How Come We Can’t Just All Get Along
Ed Kilgore, managing editor of The Democratic Strategist, looks at why bipartisanship will not play a role over the next two years and says, “this state of affairs has largely been caused by disagreements over principle, rather than gamesmanship or hunger for power.”
The truth is that, due to the ideological sorting-out of the parties over the past several decades–and in particular the hyper-radicalization of the GOP since 2006–our political system is in the throes of a battle over fundamentals. Democrats and Republicans are engaged in the most intractable face-off over core philosophical questions that Washington has seen in a very long time.
The four issues Kilgore looks at are Economic Recovery, Progressive Taxation, and American Exceptionalism. Kilgore gives a good example of an impass and how Obama and Congress will not be able to proceed.
. . . the parties are not as far apart philosophically on this issue [long-term budget deficit] as on the four questions above; both conservatives and liberals acknowledge the harm of accumulating long-term debt. But, while conservatives are positively disposed toward entitlement cuts, any deficit deal will be a fantasy if it does not include tax increases–and those are anathema to conservatives. The alternative is a budget that cuts entitlements so far that rank-and-file Democrats will never agree to it.
The whole post is just over 1,000 words and well your time to read.
Tags: Politics
any deficit deal will be a fantasy if it does not include tax increases–and those are anathema to conservatives. The alternative is a budget that cuts entitlements so far that rank-and-file Democrats will never agree to it.
I used to think it was a fantasy that Democrats would vote for tax cuts for the rich.
But we are in a brave new world, and anything is possible now. For the first time, Social Security and Medicare/Medicaid are threatened from both sides of the aisle. Everything is on the table.
Ordinary Americans will not understand what is happening until they begin to feel the effects of whatever godawful compromise Obama signs. By the time they figure out what hit them it will be too late, with nothing left to do but clip cat food coupons.
Extending the Bush tax cuts was a major mistake. There is not one fiscally conservative argument that supports the tax cuts. Not when they were first enacted, and especially not now.
The “create jobs” argument defies all logic and all evidence is to the contrary.