The 2-Year tax rate extension negotiated between Obama and some Republican congress-critters looks like it will get through and be passed. But this will not be before Nancy Pelosi’s pork brigade finishes larding it up with a bunch of noxious spending to make it more palatable to her gang in the House and Harry Reid’s gang in the Senate. As per plan, it will also be linked with refundable Tax Credits to continue Obama’s redistributionist ideology, plus patching unemployment benefits for another thirteen months and renewing the Ethanol price supports and global food shortage mandates. This is just being passed now because the Democrats in charge had two years since 2008 to fix the problem but failed to protect Americans from the largest tax increase in American history. There is no reason for Republicans to follow the lead of lazy Democrats. Republicans should set a better example and plan ahead for this important issue before it becomes hair-on-fire urgent in the winter of 2012.
In January 2011, House Republicans should introduce a clean bill to make the Bush tax rates permanent. It should apply to all Americans, even small business owners whom Democrats want to punish with extra taxes. The public is on the Republican side in this. The tax issue is a winner for Republicans, and will be something that Republicans can talk about on every Sunday show and every press interview. Pass a pure, brief version in the House after reading the entire bill aloud and debating it on C-SPAN. There should be no extraneous legislation in it: No unemployment; no refundable tax credits; no money for ACORN or unions. Send it to the Senate and wait.
Until it passes and is signed into law this bill will be the best evidence in the world that Democrats do not want to let people keep their money. It would show that Democrats think the government is better qualified to spend the people’s money than the people are. This is the government we are talking about, the one that borrowed over $3 Trillion in the last two years to finance spending. Now that the government has spent all this money, the government’s pet political party wants to reach into the pocket of every American man, woman, and child and extract $35,000 each for their share of the national debt.
Progressive Democrats like Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and Barack Obama are not going to let permanent Bush tax rates pass if they can stop it. They hate the idea of Americans keeping their money. They want to redistribute Americans’ money to the communist rulers of other countries like China and Brazil and to their favored political and racialist groups. But about 50% of Democrats want the tax rates to be permanent for all Americans. This makes it one of the best wedge issues ever. It cuts the Democrats in half. It will never pass with the progressive, socialist Democrats in charge of the party right now. And until it passes, non-socialist, rank-and-file Democrats will keep splitting off from their party in search of a political party that brings some sanity to the discussion.
The socialists in charge of the Democratic Party today will destroy their party before they let it return to the control of people who think like Americans. So Republicans should give them the chance to do just that.
Most likely the bill will not get through Democrats’ fear, urgency, and doubt attacks right away. It will just sit there, waiting, making noise, underlining how Democrats didn’t take care of this when they had the chance. That just makes it better. The longer it sits there like a festering sore the more urgent it gets, and the more apparent it is that Democrats do not want people to keep their own money.They think that no matter what it is, whether to buy food or drive our cars, go to the doctor, buy medicine, clothes, housing, lunch for our kids, or even give money to charity, government bureaucrats do a better job at picking what to spend money on than regular Americans do. Why should Americans have to pursue happiness on their own when the government can just hand it to them? Sure, it’s a little like living in your parents’ house as an adult, under their rules, while putting all your money in the family pot. Your loving parents say it’s worth it because Mom’s such a great cook and you will never want to eat anything she didn’t cook, make any decisions your Dad doesn’t agree with, put away money for your retirement, get married or have kids, because Mom and Dad wouldn’t approve. That’s what it’s like when you don’t have resources of your own. You don’t have choices either. It’s always pizza on Friday night and chicken on Wednesday.
And that’s the bottom line. Democrats do not want Americans to keep their own money or to be free to make their own decisions. Republicans do. Republicans should pass this bill, then pop the popcorn and wait.
