noodles Alan Simpson and Bob Dole — two guys who enjoyed being in DC and championed the idea of “getting something done.”   Helms frequently found himself at odds with his leadership.  He used the Senate rules to delay, tie up, amend, and sometimes kill really bad legislation.  His idea of “getting something done” was stopping — or at least delaying — the government from doing even more damage to the American economy or the American people.  Sometimes, NO legislation is better than BAD legislation.

If you go ahead and raise taxes on people making $400,o00 or more per year,  the government will take in an additional $70 billion in revenue — about the same size as the current Hurricane Sandy relief legislation moving through Congress.  In other words, it will be a drop in the bucket.  It may temporarily assuage the class-envy of the folks who haven’t achieved the country club lifestyle.  But it is NOT going to turn around our economic mess, put anyone on the path to prosperity, or improve things for our children and grandchildren.