It’s interesting to watch Rep. Mike Pence (R-IN) speak before the Conservative Political Action Conference. He is making a passionate case for tax cuts for the rich (because someone told him ‘I ain’t never been hired by a poor man’). But he did this immediately after talking about the importance of balanced budgets. No one appears to question how those two things go together. Even if it were a consistent philosophy, it’s clear that the Republicans neither would or could make the kind of massive cuts in federal spending that would be required to keep the budget balanced if the current tax cuts for the rich are not allowed to sunset (let alone if they were cut even more).
And I really think this is a core issue in American politics. The Republicans do have principles that most people understand. But those principles are totally unrealistic. It’s as if the Democrats ran on a real socialist platform (say, nationalizing the energy sector and providing a single-payer 100% government-run health care system) and then made no effort to enact it. And, then, once thrown out of power for doing the opposite of what they said they were going to do, they just went back to making the exact same promises they made before. And, then, they repeated their betrayal and made the same promises all over again. At what point do the Republicans lose credibility?
To use one example, the president just used his executive power to impanel a commission to address our structural deficits. Why did he do that? Because the Democrats can never agree to cut Medicare or Social Security benefits and the Republicans can never agree to raise taxes. (I might add, that neither of them seem willing to cut military spending). So, a commission is needed to provide some political cover to politicians that are afraid to take on their bases. Why is this relevant? Because it’s the same reason that elected Republicans never make the kind of budget cuts needed to match their tax cuts. Cutting taxes is the easiest vote you can cast. But cutting funding for popular programs is unpopular. That’s why you know the Republicans will never keep their promises to balance the budget. Only a party that is willing to tax at an adequate level to finance their operations can possibly balance the budget.
It was jarring to see Dick Cheney get a welcome response at the CPAC conference when he is the one who said deficits don’t matter:
[Treasury Secretary Paul] O’Neill, fired in a shakeup of Bush’s economic team in December 2002, raised objections to a new round of tax cuts and said the president balked at his more aggressive plan to combat corporate crime after a string of accounting scandals because of opposition from “the corporate crowd,” a key constituency.
O’Neill said he tried to warn Vice President Dick Cheney that growing budget deficits-expected to top $500 billion this fiscal year alone-posed a threat to the economy. Cheney cut him off. “You know, Paul, Reagan proved deficits don’t matter,” he said, according to excerpts. Cheney continued: “We won the midterms (congressional elections). This is our due.” A month later, Cheney told the Treasury secretary he was fired.
Notice that it was Ronald Reagan who proved that deficits don’t matter. If that is what Dick Cheney thinks Ronald Reagan stood for then why would Reagan-worshipping deficit hawks cheer Dick Cheney? Is it because they’re fucking stupid or they just don’t care?
