Posted on 11/11/2002 11:47:47 PM PST by JohnHuang2
Hey, Republicans! Do you think that there's any possibility that you might be getting just a bit cocky out there? Is it possible that you don't remember recent history? Let's see … what's that quote? I think it goes something like: "Those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it." Maybe some of you Republicans need to consider those words for a few moments.
I remember well the days following the voter revolution of 1994. Suddenly Bill Clinton saw his big, big and bigger government dreams smashed against the wall of a Republican House and Senate. In the days following that election, we saw Clinton trying to convince the American people that he was still relevant while certain beloved national talk-show hosts were pleading for the preservation and protection of just a few liberals so that we could all remember what they were like.
Just two years later, Clinton was shutting down the Imperial Federal Government over a budget dispute, and, with the eager help of the Washington and New York press corps, making the blame stick to the Republicans. Those liberals whom we were told were a virtually endangered species were suddenly running the show again.
When are you Republicans going to learn? Leftists are not easily discouraged. They have swallowed temporary defeat before and have given us the distinct impression that they rather enjoy the taste. Rest assured, they will be coming back – and they will be coming back with a vengeance.
To stage their next resurrection, the liberals will do what they've always done. They will work to shift the cost of government to those most likely to vote Republican, while shifting the benefits of legalized plunder to those most likely to vote Democrat. And this they will do with the full cooperation of those they wish to bury, the "in-control" Republicans.
Trent Lott, the Republicans' bare-knuckle (sarcasm noted) Senate Majority leader has already announced his plans to push to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. The Democrats will go along – but there will be a price to pay. Daschle and Company will demand their quid pro quo. Indiana Sen. Evan Bayh, the chairman of the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee, played the Democrats' hand yesterday on Fox News Sunday. Bayh told Tony Snow on Fox News Sunday that the Democrats were interested in seeing a cut in payroll taxes for their favored "low- and middle-income taxpayers."
Why a cut in payroll taxes instead of income taxes? You haven't really been paying attention, have you? The Democrats have to rely on a payroll tax cut for their supporters because all income tax liability for these people has been all but wiped out! Remember, almost 97 percent of all federal income taxes are paid by the top 50 percent of income earners. That bottom 50 percent? That's where you find your most loyal Democratic voters. It's not hard to figure out why.
The payroll taxes the Democrats are talking about are two – Social Security taxes and Medicare taxes. In a sense, both of these taxes are really premiums … insurance premiums. So, when the Democrats talk about cutting payroll "taxes," they're really talking about cutting the premiums that middle- and lower-income people pay for their own Social Security and Medicare.
You might ask, then, if the Democrats are also suggesting that the Social Security and Medicare benefits be cut to reflect the reduced premiums?
Are you nuts?
Of course not! The benefits will remain the same! It's just that their constituents won't have to pay for them!
So, in reality the Democrats are proposing that people at the lower end of the wage scale be allowed by force of government to plunder the pockets of those who earn more, by forcing them to fork over the money for their Social Security and Medicare. That, my friends, is not a tax cut. It's more income redistribution.
Now, let's turn the clock forward a few years. We find that lower- and middle-income Americans are now getting a virtual free ride. They pay nothing in federal income taxes, and the majority of their Medicare and Social Security premiums are being covered by various tax cuts and credits. The cost of these programs has been shifted to the evil, hated rich.
When elections roll around, you find your friendly neighborhood Democrats running ads frightening their constituents with a dire warning that if the Republicans win, they'll have to pay for their own Medicare and Social Security! That's a powerful argument when you're used to a free ride.
Don't let your guard down. They're still out there – and they're absolutely convinced they'll be running the show again in just a few years. The leftists aren't defeated … they're coiling up and getting ready to strike again.
And the upcoming American electorate is undereducated in the basics of economics and our heritage - walking through a public school the other day I thought I was in Europe.
Too bad for the Dims that Americans already know the Social Security and Medicare are in serious financial trouble. It will be quite easy to protray the Dims as jeopardizing the future of Social Security. The program is already scheduled to go in the red in 2012, the Dims plan will speed that up. Oh yeah, THERE is a winning issue for them.....
The critical consideration isn't particular issues. Nor is it the newly revealed willingness of the electorate to "trust" the GOP with federal power. It's something simpler and more ominous, with very long term implications.
The Democrats are the masters of a political tactic against which even unshakeable facts and evidence will always fight an uphill struggle. That tactic is special-interest coalition building.
To build coalitions of special interests, one looks for groups that vote as a bloc around single issues, and promises them what they want. Look at the Democratic base. Its members don't agree on anything! It fragments into special interests as soon as you focus on it. Their common thread is that they all believe that Democratic officeholders will support their special interests. And how diverse those interests are:
I could go on, of course, but there's no real need. Noteworthily, the Democrats managed to tick off a critical special interest group -- firearms enthusiasts -- in 2000 and thus made George Bush President of the United States. It was their one really important error.
The central question for conservatives is how to counter this tactic. Conservatives can't use the tactic; it involves promising to pay Peter out of Paul's pocket, which is antithetical to the principles of individual liberty and limited government. But it is axiomatic that the Left will continue to use the tactic. As Boortz notes above, 97% of all federal revenue is generated by the upper 50% of the economy. Peter is indeed paying Paul for the privilege of remaining out of jail.
There remains much work to be done. Let the new GOP majorities in Congress set to their tasks, and let us set to ours -- finding a true counter-agent to the politics of plunder that the Democrats and the special interests to which they pander have wielded so sucessfully for so long.
Freedom, Wealth, and Peace,
Francis W. Porretto
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