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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsWhy Republicans are ignoring public attitudes on the tax plan
Posted with permission.
http://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/why-republicans-are-ignoring-public-attitudes-the-tax-plan
Why Republicans are ignoring public attitudes on the tax plan
12/18/17 11:20 AM
By Steve Benen
At this point, the debate over whether the American mainstream supports the Republicans regressive tax plan is over. Surveys have been consistent for months: the public just isnt buying what the GOP is selling.
Donald Trump boasted the other day that the more Americans learn about the plan, the more popular it becomes. Thats wrong to the point of delusion, as evidenced by every recent independent survey. The latest report on the USA Today/Suffolk University poll noted that the GOP tax plan has the lowest level of public support of any major piece of legislation enacted in the past three decades.
With this in mind, we can safely look past the question of whether the plan enjoys public support it obviously doesnt and consider two related points: (1) why the plan is so unpopular; and (2) why Republicans dont care,
On the first point, despite some recent GOP claims to the contrary, tax cuts tend to be well liked. So why isnt this one? I suspect its partly the result of Republicans misreading the political landscape: as the debate got underway, the public said it didnt want massive tax breaks for big corporations and the very wealthy. GOP policymakers, rejecting the faux populism behind Trumps pitch, did the opposite of what most Americans requested (and what the party promised).
It didnt help that Republicans wrote a hyper-partisan bill, lied about it, and pushed their plan at a ridiculous pace without any real scrutiny making this look more like a heist than a serious attempt at overhauling the federal tax code.
Common sense suggests that, in a democracy, politicians wouldnt rush to vote for a dramatic and highly consequential proposal that the American mainstream hates. And yet, here we are. At last count, literally every Senate Republican backs the plan, and when the House votes tomorrow, the number of GOP dissenters is expected to be modest, at best. So why is it, exactly, that the Republican majority is so indifferent toward Americans attitudes?
There are a variety of explanations to choose from:
1. Maybe Republicans think the public will be impressed that they finally accomplished something. This may seem hard to believe, but GOP policymakers havent had a major legislative accomplishment since George W. Bush expanded Medicare in 2003. Its possible Republicans expect to benefit politically simply by reaching a goal even if its a goal most Americans dont like.
2. Perhaps Republicans are trying to make donors happy. A variety of GOP officials have been quite candid about pushing their regressive tax plan because their campaign contributors told them to. If given a choice between listening to the American mainstream and listening to donors, its possible some Republican policymakers feel they have no choice but to honor the wishes of the latter.
3. Perhaps this is the GOPs last hurrah. Mother Jones Kevin Drum had an interesting piece the other day, making the case that Republicans are aware of the demographic challenges facing the party their base is too old and too white in an increasingly diverse country and they may not control the levers of power again for a while. Thats why theyre pushing an unpopular tax bill, Kevin theorized. Thats why theyre focused like a laser on confirming judges. Thats why they might even take on entitlement reform. Theyre going to lose power shortly no matter what they do, so theyre trying to put their stamp on the future while they still have the chance.
4. Maybe wingnut welfare is on Republicans minds. Its a provocative idea, but Voxs Ezra Klein suggested the other day that its possible many Republicans, looking at the polls, expect to lose at the ballot box quite soon, so theyre trying to please the donors and lobbyists who can give them jobs after theyre voted out. (For more on the general idea, the New York Times Paul Krugman explained his wingnut welfare thesis in 2015.)
5. Do Republicans think theyve immunized themselves from all backlashes? This is largely the opposite of Kevin Drums argument, but Ive heard some suggestions that GOP officials no longer care what voters think because they believe theyve successfully shielded themselves from public attitudes.
Thanks to a combination of gerrymandering, voter-suppression techniques, and a seemingly endless amount of campaign contributions, which can be used to tell voters the GOPs tax bill is the opposite of what it actually is, Republicans may have convinced themselves they can win elections, en masse, whether voters approve of their records or not. They can do as they please because, in their minds, the consent of the governed is now little more than an annoying, irrelevant detail.
And while those explanations have their proponents, Im partial toward 6. Republicans actually believe their own talking points. My best guess is that the vast majority of GOP lawmakers simply believe that the American mainstream is made up of cranks and fools who fail to understand the awesome power of trickle-down economics. Republicans are ignoring public opinion because, in their imaginations, theyll ultimately be rewarded by voters who will soon discover that cutting taxes for the wealthy and big corporations will produce broad economic prosperity just like in Kansas.
