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- Jul 19, 2012
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Obama and the Democrats claim that the last election gave them a mandate. Their mandate is to come up with a "balanced" plan to reduce the deficit, which is to combine spending cuts with tax rate increases.
Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, also won all of their individual elections, and each of them rightly claims that they have a different mandate from their constituents. Their constituents will severely punish them in 2014 if they don't stay true to that mandate, which is to stop any efforts to raise tax rates. That was the moral of all those tea party Republicans who primaried their mainstream Republican opponents and then went on to lose in the national elections. The party is damaged by these mainstream wheeler dealers who go to Washington and cut deals with Democrats that result in more taxes and more spending. The red district voters are not having it any more. The mainstream guys got the message.
One might argue that Democrats' claim to a mandate are bogus. One does not get a mandate from a close election, especially when they won it the way they did. Nevertheless, I fully expect Obama to stick to this proposition like a barnacle. He has hardly shown any tendency toward compromise or flexibility up to now, I don't expect him to start compromising now unless by "compromise" he means that Republicans abandon all the principles that got them elected, and he has to abandon nothing.
What, then, to do? I have a modest proposal:
1. Let the nation go off the fiscal cliff. Let Taxmageddon reign. At least that way we get spending cuts. And Obama gets a really bad economy along with the rest of us. But the longer a correction is delayed the worse it will be.
2. Refuse to raise the debt ceiling. Let the government "shut down". That's more guaranteed spending cuts.
Spending cuts one way or the other, by God.
This would cause all hell to break loose, I realize. However, better that there is a fundamental change when we owe $13 trillion than to wait until we owe $20 trillion or more.
And, yes, the mainstream media would be shrilly blaming Republicans for the resulting displacements. But, in case nobody noticed, the last time the Republicans did this they paid no price. They actually gained in the next election despite all the bad press, or perhaps because of the bad press they got.
All of this leaves aside the idea that the President will accept tax increases by way of closing loopholes and removing deductions, as Boehner is proposing. I strongly suspect he won't do that. He will hold out for tax rate increases because ... well, because that's what he wants.
Republicans in Congress, on the other hand, also won all of their individual elections, and each of them rightly claims that they have a different mandate from their constituents. Their constituents will severely punish them in 2014 if they don't stay true to that mandate, which is to stop any efforts to raise tax rates. That was the moral of all those tea party Republicans who primaried their mainstream Republican opponents and then went on to lose in the national elections. The party is damaged by these mainstream wheeler dealers who go to Washington and cut deals with Democrats that result in more taxes and more spending. The red district voters are not having it any more. The mainstream guys got the message.
One might argue that Democrats' claim to a mandate are bogus. One does not get a mandate from a close election, especially when they won it the way they did. Nevertheless, I fully expect Obama to stick to this proposition like a barnacle. He has hardly shown any tendency toward compromise or flexibility up to now, I don't expect him to start compromising now unless by "compromise" he means that Republicans abandon all the principles that got them elected, and he has to abandon nothing.
What, then, to do? I have a modest proposal:
1. Let the nation go off the fiscal cliff. Let Taxmageddon reign. At least that way we get spending cuts. And Obama gets a really bad economy along with the rest of us. But the longer a correction is delayed the worse it will be.
2. Refuse to raise the debt ceiling. Let the government "shut down". That's more guaranteed spending cuts.
Spending cuts one way or the other, by God.
This would cause all hell to break loose, I realize. However, better that there is a fundamental change when we owe $13 trillion than to wait until we owe $20 trillion or more.
And, yes, the mainstream media would be shrilly blaming Republicans for the resulting displacements. But, in case nobody noticed, the last time the Republicans did this they paid no price. They actually gained in the next election despite all the bad press, or perhaps because of the bad press they got.
All of this leaves aside the idea that the President will accept tax increases by way of closing loopholes and removing deductions, as Boehner is proposing. I strongly suspect he won't do that. He will hold out for tax rate increases because ... well, because that's what he wants.
