The GOP’s Establishment Is More Populist Than Its Trumpists

Nymag.com ^ | 3/3/21 | Eric Levitz

[nathanbedford]

I think tariffs can and should replace the income tax but it could not replace the payroll tax(es) for medicare and SS. I find it curious that you like the redistributive Social Security and Medicare programs and like them enough to tax for them. I note that both tariffs and these taxes are regressive and hardly purebred populism. What if I like other programs do I get to tax for them?

We seem to have strayed away from the original topic which was Mitt Romney's brand of populism as a more successful vote-getter. Donald Trump's move for tariffs was billed not so much as a revenue source, although he fudged that issue by claiming the Chinese paid for the tariffs, as it was a fix for the economy because it would bring industry and jobs home.

Is it now a means, like an article 5 amendment requiring a balanced budget, to starve the federal beast? If it is, who gets to carve out the exceptions? Will it sell at the ballot box without so many exceptions as to render it hopelessly inadequate?

[nathanbedford]

Evidently as an octoroon she was not so black but the dead image of her half-sister, Jefferson's deceased wife, who was white. In any event she was reported to be a stunner. Can you imagine Thomas Jefferson's surprise when he beheld her as she stepped off the boat and arrived in Paris at the age of 14 or 15?

Was Mr. Jefferson our first pederast in addition to being by definition an abuser of the master servant relationship?

[Sirius Lee]

Was Mr. Jefferson our first pederast in addition to being by definition an abuser of the master servant relationship?

Maybe. Social norms were different in the South, even up until the early 20th century. My grandmother married at the age of 14 growing up near the FL/GA line.

[nathanbedford]

Evidently she was not without her weapons in the battle of the sexes even in a master servant relationship where her weapons were limited to her physical attractions, she reportedly negotiated her freedom and the freedom of her children in exchange for not claiming free status in Paris and agreeing to return with Jefferson to Virginia.

Jefferson at least kept this bargain.

[sacjones]

The stupid party establishment continues to just not get it. They didn’t lose those seats because of Trump’s agenda, they lost them because they fought against his agenda.

Paul Ryan cost them the house, and Mittens, Murkowski, Sasse et al cost them the Senate. The people WANT tight borders, low taxes, and an America first agenda. they DON’T want weak-willed sniveling cowards that are more concerned with what the media thinks than the voters.

[central_va]

I find it curious that you like the redistributive Social Security and Medicare programs and like them enough to tax for them.

Gen. Forest I didn't say that. I said tariffs can't cover SS. If you want to discuss how to finance what some call the SS ponzi scheme then I would do it with A National Retail Sales Tax NRST. But I would call it the Social security sales tax.

Tariffs raise revenue and promote domestic industry it's a WIN - WIN. They are also voluntary, don't buy don't pay.