[conservatism_IS_compassion]

I'm more concerned about the effect of excessive spending and debt on the credit rating. And additionally, that excessive participation in the economy by the government also stifles growth, so it is a lose-lose.

Although I have admitted that not all tax cuts, no matter how great, increase revenue, I do not see the prospect of tax cuts which will actually result in "massive” deficits.

If there is a bright side to the likely massive deficits that will come, short term, after a tax cut, it is that it may force movement on spending cuts, entitlement reform, etc.

. . . and that is where I emphatically agree. Jack Kemp’s seminal insight was that the GOP was in the political wilderness and would remain in the political wilderness as long as its only function was to ineffectually oppose government largess, on the one hand, and insist on raising tax rates to pay for Democrat largess, on the other.

Faced with a negotiation in which the other side gives out freebies and plays “What, me worry?” with the deficit, the only winning strategy for the Republicans was - is - to "give out” (as the Democrats would put it) tax cuts and be just as cavalier about the possibility of deficit growth as the Democrats. Any other strategy returns us to the “good old days” of chronic Democrat domination of Congress. Which went on continuously for four decades, and that’s not counting the New Deal before that, with like 4 years or so of Republican control of the House between then and 1954.

So Republican insistence on low taxes is the closest thing we have to a stabilizing force in our politics, and GHW Bush’s “Read my hips” on tax increases was all the more of a betrayal because it did not instantly cause the revenue to tank - thereby giving the Democrats a case to argue against the virtue of low tax rates. But you will notice that the resulting economy still allowed Bill Clinton defeated GHWB with an “it’s the economy, stupid” motto in ’92.

[Wayne07]

Although I have admitted that not all tax cuts, no matter how great, increase revenue, I do not see the prospect of tax cuts which will actually result in "massive” deficits.

The worry is that we are already at massive debt, and massive yearly deficit levels. If we were at balance, or only running small deficits it would be worth increasing the debt/deficit to get some growth from tax cuts. We are already looking at a ~$650 billion deficit for 2017 before tax cuts, which is shocking and horrifying.