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July 04, 2005
Just Say No to "Just Say No"
Not to insult my future place of employment's cofounder or anything, but Robert Reich is counting his chickens a bit early here:
“Just say no” has been a winning strategy for Democrats. Social Security privatization looks dead. Ditto with “progressive indexing” of Social Security benefits. CAFTA (the Central American Free Trade Agreement) is on its last legs. Tax “reform” is a nonstarter. But if the Democratic Party is to win back the Senate or the House in 2006 and the presidency in 2008, it needs a positive agenda.
Err, not so fast there. CAFTA passed (or will do so as soon as the lockstep Republican House considers it), though, to be fair, not before the magazine was printed. Nevertheless, Reich shouldn't have assumed it's defeat, and that he did shows how overconfident Democrats are getting in the wake of recent successes. But tax reform isn't a nonstarter, it just hasn't started. And as for saying no, Democrats really didn't do that. If we'd voted down privatization, that would have been a simple "no". What we did, rather, was fan out across the country and propose the alternate policy of no cuts, a continuation of guaranteed benefits, and a fiscally sounder program.
As it happened, the country agreed with our vision of Social Security, and a critical mass of Republicans read those polls and fled the President's idea. But Social Security is as good as it gets for Democrats; it's our strongest issue and one of the Republic's most cherished programs. Tax reform won't afford us the same advantages. And there, as here, we'll have to argue for our vision of taxation, similar in structure to what we have now but different from what the Republicans will want implemented. And there, as here, we'll be attacked for simply saying no and lacking ideas. But that won't be true. We'll be defending the ideas we've always believed in, the ideas that have become American policy and Republican targets. Republicans can label it "just saying no", though it's really a bunch of sore losers trying to reopen a battle they long ago lost. Democrats shouldn't buy into the spin.
July 4, 2005 in Electoral Politics | Permalink
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Comments
CAFTA is in fact in serious trouble in the House - thanks in part to unified Democratic opposition. And the sugar industry. Whether this is good policy is another question, but Reich's statement is at least provisionally on target.
Posted by: edgeofkaos | Jul 5, 2005 12:09:52 AM
Democrats do have an "idea" if they want to run with it: the rich should pay tax rates as high or HIGHER than the middle class. Taxes on capital income should be as high or HIGHER than on labor income. Marginal income tax rates for corporate executives should be HIGHER than the marginal tax rates facing the average worker bee. This used to be called progressive taxation, and it was recognized that the federal income tax had to be substantially MORE PROGRESSIVE than other taxes, to balance out regressive taxes. Taxes, not borrowing, should be the mainstay of government; in normal economic times, the government should be paying down its debt.
Fiscal responsibility and progressive taxation.
People need to know that for 30 years EVERY Republican economic policy, public and private, has been aimed at transferring risk to the middle class, and income to the very, very rich. Democrats need to be able to explain how this is so, on every issue from corporate pensions, to unemployment insurance to student loans to social security, and on and on.
People need to know that increases in income come from increases in productivity, and people need to hear that, since 2000, almost all the increased income from increasing productivity has gone to corporations and the very wealthy, and they are paying some of the lowest tax rates on that increased income. Every bit of increased income to the salary and wage earning middle class, and more, has been eaten up by increases in health costs. Health costs are increasing at a record pace, and those increases are a political choice. Health costs are increasing at a rapid pace because Bush wants them to.
Posted by: Bruce Wilder | Jul 5, 2005 12:12:35 AM
Grammar nitpick. Ezra, you wrote "Nevertheless, Reich shouldn't have assumed it's defeat..."
You mean its
it's= contraction of it is
its= possessive of its
Big-time fancy writers need to make sure they get this stuff right. MY shouldn't be positively proud that he can't spell.
Posted by: Abby | Jul 5, 2005 7:28:36 AM
...the rich should pay tax rates as high or HIGHER than the middle class. Taxes on capital income should be as high or HIGHER than on labor income. Marginal income tax rates for corporate executives should be HIGHER than the marginal tax rates facing the average worker bee.
Wow! This guy needs a couple of courses in Macroeconomics and theroy of taxation. It appears that his taxation goals are not to raise the maximum amount of revenue in a fair and eqitable manner, but to use the power of taxation in a war against those who produce.
Posted by: Robert Zimmerman | Jul 5, 2005 1:32:10 PM
Usually a court assesses against those with the ability to pay. It's not too exotic a ploy for the taxman.
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