Once regressive, poorly-thought-out tax cuts work wonders, well all collectively apologize for our silly assumptions and thank our Republican betters for ignoring the American public not to mention economists, the JCT, the CBO, business leaders, labor unions, all of modern history, et al and creating an economic utopia.
That, I suspect, is the Republicans real rationale.
democratisphere
(17,235 posts)Whatever they want, they get! The rest of US just don't matter.
Freethinker65
(10,024 posts)guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)#2 is my choice. The donor class demanded action.
babylonsister
(171,070 posts)The fact that it's so blatantly 'all about them' and 'they will have gotten theirs' to the detriment of us peons is stomach churning.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)Basically a gift for those with REITs that will allow them to shelter more income. Amazing.
Proud Liberal Dem
(24,414 posts)They need to get that sweet, sweet $$$$ for their campaigns.
guillaumeb
(42,641 posts)And frankly, due to GOP gerrymandering and suppression, most GOP incumbents are relatively safe unless there is a blue wave in 2018.
Garrett78
(10,721 posts)#3 and #4 are wishful thinking.
disalitervisum
(470 posts)that has been incrementally implemented since the Powell Memo was written (circa 1970) and the "Chicago Boys" school of economic theory advocated by Milton Friedman was established and shown to be workable in Chile and Argentina. Today, the long-entrenched think-tanks like Heritage Foundation and others established by the Kock brothers, Adolph Coors, Richard Scaife, and others since that time provide funding and political support as well.
FreeState
(10,572 posts)Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin
(108,034 posts)Amaryllis
(9,524 posts)(nothing has changed on that front since the last election- Repubs have seen to that), gerrymandering, voter suppression, and cyber meddling. Russia broke into HALF the states' voter registration databases; MSM reported this summer of 2016. Then there is KRis Kobach's Crosscheck, being used in over half the states, also cutting hundreds of thousands of people out of voter reg databases and targeting people of color.
Republicans no longer have to be accountable to their constituents.
Some states have much cleaner elections than others. I live in a state with vote by mail and our elections are pretty clean.
I am not by any means advocating that we not vote. Alabama went our way in spite of all the voter suppression with massive GOTV efforts. It's just that this is a very important factor to consider when asking why they don't care what constituents think.
ThoughtCriminal
(14,047 posts)Wreck the government and economy so completely, that Social Security and Medicare cannot survive and only the extremely wealthy can survive.
mitch96
(13,912 posts)They have the chance to push thru what their corporate handlers want them to do and they are doing it no matter WHAT the American people want/say/think or do.. Even if they have to fall on their sword and not get re elected next go around..... YMMV..... Dat's what I tink....
m
applegrove
(118,683 posts)Last edited Tue Dec 19, 2017, 04:42 PM - Edit history (1)
all their financial support. They are lap dogs not leaders.
mitch96
(13,912 posts)wear jump suits with advertising like NASCAR drivers.. Then you really know who they are really working for...
m
Lee-Lee
(6,324 posts)They are gambling that most voters will see a reduction in their payroll deduction for taxes, will like it, and will give them credit while thinking we were wrong.
And they think that will hold through the midterms. They plan to put a lot of stock in reminding people they have more money in every paycheck.
Now, when the changes to deductions hit people when they file that will open a lot of eyes and make a lot of people mad, but they are gambling on 3 things- that its after the midterms by the time people see that, that most people dont have enough deductions to go over what the new standard deduction will be, and that people who will go over the standard deduction wont see a very big hit and wont notice the difference.
And the other factor they keep rolling out is that the people hardest hit by the loss of deductions- people in high property and income tax states, people with lots of student loans, graduate students, etc all didnt vote for them in the first place or in the case of those high income and property tax states are in states they dont need in 2020 anyway.
mythology
(9,527 posts)For example in 2025, people will be used to the new slightly lower tax rates that are set to expire. Much like the horrid Bush tax cuts it will be harder to raise taxes.
Second as long as they don't completely kill the Republican party, they are the only realistic alternative to Democrats. They won't be out for too long.