Are Republicans actually changing their stance on taxes? My gosh, they might be. After so many years, their plan has generally remained the same: no tax increases, but instead, cut government spending. However, recently the question of "where should those cuts be?" has been asked again and again. The cuts could be in the health system, but conflicting with heath and treatment gets a great many people riled up (to say the least). There's the military, but would Republican's really cut a significant amount of military spending. Forecast says no. Ultimately, the Republican party has few other options to turn to. Other than cutting loopholes (which is a generally universally liked idea), tax increases are really one of the only remaining options. At the very least, the Republican party is considering Obama's tax reform that goes into effect January 1.
However, we do have something BBC News likes to call the
Norquist Factor. Grover Norquist leads the group Americans for Tax Reform which has important Republican officials make a pledge to never raise taxes. If anyone breaks the pledge, then they will have to deal with their party turning against them. That's a pretty good deterrent from voting towards tax raises.
Norquist has also mocked Obama's tax ideas, basically stating that they will fail. He said that the rates will stay the same as they had the past two years. It's somewhat hard to tell if this will be true or not. Will things stay the same without changing, or will Republicans start to change their opinion? Will they be able to with Norquist's restrictions in play?
4 comments:
I hope that Republicans will be able to look past deterrents such as the Norquist Factor and make more nonpartisan decisions than we saw in recent sessions of Congress. Hopefully now that President Obama has been re-elected and nothing (short of impeachment) stands in his way of serving as president for the next four years, both parties can work more cooperatively for the next four years instead of each seemingly deliberately getting in the way of the other.
This may be the first step in a direction that I'd like to see politics take; perhaps we will see a future where the parties are more willing to reconcile their differences in order to synthesize the best policies, not just politics.
There's been a lot of controversy over what path Republicans are going to take over the next four years (and especially four weeks, since there's that fiscal cliff thing coming up). It seems like many of the prominent governors like Chris Christie and Bobby Jindal are looking to ditch rampant partisanship in favor of a more moderated approach. Several recent articles have addressed the fact that Republicans are more likely to be willing to compromise; or if they aren't, then should be. They all made the point that if an economic crisis forms from inaction, Republican Congressmen will have a hard time pinning the blame on anybody else.
This seems like an occasion when Congressmen should stop acting like delegates and act more like trustees. Their constituents may not like it, but it's two years until reelection, and more people would be happy with bipartisanship than with a relapsing economy.
Luckily, Republicans like Jeb Bush and the two named above seem to generally look out for the well-being of all people they represent. Hopefully in the coming weeks we'll see House Republicans reject "The Norquist" (courtesy of Stephen Colbert) and focus on closing a deal. Democrats can definitely help out on the compromises; its not like the stagnation has been completely one-sided. The two parties just need to stuff their pride for a couple months and come up with a comprehensive plan.
Republicans have had a steady stance in many things, and their tax policy is definitely one of them. It is not surprising that Republicans will try to reform their economic plans in attempt to attract more voters. Republicans are usually known as the more conservative party in social issues and what not. However, such aspects will be hard to change since many of them are deeply rooted into their religion. I almost see Republicans trying to follow a new tax plan a feeble attempt in attracting people to their party.
However I believe the Norquist Factor will make a difference in the Republican party and be a deterrent. Hopefully like Andrew said, that Republicans can look past some bad deterrents. What the Republican party needs is reform and this is one step closer to becoming a more "middle" Republican party.
It looks as if Republicans are indeed willing to defy Norquist's "Taxpayer Protection Pledge." According to this Washington Post article, four prominent Republicans (Senators Lindsey Graham, Bob Corker and Saxby Chambliss and House Rep. Peter King) have already declared a willingness to disregard the pledge. The four were joined by Republican Senator Bob Corker who, according to this article
says, "“I’m not obligated on the pledge...I made Tennesseans aware, I was just elected, the only thing I’m honoring is the oath I take when I serve, when I’m sworn in this January.'” Chambliss puts it best in this article when he says, "'I care more about my country than I do a 20-year-old pledge.'" If only all politicians learned to care more about their country than a party rivalry that is hundreds of years old.
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