It almost goes without saying that even if a deal is somehow reached today that would prevent a massive tax increase and defense cuts, the disgust of the public at the fiscal cliff hijinks that have gone on in Washington the last few weeks will outweigh the relief they feel. If the last-second talks between Vice President Joe Biden and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell succeed in crafting a short-term compromise that enough Democrats and Republicans can live with, the country will be spared the disaster that would ensue should the scheduled across-the-board tax increases and devastating sequestration of funds for national defense be implemented. But as much as both sides have spent more time casting aspersions at each other’s motives than negotiating in good faith, there needs to be a full accounting of why this happened in the way that it did.
To say that both Republicans and Democrats have failed in this episode is stating the obvious. But each failed in different ways and an analysis of their shortcomings tells us a lot about the direction in which the country is heading.
The Republicans failed because a critical mass of the House GOP caucus believed their mandate to stop Washington’s out-of-control spending and taxing outweighed their responsibility to keep the government running properly. The Tea Partiers were right that the country has a spending problem rather than one based in taxes that were too low, and their desire to reform the entitlements that are sinking the nation in debt brought a note of sanity to the irrational nature of the way Congress usually does business. But the idea they were empowered to stand in the way of any compromise on the debt ceiling and now the fiscal cliff was just as foolish as the refusal of the other side to address the root cause of the crisis.
After their smashing victory in the 2010 midterms, conservatives were right to say they were elected to throw a monkey wrench into the government machine even if the Senate and the White House were still controlled by the Democrats. But after the people voted to keep government divided last month, there was an obligation on the part of even the most hard-core conservatives to compromise in order to keep the government afloat. They may have been faced with a negotiating partner in the president who was working to prevent a deal since he believes he benefits politically from the implementation of the fiscal cliff taxes and cuts. Yet it would be dishonest to absolve the GOP caucus from blame here, since they were unable to pass House Speaker John Boehner’s Plan B compromise because many of them simply would not sign onto any tax increases of any kind.
Being right about policy does not excuse a political party from the need to keep the government functioning. In this case, that means the reforming zeal of many conservatives that is to be praised in principle prevented them from doing what needed to be done in practice to prevent today’s impending catastrophe. Though the public is wrong to blame Republicans more than Democrats for this mess, it isn’t wrong to see the GOP has having potentially sacrificed the well-being of the citizens for the sake of political purity.
As it turns out, the Democrats are guilty of almost the exact opposite sins.
Over the last year and a half, the president and his party correctly gauged the political effects of any discussion about entitlement reform. They knew doing anything to cut back on such spending would be unpopular even if many of them understood it was necessary. But rather than deal in good faith with the Republicans for a deal that would address the country’s long-term peril rather than merely a momentary shortfall, they spent this time engaging in demagoguery about the wealthy and their opponents. That was smart politics but bad public policy.
The tax increases they have been demanding will do little to fix the deficit. Indeed, they may prove entirely counterproductive since their soak-the-rich scheme will probably diminish the investments needed to produce robust growth instead of the anemic recovery we have been experiencing. Yet the only fact Democrats seemed capable of grasping was the one that told them that the public was dubious about the Republicans’ reform plans and that such ideas were unpopular.
That has left us with one party with sound economic principles but which lacked the willingness to compromise for the sake of the public good, and another with sound political instincts but a cynical view about policy that makes problem solving impossible. The Democrats’ intransigent cynicism is far more disreputable than the Republicans disregard for political reality, but put the two together and you get what we are currently seeing: a perfect storm of government dysfunction. If the long-term fiscal crisis is to be addressed it will require both parties to sober up and address their shortcomings.
the only disaster is the tax increases … the cuts are meaningless they are so small … n n
The Democrats are master propagandists, while the Republicans are hopelessly tongue-tied. The Democrats are rightfully convinced that their spokesmen can turn political day into night, while the Republicans can't even adequately defend the most reasonable of propositions. Boehner and McConnell are decent man, doing their best under difficult circumstances, but they're essentially legislative technicians, unable to articulate a big picture rationale for their political stands. Time and again they're maneuvered into the position of seeming to plant their flag on Defense of Rich People's Hill. n nSay what you will of Newt Gingrich, but at least he was able to get coherent arguments out of his mouth. Until someone like him emerges from the current Republican leadership, these battles are lost before they begin.
