Posted on 01/26/2009 5:31:41 AM PST by rabscuttle385
Even without the election of Barack Obama and Democratic gains in Congress, conservatives were going to have to reassess much of their philosophy on the key issues of taxing and spending. The financial crisis has already led to a vast expansion of spending, and even if John McCain had won, there was going to be a lot more to come. The aging of the baby boom generation alone means there will be increasing demands for Social Security, Medicare and other programs for the elderly in coming years. (The first baby boomer turns 65 in 2011.)
Moreover, Americans’ zeal for tax cutting — the Republicans’ best issue for the past 30 years — has clearly waned. A Wall Street Journal/NBC News poll shows Americans now favoring the Democrats on taxes, and polls by Gallup, Rasmussen, and Harris show an increased willingness to tax the rich and redistribute income.
Given this reality, conservatives must adapt. If they continue to insist upon rolling back the welfare state by using tax cuts to “starve the beast” or privatize Social Security and Medicare, they will fail. There is simply no appetite for big spending cuts or the radical restructuring of programs that benefit a huge percentage of Americans, especially when there has been a severe downturn in the stock market that has wiped out trillions of dollars in retirement savings.
. . . . .
Even Ronald Reagan accepted the permanence of the welfare state and the need to pay for what has been promised to our senior citizens. This is most apparent with the Social Security rescue in 1983, which left benefits virtually untouched but raised taxes sharply to keep the system solvent.
(Excerpt) Read more at politico.com ...
OR the GOP can find some people to resell these concepts to the people. No one is promoting these ideas nationally, and no has sold the idea of limiting the Federal government in a decade. Of course public opinion is not in our favor.
Also, FTA:
Bruce Bartlett worked in the Reagan White House and at the Treasury Department under President George H.W. Bush.
Now we know who was poisoning the water hole.
If and when conservatives regain power, our leadership must be surrounded by actual republican and conservative (small-r, small-c) advisers. Otherwise, all you'll get is a slowdown in the growth of Federal Government rather than an actual contraction in size.
Conservatives must adapt to welfare state....
....conservatives who adapt to the welfare state were never really conservatives anyway.....
Conservatives have had many opportunities to tear down the welfare state, and have not done so.
The conservative of today is the liberal of 40 years ago
The liberal of today is the treasonous copmmunist of 40 years ago
Reagan accepted the reality of the welfare state because the cold war was still on, and decided that he couldn’t go to war with Congress and the Soviets at the same time.
These people act like there is wealth and prosperity on tap as far as the eye can see while any moment now, the entire economy could come crashing down.
now how in the heck does that fit in with 'yes we can' si se pueda?
republicans held a what, 4 to 6percent unemploymment rate, right? now the hints are coming stronger, that we need to be mainly concerned with how we are going to fork over more bucks so the welfare class can increase 50% in 10 years? ya...no. Why should I focus on how to develop the democrats' voting base for them? com'n...
Now it seems to me, after the Great Bankingrobbery of 2009, we have a few extra million unemployed, a lot of them very smart people, too, and we now need to get them to work, but seeing probably all their savings have been wiped out, the only logical thing to do would be for the government to open the discount window per se, flood these smart people with business-plans in hand, with zero-interest small-business loans, and let these folks run with the ball. America's backbone is small business. America needs to encourage our innovators to take out loans to start businesses to hire people who will pay taxes.
Accepting a welfare state slated to grow 50% in a decade is not only illogical, it's counterproductive to the President's slogan, 'yes we can, si se pueda'
who Are all these gloom-bunnies, anyway?
Exactly.
If conservatives embrace the welfare state per the author's logic, we must also assume that the economy will always be humming along, a wholly faulty assumption. When the economy falters (or appears to do so), as it's doing so now, no thanks to the intrusions of Big Government, disillusioned people will turn to Socialist snake oil salesmen for "hope" and "change."
The “concept of what one might call a welfare state” appeared during the Abbasid Caliphate in the 8th century. The concepts of welfare and pension were introduced in early Islamic law as forms of Zakat (charity), one of the five Pillars of Islam, since the time of Caliph al-Mansur. The taxes (including Zakat and Jizya) collected in the treasury of an Islamic government was used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. According to the Islamic jurist Al-Ghazali (Algazel, 1058-1111), the government was also expected to store up food supplies in every region in case a disaster or famine occurred.[6]
From wikipedia ......... -------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Maybe one day after a decade or so the encylopedia will have an entry like this :
The concept of what one might call a welfare state; appeared in the U.S. during the reign of Caliphate Obama Hussein in the 21 st century. The concepts of welfare and redistribution of income were introduced in early Obamanuism law as forms of (charity), one of the five Pillars of Obamanuism . The taxes collected in the treasury of an government was used to provide income for the needy, including the poor, elderly, orphans, widows, and the disabled. the government was also expected to use the taxes to fund domestic and overseas abortions . Caliphate Obama Hussein second wife Nancy Peolosi stated that BIRTH CONTROL would HELP the ECONOMY .
