In The Republican Congressional Bubble It's A Wonderfully Simple World: No Taxes. No Deficits. Everything Privatized (Joe Rothstein's Commentary)

June 27, 2009

By Joe Rothstein
Editor, EINNEWS.COM


It must be wonderful being a Republican member of Congress. Life is so simple. So one dimensional. You really only have to know a few simple rules----rules that apply to just about anything and everything happening in Congress.

Rule #1: Taxes Are bad

All taxes are bad. All the time. Any tax that would help the nation dig its way out of the energy crisis is bad. No matter that the U.S. continues to increase dependency on oil and gas from hostile regimes. No matter that the global warming lights are blinking “emergency!” No matter anything. The already compromised energy plan that the House approved in a midnight-oil-burning session this morning would cost an average of $175 per person, per year----a cost we've more than paid already with rising gas and heating prices. But that cost is bad. Because it's a “tax.”

Next up will be a health reform bill. Everyone knows that the U.S needs to make fundamental changes to its health system. If costs keep increasing the way they are it won't be long before health will be the Guerilla that ate Gotham. Converting the current system to a more rational one will require a down-payment by taxpayers. That means higher public costs. That likely means some form of tax increases for some people. Bad.

This argument works with only minor modifications for almost any issue: Job creation. Economic stimulus. Tougher controls on banks and other businesses. Needed new roads, bridges, water and sewer systems.... A majority of the Republicans in Congress have signed a pledge not to increase taxes for any reason. They are being faithful to that pledge.

The corollary to Taxes Are Bad is even better. Lowering taxes magically results in more money for public services we need. This is truly wonderful. A Republican member of Congress can vote to lower taxes believing in his or her heart of hearts that bringing in less revenue to pay for things will bring in more. So Republicans can be on the popular side of taxes (lower them) while being on the popular side of services (increase them). How great is that!

Rule #2: Deficits are bad when Democrats are in charge

Twenty years of Reagan-Bush presidencies raised the national debt from $900 billion (When Jimmy Carter left office) to $10 trillion. That historic truth is conveniently overlooked in current debates over how to bring back the U.S. from the edge of an economic abyss.

Suddenly, congressional Republicans have discovered future generations who may have to pay the bills, with interest, that get created through deficit spending. It now shocks Republicans that creditors are getting a bit shaky about the strength of the dollar. So now...now...all this spending has to come to a screeching halt.

Now...that government stimulus is about the only way the U.S. can put people back to work and get business and commerce back on track. GOP congressional leadership and presidents who ran up the deficit during good times now see no good reason to use public money to pull the nation out of its current economic abyss. Republican congresspeople can hardly say the word “stimulus” without attaching “boondoggle” to it.

Rule #3: The “market” will cure all ills

During the height of U.S. involvement in Iraq, private contractors outnumbered U.S. uniformed personnel 3 to 1. This was the logical extension of the Republican mantra that the private sector will always work more efficiently, at lower cost, than government and its “bureaucrats.”

At various times over the past 30 years Republicans have made serious runs at “privatizing” social security, education, air traffic control and national parks---to name just a few of the most significant efforts. On parallel tracks, Republicans have pushed hard to remove, gut or starve out government watchdogs over the nation's financial system, food and drug safety system, agricultural processing, and environmental and consumer protection agencies.

Much of the mess the Obama administration is dealing with today results from Republican efforts to turn the nation into U.S.A., Inc.

In all fairness, I should point out that this triad of “Rules:”----no taxes, no deficits, privatize everything---is not shared by all Republican politicians.

Most Republican governors welcomed stimulus money to help their states' economies. The few who resisted were finally overruled by their state legislatures (also Republican, in most cases), or by last minute confrontations with reality. Governors don't live in theoretical bubbles. They actually have to govern and reap the consequences for their actions.

A number of states run by Republican governors and GOP-dominated state legislatures raised taxes and fees to keep their schools open and other services functioning.

But Congress is different. Here, in Washington, D.C., Republican ideology and orthodoxy rule. Lessons of the last 30 years haven't been learned. The Republican national platform is taken literally. Consequences are unmoored from actions.

That makes for irresponsible governance, but wonderfully simple legislative positions. It makes life much easier for Republican members of Congress. And it helps the environment somewhat because all of paper containing GOP talking points and speeches can be recycled on issue after issue.

(Joe Rothstein can be contacted at joe@einnews.com)