The GOP should fear voters, not the fiscal cliff
Republicans don’t have to keep falling for the Democrats’ duplicity. The Democrats pretend the so-called “fiscal cliff” debate is about getting our financial house in order, so they propose a tax increase on people earning more than $200,000 a year (i.e., “millionaires and billionaires” in Democrat-speak), which will fund their leviathan government for all of — drumroll — four days.
These are pathologically unserious people. Their goal is not to solve the current fiscal crisis. Their goal is to use the crisis to grow government and further their statist agenda which, incidentally, created the crisis in the first place. Recall Democrat Rahm Emanuel’s unmasked moment of clarity: “You never want a serious crisis to go to waste.”
Now, in hopes of enacting their panacea of tax increases, Democrats offer spending cuts that everyone knows never will happen. What’s worse, the president calls for $255 billion in more spending. Only a Democrat would claim increased spending will reduce the deficit, and only a Republican would fall for it.
Blowback
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I can’t disagree with a word Milton Wolf says here. Problem is, even though the Republicans should fear the voters, they don’t and never will.
gryphon202 on December 6, 2012 at 9:47 AM
But the problem is that for most Republicans in office, the Democrats goals are their goals as well. They just simply talk about conservative values to get votes. But when the time comes for them to act, they are only marginally less progressive than the Democrats as a whole. So, they are enjoying this ride just as much as Obama is. They get to claim they had to destroy capitalism in order to save capitalism!
astonerii on December 6, 2012 at 9:49 AM
As a lifelong member and financial contributor the GOP is DEAD to me. I am removing my voter classification as Republican and would rather not support the party or what they have become. Our government is a joke and the liberties lost were because of both parties.
Let It Burn!
trs on December 6, 2012 at 9:50 AM
Sorry but the GOVERNMENT should fear the people, not the other way around.
MoreLiberty on December 6, 2012 at 9:53 AM
Good article.
Republicans should avoid any association with Obama’s mess, just like they did with Obamacare.
In other words, LIB.
justltl on December 6, 2012 at 9:54 AM
The moochers and grifters should fear me. I’m withdrawing from the economy next year as much as possible and will use every trick in the book to keep the takers from taking.
I even bit the bullet and created a FB account to take advantage of the local sale and barter pages just for my area. You wouldn’t believe the number of people who are working the underground economy just here where I live.
Bishop on December 6, 2012 at 9:58 AM
Welcome to the club (I to was a lifelong R and contributor). I sent my ‘disaffiliation’ letter in to the county clerk today.
batter on December 6, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Forget about whether or not the Republicans benefit or lose by this.
The important thing is to not allow Obama and the Democrats to have anyone but themselves to blame for the mess that they create.
If the Republicans participate in creating whatever monstrosity comes out of this, the Democrats will have a scapegoat for its failure.
justltl on December 6, 2012 at 10:00 AM
Oh, they fear the voters all right. Why do you think they’ve jumped into bed with the Democrats and are busy conducting purges?
Doomberg on December 6, 2012 at 10:00 AM
to = too
batter on December 6, 2012 at 10:01 AM
If things stay the way they are with the GOP, going independent or unaffiliated is exactly what it will take to make the GOP give a poop about what you think! That is the joke.
Night Owl on December 6, 2012 at 10:06 AM
Send a “copy” of this article or link or whatever to Boehner.
Boehner’s web site.
justltl on December 6, 2012 at 10:06 AM
And the fear of the voters should not be strong . . . if they stand up for principle. The cards are stacked against the Dems retaking the House in 2014. The Dems losing governorships and state legislatures has consequences. This is a majority of Red State congressional reps because there is a majority of Red State districts.
mwbri on December 6, 2012 at 10:07 AM
Yup. They weren’t elected to cave to Democrats. They were elected to oppose Democrats.
Democrats have pulled the greatest political switcheroo in history on Republicans in that now they made the Republicans fear the Democrats’ electorate instead of their own.
mintycrys on December 6, 2012 at 10:08 AM
Crybaby better not screw this up.
WisCon on December 6, 2012 at 10:09 AM
In the grand scheme of things, whether the Repubs win or lose because of this, is irrelevent. The Dems have to be forced to own it and reveal exactly what they are.
justltl on December 6, 2012 at 10:10 AM
Because they’re dumb. They think that 2012 was a repudiation of conservatism even though they didn’t run a conservative candidate. That is political misfeasance of the worst kind.
gryphon202 on December 6, 2012 at 10:24 AM
I’d rather the GOP make decisions based on the right thing to do, instead of out of fear, or out of greed, or because they want people to like them. Or at least make choices because of a strategy to achieve their goals.
But, since they’ve never used any sound reasoning, I take comfort in the fact that the GOP’s stance doesn’t matter. Reality always wins in the end. And reality dictates that Uncle Sam will eventually have to cut spending.
hawksruleva on December 6, 2012 at 10:40 AM
Sadly, this applies equally to both parties.