Dunno ‘bout us conservatives, but the GOP seems to adapted to the welfare state just fine...
We (Conservatives) have a problem.
We can’t sell tax cuts to the electorate any more. Almost half of them are not paying taxes.
Limited Government doesn’t sell either. They electorate is looking for “free stuff” now: bread and circuses from the government.
The electorate doesn’t want to be responsible. The modern world worships “youth.” Adults are acting children, not adults. They don’t want to be responsible. They want to play.
What we need is limited franchise, limited to those who accept responsibility and pay the bills for government, but that is “racist,” “elitist” and otherwise unacceptable.
The race to bottom is almost over...
“When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bonds which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and of nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.”
LLS
Resistance is futile! You will be assimilated!
Why don’t all Republicans just join the Democratic party? That will ensure that they are in the majority party. Problem solved!
You don't understand the author. He's mainly just describing political reality, not his personal preferences.
I wrote my book so that Republicans and conservatives can start a debate about the future of the party and the movement. If we wait until 2008, it will be much too late. It is important for potential Republican presidential nominees to start thinking about and articulating a vision for the future now. And Republican voters need to ask themselves whether they are satisfied with the direction George W. Bush has led them or whether they would really prefer to get back to the policies and philosophy of Ronald Reagan.
For this reason, I think there is a better case for stimulating the economy through tax policy than has been made. Congress can change incentives instantly by, for example, saying that new investments in machinery and equipment made after today would qualify for a 10% Investment Tax Credit, and this measure would be in effect only for investments largely completed this year. Businesses will start placing orders tomorrow. By contrast, it will take many months before spending on public works begins to flow through the economy, and it is very hard to stop it when the economy turns around.Stimulus based on private investment also has the added virtue of establishing a foundation for future growth, whereas consumption spending does not. As economist Hal Varian of the University of California at Berkeley recently put it, "Private investment is what makes possible future increases in production and consumption. Investment tax credits or other subsidies for private sector investment are not as politically appealing as tax cuts for consumers or increases in government expenditure. But if private investment doesn't increase, where will the extra consumption come from in the future?"
Bruce Bartlett is a former Treasury Department economist and the author of Reaganomics: Supply-Side Economics in Action and Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. He writes a weekly column for Forbes.com.
If and when conservatives regain power, our leadership must be surrounded by actual republican and conservative (small-r, small-c) advisers. Otherwise, all you'll get is a slowdown in the growth of Federal Government rather than an actual contraction in size.
The reality is that the rats allowed their candidates for the House and Senate to move to the right on gun control and abortion since 2006. Their margins increased over 50 seats in the House and 14 seats in the Senate. GWB promised No Child Left Behind and the Medicare Drug Benefit in the 2000 campaign. IIRC, GWB still lost the popular vote by 500,000 votes. I don't like it, but it's political reality. That's why the rats pander so effectively. The rats are going after the middle class with entitlement programs every chance they get. Bank on it. It's their plan. Democrats seek tax perks for slices of middle class
The author has explained why. What happens is that the Democrats hook people on these programs and they become too popular to dismantle. The best the conservative Republicans were able to do was close down some programs in the 1980s and 1990s and enact welfare reform. The best you can do is slowly reduce the burden of Government. More should be done, but that requires convincing a majority that Government spending should be smaller.
The other effective thing Republicans did was lower the price of Govt via improved taxation.
Bartlett is no liberal. He was a WSJ oped editor and a conservative. he is telling it like it is, from his view. He doesnt like this reality.
I don't agree with him though - we can and we should make the case for smaller Government, in an explicit and open way. My proposal is simple: THE 15% SOLUTION. This idea says that the Federal Government should be required to spend no more than 15% of GDP, and if it spends more than that, the next years budget should be no more than population+inflation of previous year. Super-majorities should be needed to raise taxes and spending above that.
Now, if people start agreeing to the '15% solution' it gets to be about limiting Government overall, and not about sticking it to one program. The reason invidual programs are popular is simply that if govt is giving away money everyone wants a piece of the action and so will support 'their program'.
“The best you can do is slowly reduce the burden of Government. More should be done, but that requires convincing a majority that Government spending should be smaller”
Yeah that’s right, but we need to communicate with people. There’s no point enacting good laws when the dims own the media & paint everything we do as evil
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