JONATHAN CHAIT MAY 12, 2011
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Derek Thompson has a little-noticed reporting scoop that may be far more significant than anybody is giving him credit for:
a senior GOP aid I spoke with, who asked that his name be withheld to speak freely, said the Republicans' no-tax-increase stance wasn't "intellectually honest" in the real world.
"There are two worlds," the source said. "One world is political, and the sole objective is to maintain party message. The other world is real, and in the real world, fixing the deficit is a matter of national survival. When you get down to the real world decisions, it's not about whether to raise taxes. It's about the ratio of spending to revenue increases. That's the issue."
I repeated the question: Are you saying that the GOP's utter resistance to revenue increases is political? The aide responded: "Yeah." The source indicated that spending cuts should vastly outweigh tax increases, but that the final solution will probably be a blend.
Thompson says he's never heard a Republican spokesperson so bluntly dismiss the party line on taxes. Neither have I.
I'll go further. I've assumed that GOP officials are publicly refusing to consider taxes because that, in fact, has been the party position for two decades. Republicans have been driven by hostility to low taxes above all, with invocations of the deficit nothing more than a rhetorical weapon against Democrats. If they actually believe that the deficit is a "matter of national survival," of course, then their no-taxes-ever position would lead to national suicide: Democrats simply won't agree to a debt reduction plan that requires no shared sacrifice.
I've been working off the assumption that most Republicans do not actually care very much about the deficit, which is the only accurate analysis of their voting behavior since 1990. But maybe they have actually become freaked out about the deficit, and some of them are actually willing to do something about it. I'm certainly not counting on it, but it now seems conceivable when before it hadn't.
5 comments
A positive sign, if true. It would be nice for Republicans to embrace, however tentatively, some kind of reality on this issue. Meanwhile, although I've turned in my grades, I still haven't been able to turn off critical-essay-reading mode, and so I have to point out that "Republicans have been driven by hostility to low taxes above all" says the opposite of what you clearly intend. Change either "hostility" to, say, "commitment" or "low" to "high."
- frippo
May 12, 2011 at 12:13pm
This is earthshaking news, if true. And I do assume that some Republican office holders and their staffers hold this position. But how many, and when - or will - they mushroom into a critical mass? These are open questions and it will be fascinating to see how this all plays out.
- liberalref
May 12, 2011 at 12:45pm
"if true"? Ha! Don't be fooled. It's probably a plant to throw us off the trail. There is no way in hell I'll ever believe these yokels care one damn bit about the deficit: they repealed paygo and turned what could have been record surpluses into economy destroying deficits, and if that wasn't enough proof they did it while presiding over job growth rate that couldn't even keep pace with the population growth and concentrating more and more of the country's wealth in the hands of a select few. if anything, they're just trying to make their position sound more legitimate than it is: spending to tax ratio, indeed!
- GSpinks
May 12, 2011 at 2:01pm
I feel like I have seen this movie before...They are going to come around...and then GROVER NORQUIST rears his head and they all run for the hills. More waiting for Godot...
- MikeB.
May 12, 2011 at 3:54pm
Mind if I wait with you, MikeB?
- GSpinks
May 12, 2011 at 5:14pm