In listening to the political ads that flood the airways these days, it struck me as I was listening to an ad for the Montana Republican Senate candidate for the seat currently held by incumbent, Steve Daines, that the mantra espoused by virtually all Republican candidates is pretty much the same – cut taxes to create jobs, support from the NRA for gun rights, support for ‘the Constitution’ by confirming conservative judges. That’s it. That’s the playbook.
My question is, “How the hell are those policies going to address and solve some of the most serious and existential problems facing this country today?” Climate change is real and is a threat. Health care, particularly amidst a pandemic, is a problem. The Republicans offer nothing to replace the Affordable Care Act. Given that the NRA is currently under investigation, I’m not sure that an endorsement from the organization is a plus. And the whole hypocritical process that is being used to ram through the nomination of Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court should not be anything to be proud of for anyone with principles.
Let me start with ‘cutting taxes.’ The national debt has sky rocketed under Trump; and that was true even before the COVID crisis hit. It is now at its highest level since just after World War II. If you just do some simple math, ‘cutting taxes’ is an absurd way to address this problem. The standard Republican argument is that if you reduce taxes that will lead to investments that will create jobs and that job growth will more than offset the tax cuts. The problem is that this strategy will only work in limited situations. For example, when Reagan took office, the tax rate for anyone making over $108,000 was 70%. He cut that down to 28% for anyone making $18,500. This along with a cut in corporate debt did help spur the economy. However, it was also helped by a large increase in government spending which almost tripled the national debt during his presidency.
The whole economic theory behind ‘tax cuts’ is something called the Laffer curve. The fact is, it is only applicable when the tax rates are ‘prohibitive’, generally said to be in the 100% to 50% range. The current tax rates are well below that already so the whole theory behind the Laffer curves and tax cuts is not applicable. But the Republicans continue to make this argument. The only thing that will happen with further tax cuts will be to make the wealthy richer and add to the national debt. The Republicans used to be the party that really cared about the national debt. Where are all of those fiscal hawks now? I guess they must have had too many glasses of ‘Trump-ade’.
Of course, NRA support is also a standard talking point for Republicans. This is because everyone needs an AR-15, hand guns with high capacity magazines, and should not be subjected to any kind of background check. Just because the CEO of the NRA is currently under criminal investigation seems to be of little concern to Republicans. But all of that said, I am still having trouble understanding which of the large problems facing America this policy is going to solve. Everyone gets to have a gun – whoopee! Doesn’t do much for me – I already have firearms. And I’m sure as hell not concerned about background checks given my career in the defense business and all of the clearances I had. My guess is the government knows more about me than I know about me. It doesn’t bother me and I’m baffled why that troubles people so much.
Another big talking point of late has been the need to appoint conservative judges. If you read Professor Richardson’s blog yesterday, you know that in spite of all of the talk about conservative judges and their impact on potential adverse impact on abortion rights, LGBT rights and the Affordable Care Act, what is really going on is a power grab by corporate America. Corporations want to be able to run their companies however they want with as little regulation as possible. The hope is that a conservative bench will roll back regulations. Many of us remember having to read, The Jungle, by Upton Sinclair in high school. I guess if the Koch brothers had their way, that’s the type of corporate freedom they would prefer.
Tax cuts might put a few extra bucks in Joe Average’s pocket today, but they will put lots of bucks in Richie Rich’s pocket. Joe Average can own a wide assortment of guns – which perhaps he can pay for with his tax ‘windfall’. Richie Rich doesn’t need a gun – he can hire people with guns. Rolling back corporate regulations doesn’t do much for Joe Average but puts even more bucks in Richie Rich’s pocket.
I guess I must be missing something. I can’t see where any of these Republican policies are going to do anything to solve things like: climate change; racial injustice; soaring student debt; widening gap between the rich and the poor; dwindling middle class; lack of affordable health care; a significantly increasing national debt; and Social Security and Medicare systems facing serious financial issues.
The bottom line is that, in my opinion, there is zero creative thinking in the Trump Republican Party. The country is changing. The world is changing. And the Republican Party is still singing the same old song. There are some serious problems facing this country that will require innovative and bold thinking. The Republicans have demonstrated to me that they are incapable of such thinking. Perhaps if they spent as many brain cells trying to solve real problems as they do trying to figure out how to suppress votes, gerrymander districts and pack courts, the country would be better off. But I guess they’ve made their choice. Have another glass of Trump-ade! Bottoms up!