-] GOP Pondering How to Make 47 Percent Not Hate Them [-

[Tom Swift Sr.]

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http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/gop-pondering-how-to-make-47-not-hate-them.html

* GOP Pondering How to Make 47 Percent Not Hate Them *
by Jonathan Chait
November 16, 2012


A party facing political hardship responds much the way people do when
they face financial hardship. They look to jettison the things they
care about the least, and hold on to what matters to them most. The
post-election debate within the Republican party is occurring along
two dimensions. One debate centers on whether the party needs to
change much at all, and the other on what pieces of the party platform
to chuck overboard and which to cling to.

The Republicans’ defeat came as such a shock to the party that all
sides feel compelled to at least position themselves as advocates of
change, though not all of them support any meaningful change, of
course. Figures like Marco Rubio and Bobby Jindal are arguing more or
less that the party should be more appealing and friendlier but not
essentially different. Karl Rove, in an op-ed column today, insists,
“Everything from the ground game to the date of the next convention
needs to be re-examined.” Wow, that’s quite a range of self-
examination. You’re willing to overhaul the date of the next
convention? I guess changing the type size on the lawn signs would be
taking things way too far.

Ramesh Ponnuru has an insightful essay in National Review arguing that
the GOP lost because it was unable to craft workable solutions to
problems like health care, wage stagnation, and systemic financial
risk. Bloomberg View’s Josh Barro, a former contributor to National
Review, takes his point and archly replies, “Any conceivable agenda
that is likely to be effective in getting health care, jobs and higher
wages in the hands of the American masses will be unconservative, at
least on the terms by which most American conservatives define
conservatism.”

Here we arrive at the real nub of the dilemma. The Republican Party
has been organized around defending the material interests of the very
rich — largely by defending low top tax rates as its maximal policy
goal, but also secondarily through policies like lax regulation of the
financial sector and opposition to social spending that would put
upward pressure on the tax burden. The oddest thing about the party is
that this agenda has been crafted by a fairly tiny number of people.
Supply-siders, business lobbyists, Ayn Rand enthusiasts, and other
advocates of a policy agenda centered around maximizing the after-tax
income of the rich comprise a tiny share of the Republican Party.

What the 2012 election exposed more than anything else is that the
party’s economic agenda is a gigantic political millstone. President
Obama campaigned vociferously against the GOP’s advocacy of low taxes
on the rich, and used it to discredit the entire party agenda. His
populist economic themes fused perfectly with the image of Romney that
was imprinted both by the ads attacking his record at Bain Capital and
his own leaked remarks denouncing half of America as worthless
moochers.

It’s not impossible for Republicans to win despite their advocacy of a
plutocratic agenda. But other elements of the party coalition are
beginning to wonder why they need to drag that millstone around in
perpetuity. The factions within the GOP that have succeeded to
maintaining control of the Republican Party have always managed to
deflect such uncomfortable questions.

The imminent expiration of the Bush tax cuts, though, is creating an
opening for some Republicans to question the party’s priorities. If
Obama is going to veto any extension of the Bush tax cuts for the
rich, Republicans can’t stop taxes on the high end from rising, so
continued fealty to Norquistian absolutism becomes a completely futile
gesture. Insisting on maintaining low taxes for the rich may not even
be a successful strategy if all you care about is maintaining low
taxes on the rich. The confluence of Obama’s reelection, the shock of
the win born by Republican self-delusion, and the bargaining leverage
Obama has compiled are all working together to force an opening for a
reformation of the Republican Party of the sort that hasn’t been
possible for more than two decades.
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Please Note:

In select newsgroups this post will be followed by an out-of-date, cut-
and-paste, SHRIEKING ranting and raving by Bob Milby Jr., aka Patriot
Games, aka Buster Norris, aka 1000s of Sockpuppets -- and the winner
of alt.usenet.kook's K00K of the Month Award for September 2012.

We hope to return you to more rational posting after this brief,
psychotic interruption.
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[Read what Frederic Bastiat wrote.]

On Nov 16, 7:23 pm, "Tom Swift Sr." <thomas.swift.sen...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> ---------http://nymag.com/daily/intel/2012/11/gop-pondering-how-to-make-47-not...

The best way is to tell them the truth. If that doesn't work it's
hopeless.

http://i48.tinypic.com/zyg48m.png

I do not internd this post to be racist.