Ah Ed, you're a man of my political heart. Newt is indeed the only Republican who can articulate the big picture which is why, in some ways, he failed as Speaker. The latter, as you note about Boehner and McConnell, are expert in the nitty gritty of legislative work. Under ordinary circumstances, such people are valuable for running the trains on time, but when under the gun by the opposition(which also means the media)on serious large-scale ideological matters, they are unable to identify eloquently and convincingly the issues and what is as stake. But the problem goes even further when discussing spending cuts. The Republicans argue against government, but then argue to the public that they should be entrusted to run it. That's a very contradictory position, particularly since there are few who can define a message that convinces voters of doing both: reducing the size of government, but adequately supporting those functions government should pursue. Moreover, they are not helped by most of the loud mouth talk-show hosts who have no political skills and end up stirring up the base, making it difficult for the party leadership to practice the legislative skills they do have.
I think you've made an excellent point. I've always felt that the greatest failing of Republicans since Reagan is their inability to properly explain the essence of conservatism, which, to my mind is knowing those things that are the proper subjects of government intervention, and therefore requiring of adequate funding and competent management, and those things that are none of govenment's business, and that therefore should never be attempted. We've let liberals mendaciously define our beliefs as strictly aimed at defending the prerogatives of the rich and powerful, and hostile to all government actions, necessary and otherwise. We're in a deep hole, and it's going to take a remarkable leader to dig us out. If Obama is the liberals' messiah, conservatives are going to need at the very least a prophet!
Whatever else was uncertain, everybody knew that Republicans would retain the House going into the election in November. The American people voted for Obama anyway. n nRomney had a track-record of bi-partisan dealmaking success. Obama has no such record. n nTrue, Obama told the American people that he could be a bi-partisan leader. And the American people chose to believe him … or maybe not. Maybe we didn't believe him for a second, and voted for divided government anyway. Voted for gridlock. We are getting what we asked for. Some of the blame, surely, for the current outcome lays with the voters themselves, no?
If Mitt Romney had been half the candidate that Tobin and his sidekicks claimed him to be, we wouldn't be at the edge of the cliff today. Barak Obama would have been sent packing, and the House would continue to be a Republican-controlled branch of government. Perhaps a competent Mitt Romney could have even influenced a Republican take-over of the Senate. n nConservatives didn't lose the election. Mitt Romney was the loser. n nBTW, Ohio was Mitt Romney's for the taking, but he squandered the opportunity in big ways and small.
To RGG49: nDo you really believe that it was Mr. Romney's fault? nIf so, I have a bridge to sell, cheap! nForget about the FACT that he was, and is a decent and honorable man. nForget about the FACT that he ran because he loves America, and not that he had anything to prove, to anyone. nForget about the FACT that the MSM did their best to turn the election to Obama. nForgetting about all this, and so much more, if you're looking for someone to blame, look no further than the nearest mirror. nWe the people allowed Obama another chance to "fundamentally transform" America, and he is. nWe the people, the silent majority? nI'm not so sure any more. Either that or we've given up the principal that majority rules, it's more like minority rules. If anyone has a gripe about anything, and can get a lawyer interested, he/she rules. nWant more evidence? nWe the people sat silent while one woman and nine, unelected, black robed men threw God from my classroom. One year we started the day with a reading from the Bible, and the next year we were told it's now against the law to read the Bible in school. From then on, schools, the educational system, and most importantly, the students futures have been going down the toilet. nMy take is this, either God Himself has allowed this to take place, to test us, or we the people just don't give a crap about America any longer. nIt seems that over 30% of US stayed home on election day, that would've been more than enough to swing the election. nAll here do realize that there are only two ways to remake America into what she was intended to be. nThe first, and best way is at the ballot box. To win elections we the people must get off our backsides and GO AND VOTE! nThe second way is, or should be unthinkable.
Addendum: nI remember an America where we kids could play outside, well after dark. An America where people said hello, and please and thank you. An America where we learned how to learn in school, which is the whole purpose of primary education. At 65 I can still add, subtract, multiply, and divide in my head, how many high school graduates today, can say that. I've seen men and women in their 30's working at cash registers who scratch their heads trying to make change. I remember doing work for a few collages in the NE. Sitting in the cafeteria, eating lunch, listening to the college crowd discussing whatever, and cringed at the fact that not one of them could put together a cogent sentence. I thought it was me, until I had one of the owners with me, who happened to have a masters in engineering from MIT, and he laughed like a nut case when I pointed it out to him. He couldn't believe what this (school) was putting out. nIMHO, we MUST stop electing lawyers and career politicians to Congress. Congress was NEVER intended to be filled with lawyers, and it certainly wasn't intended to be anyone's career. nBlame we the people, we get what we elect. n"Remember, if your government isn't working for you, it's working against you."