Maybe it was appropriate that leaders of the Republican Party gathered at a Virginia hardware store to unveil their “Pledge to America.” Under this plan, the United States would get hammered.
The GOP pledge is a collection of warmed-over rhetoric, little or no different from what the party has been saying for close to two decades. It rightly left both liberals and many conservatives less than impressed.
Its backers did get a couple things right.
“Across America, the people see a government in Washington that isn’t listening, doesn’t get it and doesn’t care,” said House Republican leader John Boehner of Ohio.
Americans definitely are frustrated, but the lack of thought that went into this plan is not the panacea for that condition.
For instance, Republicans pledge to maintain all the so-called Bush tax cuts. But how do these newly converted deficit hawks propose to adjust the budget for the estimated $3.7 trillion the tax cuts will take out of government coffers in the next 10 years?
Well, first maintain “robust” defense spending. Then don’t talk about Social Security or Medicare. The pledge mentions “hard caps” on non-entitlement spending, and reducing budgets to pre-meltdown levels. But leveling off some of the smaller areas of government spending while forgoing more tax revenue doesn’t fix a broken system.
“When they talk about cutting government spending to pre-stimulus, pre-bailout levels, they immediately exclude seniors, veterans and defense from that promise. … That leaves a pretty small slice of pie to be whittling away at,” said Steve Ellis, vice president of the nonpartisan budget watchdog Taxpayers for Common Sense.
Using the Congressional Budget Office’s math, and the GOP claims, the pledge would lead to higher deficits than President Barack Obama’s plan (which includes letting the Bush tax breaks expire for the wealthiest Americans). On health care, the pledge keeps the very popular, and costly, bits of the plan, but junks the unpopular means to pay for it.
Beyond nuts and bolts, “the pledge” contains some populist spin. For instance: “An arrogant, out-of-touch government of self-appointed elites makes decisions, issues mandates and enacts laws without accepting or requesting the input of the many.” It’s the sort of phrase that sounds good on talk radio, but doesn’t mean much.
The “out-of-touch elites” enacting these laws are our elected officials, the folks we the people duly and legally put into office and gave a mandate to govern.
A pledge that honestly addressed how to reduce the deficit while maintaining Social Security and Medicare and supporting our war in Afghanistan and continuing efforts in Iraq would have been welcome. This fell far short.
Republican Party's 'Pledge to America' is a big disappointment (Kansas City Star)
Discussion
Sign Up for Updates
