Republicans: Don't Compromise Yourselves into Oblivion

Throughout his short-lived Presidential Campaign, Gov. Bobby Jindal (R-LA) lamented the fact that many conservatives feel that they have to “hide their principles” in order to win elections.  I happen to find it even sadder when conservatives continue to “hide their principles” after they have won their elections. 

 

For one thing, Republicans appear to have completely lost confidence in the idea of free-market healthcare reform.  They tried passing a “skinny repeal” in order to appease the Moderate Republicans; that didn’t work.  A majority of Republicans could not even agree on a clean repeal of Obamacare despite the fact that nearly all of them had voted in favor of it when they knew President Obama would veto it.  When they actually had a chance to axe the healthcare law and provide relief to millions of Americans, they chickened out.

 

On Capitol Hell (sic), Republicans in both houses of Congress have released their tax reform plans.  Congressional Republicans desperately yearn for a legislative accomplishment in the wake of their failure to repeal and replace Obamacare.  I really liked the Rand Paul commercial where he asks viewers how they would like to kill the 70,000-page tax code; giving them the options of burning it and cutting it up with a woodchipper or chainsaw.  He promised to shorten the tax code to one page and institute a flat tax of 14.5 percent.  The House’s tax reform plan stands at 400 pages; quite an improvement from 70,000 pages but still very complicated.   The House plan initially called for three tax brackets of 12, 25 and 35 percent; but decided to keep the top rate of 39.6 percent for people making more than $1 million; apparently losing confidence in the principles of supply-side economics.  The Senate plan calls for lowering the top rate to 38.5 percent. 

 

The priorities of tax reform include simplifying the tax code and stimulating the American economy, which has enjoyed abysmal economic growth rates during the Obama years.  Congressional leaders have promised to make the taxpaying experience a little less painful; saying that tax reform will allow most Americans to fill out their taxes on a postcard.   The best way to stimulate the economy is to lower our corporate tax rate; which currently sits at 35 percent, one of the highest in the world.   The high corporate tax rate encourages businesses to move overseas rather than do business right here in the United States.  President Trump initially said he wished to see the corporate tax rate lowered to 15 percent.  The plans put forth by Congress lower it to 20 percent.  Both houses of Congress understand the importance of lowering the corporate tax reform yet the Senate plan foolishly calls for delaying the implementation of the corporate tax cuts for a year. At this point, some of the differences between the House and Senate plans seem irreconcilable.  Leaders on Capitol Hill have assured the American people that this is all part of the legislative process.  Watching the sausage get made almost makes me want to become a vegetarian, figuratively speaking.  Check out this article for a summary of some of the key differences between the House and Senate plans.

 

Not surprisingly, the Democrats have resorted to their age-old playbook of calling the Republicans’ tax reform plan a giveaway to the rich.  Yet rich people in blue states probably don’t like one aspect of the tax reform plan that eliminates the deductions for state and local taxes.  The Senate version completely abolishes the property tax deduction while the House version allows people to deduct their property taxes up to $10,000.  Several House Republicans who represent blue states have indicated they will vote no on tax reform if the final completely abolishes the “SALT” deductions.

 

Surprisingly, the Democrats have expressed concerns about the budget deficit that may result from tax reform.  The “nonpartisan” Congressional Budget Office predicts that the House tax reform will raise the deficit by $1.7 trillion over 10 years; these predictions do not account for the possibility of economic growth. I have a few ideas on how to keep the deficit from skyrocketing.  Defunding Planned Parenthood and the National Endowment for the Arts would save the Federal Government about $600 million a year.  Multiply that by ten years and the Feds will save $6 billion by not funding these Democratic pet projects.  Deficit-conscious conservatives should relish the fact that the Senate added a provision to their tax reform proposal that would repeal the individual mandate of Obamacare; which would lower the deficit by $338 billion over the next decade.  I have a hard time believing Obamacare lovers like Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and John McCain would jump on board with that idea.   John McCain would not even vote for the block grant proposal that his BFF Lindsey Graham spearheaded.  We could also save a lot of money in the long run by not allowing immigrants into our country that put an enormous strain on our social services, thus increasing the deficit even further.             

 

Speaking of immigration, the Democrats have indicated that they may shut down the government if the upcoming spending bill to fund the government does not include a legislative version of DACA, President Obama’s executive order that shielded nearly a million illegal immigrants brought to the country as children from deportation.  Republicans should realize that if they do not demand the passage of the RAISE Act, abolition of chain migration and the construction of the border wall, every single election season will start with this electoral map.  While the electoral math may change as a result of future Censuses, the shading on this map will remain constant if the Democrats have their way.   Population projections indicate that many of the states colored in blue will gain seats in the House of Representtaives after the next Census while many of the key swing states that put President Trump in the White House will lose seats.  That means it will become even harder for Republicans to win the Electoral College.   

 

The immigration debate shows the ineptness of Republicans' deal-making skills.  A report from Axios says Democrats expect Republicans to sign DACA into law with no concessions.  We’ve seen this movie before.  31 years ago, many Republicans agreed to amnesty several million illegal immigrants with the promise of more border security in the future.  The 1986 amnesty has already turned California into a deep blue state and recent election results show that Colorado, Nevada, New Mexico, and Virginia may be heading that way.  Should the 2018 amnesty go into effect, Republicans might as well start kissing Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Arizona goodbye as well.  Sometimes I wonder if Republicans actually want to become a permanent minority.  Then they would never have to worry about receiving blame for the problems in the country.         

 

In the years leading up to the 2016 Presidential Election, Sean Hannity expressed his dissent with both parties; saying “I think the Democratic Party is a socialist party.  I think the Republican Party is a timid party.”  Voters agreed and chose Donald Trump, the least timid man on Earth, as their nominee.  Many members of Congress still have not gotten the message that voters hunger for leaders who will stand up for their principles.  If Republicans keep giving away their leverage, a series of unfortunate events will lead to them becoming a permanent minority.  Conservative voters may decide to abandon them if they fail to serve as effective stewards of conservatism.  If amnesty gets passed before or after that happens, the demographic tsunami of welfare-dependent voters will permanently shut Republicans out of power at the national level.  I have a message for all Congressional Republicans; stand firm on your principles, don’t compromise yourselves into oblivion.