We’re screwed.
ElectricPhase on December 6, 2012 at 11:11 AM
Beltway Republicans have more contempt for conservative voters than they have for Marxist Democrats.
Right Mover on December 6, 2012 at 11:27 AM
Unfortunately, politics is not about governance. It’s about obtaining raw power and enjoying the trappings thereof. That’s what always happens when you concentrate political power and that’s why the founders tried to disburse and distribute it. The only way we will ever solve our currnet problems is to go back to a federalist system and fragment the power currently concentrated in Washington D.C.
tommyboy on December 6, 2012 at 11:46 AM
I know they are always talking about this, but as far as I know we still do not have that tax bracket of $200K single/$250 filing jointly. The top one percent bracket starts at $388K (35% marginal bracket) with some kind of half deal for Married filing separately. There are no examples of this yet are there? The devil is always in the details, does this mean that $125 each filing seperately or will you get 200K each filing married/separately?
Making $125K does not make you a millionaire very quickly, I am afraid at a 39% tax rate, you will never get there.
Wolf is a smart guy, I agree mostly with what he says, except, I am willing to trade upper income deductions for marginal rate reductions a la Romney. Many people who do like the rich, still think the tax accountants find things for them that others don’t see or can’t get in terms of tax breaks…crony capitalists too…all these targeted tax credits intended to shape behavior have to go. Especially the one where you buy a Chevy Volt for $40K and get a $7000 tax credit. That is not a tax credit “of the people” for god’s sake.
So, I do not agree with some of the editorializing that removing tax credits and special set asides equates with a tax hike. Because not everyone could take it. The media, of course, pro and con, will twist this to play however it wants depending on the audience. Cutting loopholes when dems remove them, and RAISING TAXES on the rich, if republicans are doing it.
Fleuries on December 6, 2012 at 12:02 PM
Yep. That’s the thing to do. THe GOP is totally worthless. They were given a mandate and a chance in 2010 (after they had committed political suicide in 2007 with their idiotic push for amnesty) but the Weeping Boner and the ineffectual idiots in the House went on to help Barky out with his insane spending and other America-hating plans. Boner and the GOP proved that they cannopt be trusted to stop the Indonesian and his lunatic leftist junta – and that is the only thing the GOP had to do. They passed debt limit raise after debt limit raise, continuing resolution after continuing resolution and never got anything in return (when the full repeal of ObamaScare should have been attached to one of those bills). And the Weeping Boner went out of his way to act as if the Tea Party was the crazy violent group that the lunatic left lied about (as if) while at the same time he had to explain that he “understood” the crazy, violent, rapey Occupoopers (who didn’t even understand themselves).
It’s far past enough from the GOP. They are totally useless. My last GOP vote was in 2012 for a last ditch effort to possibly restore America, but the GOP couldn’t play that correctly, either. So, we are far past the point of no return. There is really only national divorce, now (I share nothing with anyone who voted for the Indonesian or supports him in any way and want nothing to do with any of those slimebags) and until that divorce I won’t have anything to do with the GOP.
The GOP tried so hard to kill itself with amnesty and it just about did. They were saved from themselves by the Tea Party but they blew that and are now working to make sure that their suicide run is completed. It shall be. Re-electing the Weeping Boner and his leadership idiots in the new Congress only solidified the notion that the GOP is a total POS that must be relegated to the trash heap of history. Boner should have been unceremoniously thrown out of leadership back in March 2011 when it was clear that he was a total failure … but they kept him on and kept him in power after the disaster of 2012. That’s it.
ThePrimordialOrderedPair on December 6, 2012 at 12:16 PM
Bishop on December 6, 2012 at 9:58 AM
Best news!!!
Schadenfreude on December 6, 2012 at 12:39 PM
Well said. I am going to flag his site. He is a good communicator
The DEMS have a formula. As soon as the GOP gives an inch, the WH will seize it, blow it, and demand another inch.
This is how the Unions hog tied the auto companies as management computed how long they had to survive to get to the golden parachute, and ceded territory to the unions to get there
The fiscal cliff was used to get Boehner and his Club out of their last perceived jam. It was staged so Obama, if re elected, could use it as a club coming out of the gate. No wonder Obama signed it
You can assume two things:
1. Obama wants taxes and spending freedom in any deal
2. He wants the deal to be incompetent so he can move quickly to demand more as soon as the first deal is depleted and failing
The cliff is the only deal that cannot be held hostage. No one has to beg to get Obama to sign it. The MSM cannot leverage this bill.
entagor on December 6, 2012 at 12:50 PM
After I made my post:
I read the other Headline, Daniel Henniger, Obama’s ruinous course from the WSJ
he said the same thing better:
entagor on December 6, 2012 at 1:04 PM