The GOP's Working Class Muddle (Santorum, Romney and class-warfare)

WSJ (opinion, editorial) ^ | January 6, 2012 | Kimberley A. Strassel

[CutePuppy]

< snip > ..... If Republicans have an opening this year, it is with the white working class, a crowd the Democratic Party has been hemorrhaging for decades. Barack Obama did better than John Kerry or Al Gore with these voters, though even he earned just 43% of their vote. ..... < snip >

..... The white working class will make up as much as 55% of the vote in states like Ohio and Pennsylvania. ..... < snip >

..... And so at the heart of the Santorum agenda are policies designed to give special handouts to the working class, simply because they are the working class — and even then only to segments of this group. That's behind Mr. Santorum's zero corporate tax on manufacturers, which benefits only Americans working in manufacturing. (Job at Wal-Mart? No soup for you!) It's behind his plan to triple the child tax credit, which benefits only Americans fortunate enough to have a child. (Stalled love life? No soup for you, either!) Call it preferential populism.

< snip > ..... Mr. Romney wants Americans to know that he is in the tank for the middle class. He's seeking to channel their economic anger with his protectionist stances against China. He wants them to know that he's not "for tax cuts for the rich," because the "rich can take care of themselves." ..... < snip >

..... What both campaigns are in fact doing is following Democrats down the class-warfare rabbit hole. Spooked by the Democrats' inequality theme, the Romney and Santorum campaigns are taking the narrow view, catering to the blue-collar vote, playing the class game. ..... < snip >

..... These are mistakes Ronald Reagan would never have made. ..... < snip >

[CutePuppy]

It wasn't a slip of the tongue on Romney's part, it's a deliberate strategy by both Romney and Santorum ... down the class-warfare rabbit hole... "We are for/from the Big Government and we want to help you."

Is this a Tea Party message, Reagan's message?

Reagan was great at identifying with Everyman, but he never pitted the classes against each other. He understood the winning politics of growth and how to tie the aspirations of average earners with those more successful. His was a message of opportunity and optimism...

Good details in the article from nearly a month ago; more from Kimberely Strassel: Romney and Santorum class-warfare for middle-class

[Paladin2]

What about the John Galt class?

[cripplecreek]

So what do you think Gingrich means when he talks about “incentivizing” flex fuel vehicles?

Its either a special tax break or a subsidy for a specific industry.

[cripplecreek]

BTW, people who work at Walmart are paying little if anything in taxes anyway. (and I’m actually fine with that because they’re the working “poor”.)

My sister has worked at Walmart for more than a decade and her tax rebate adds up to what she pays in.

[erkelly]

Actually, the article is wrong, zero corporate income tax would benefit everyone (not that I want a Romney/Santorum or Romney anything ticket.)

[DJ MacWoW]

Proposed Seal for the United States

Click The Pic To Support FR

[cripplecreek]

Less corporate taxes means more money available for growth which means more employees hired and making money and buying things.

We need to “incentivize” all industry big and small(Cut all federal taxes).

[ex-snook]

"If Republicans have an opening this year, it is with the white working class, a crowd the Democratic Party has been hemorrhaging for decades."

Sure there is an opening but Obama is beating them to the door. The white WORKING class want to have a job with enough income to support a family, buy a home, educate their kids, able to see a doctor when sick and put money aside so they don't have to retire eating dog food.

How should the working class view the GOP that thinks their union is evil and their exporting jobs raises Wall Street values? Romney makes more in a day while campaigning than they make in a year busting their arse.

Yes, Reagan Democrats supported the GOP when the GOP supported them. Conserving the working class should be the main aim of conservatives.

[Paperdoll]

I will vote for Santurum. To understand Rombama, you have to understand Mormonism, which even 90% ov Mormons fail too.

But Romney is held in awe by the majority of Mormons because he is a Temple Mormon, a Bishop at the top of the ladder of the Secret Society.

I hope more voters read “The God Makers” very soon. Our future depends on an educated Electorate!

[ansel12]

I think that will be my tagline for awhile.

[BfloGuy]

the article is wrong, zero corporate income tax would benefit everyone

Santorum isn't proposing that. His plan calls for reduced corporate tax rates -- but zero for manufacturers. Rates should be cut for all business equally and then let us decide where we'll invest our capital.

We've had enough government "engineering" of the economy.

[Paperdoll]

I just heard on ABC that Trump has endorsed Rombama!

[familyop]

There’s something else that most readers are uneducated and ignorant about. Both have been culturally steeped in romanticism (feminism, etc.).

As revenues continue to shrink, and government spending, to expand and enlarge, they’ll destroy the next class of families then help to take everything from them: the upper-middle class families. Here’s some information about the folks currently controlling politics in both parties.

America’s Ruling Class — And the Perils of Revolution
http://spectator.org/archives/2010/07/16/americas-ruling-class-and-the/print

The Fragmenting of the New Class Elites, or, Downward Mobility
http://volokh.com/2011/10/31/the-fragmenting-of-the-new-class-elites-or-downward-mobility/

Environmentalism and the Leisure Class
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2835601/posts

[CutePuppy]

America's Ruling Class, New Class Elites, Leisure Class -- different names for the same ruling class of Harvard-Yale-Princeton elite (Bush-Clinton-Bush-Kerry-Obama-Romney...)

Thanks for the articles, long but very interesting read. Certainly helps explain to the uninitiated the chummy relationship between Bushes and Clinton and Obama... they are members of essentially the same "kinder, gentler, compassionate, safety-net, we-do-it-for-your-own-good-because-we-know-better" class.