John McCain and The Never Tax Cuts
By Oklahoma Colossus Posted in Archived — Comments (3) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Senator McCain has repeatedly stated that he didn't vote for Bush's tax cuts because they weren't offset by spending cuts. I'm sympathetic to that position because, as a conservative, I like to see both tax and spending reductions enacted. And, furthermore, I don't like deficits and increasing national debt. Unfortunately, I just don't see much support among the general American public for reduced spending. I fear the American people have simply become too spoiled by government largess and we may never get them off their addiction to ever more spending and bigger government.
I remember watching the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina on TV one day after the hurricane passed. On the particular station I was watching, a reporter was interviewing those who fled to the Superdome and pleading for someone to get them out of there. Of all there is to remember those days, the thing I remember most is a woman who was screaming and crying in the parking lot to the stadium. Her complaint was not that the government was moving too slow to evacuate them or that their house and all their property was destroyed or that she had a friend missing in the floods that came after the levees broke or that thousands of people lost a lot that day. Instead, she was most angry that the National Guard troops in the area and the government in general had "not even provided us with a HOT meal while we waited in (the Superdome)." All they had, according to this woman, was "bad food" the soldiers had to eat (MRE's). NO HOT MEAL?! Outrageous, right? Honestly, I had absolutely no sympathy for that woman. One day after the devastation of parts of Louisiana and Mississippi, this person was angry that the government hadn't heated her meal to a satisfactory temperature. More than that, she had to debase herself by eating the same food our soldiers eat. When I worked at the Oklahoma State Legislature for a prominent representative, I got a phone call from a man who told me it was the representative's job to get him a contact list of all the local Oklahoma celebrities so this man could invite them to a private event. Another man called asking me when the state was going to provide his son with a car to get to work. Is this truly what Americans have come to expect from their government? I fear it is.
So, let's have a little straight talk: Unless Congress is taken back by reformed conservative Republicans, there will never be spending cuts. We're too spoiled. For the time being, it appears we're stuck with the Democrats who believe they must continue spending our tax money and expanding government services to stay in power. And I seriously doubt any Republican president--and certainly not a Democrat president-- is going to be able to convince a Pelosi/Reid Congress to cut spending on anything other than the military. So what does that mean for McCain and tax cuts? With him as president, will we ever have tax cuts if he can't get it offset by spending, even if we have a projected surplus as we did in 2001?
I agree we need spending cuts, but I'm in the minority of American opinion. Yes, Americans may want earmarks reduced and certain niche projects and bureaucracies eliminated, but none of that will substantially reduce the size of government. Americans won't support repeal of the Prescription Drug Benefit that Republicans passed, they won't support getting rid of the Department of Education, nor will they ultimately support efforts to stop expansion of government-run health care. In fact, we're increasingly inching toward government health care, all in the name of "children." Still, I don't believe any of that discredits the value of cutting taxes. Clearly, the 2001 and 2003 tax cuts were economically beneficial and right as a matter of principle. In fact, a convincing argument can be made that we'd have larger deficits today without those tax cuts, as they reinvigorated a sluggish economy and brought in record revenue to the treasury.
Yet, until we find someone who can re-convince the American people of value and necessity of limited government, it seems we're doomed to suffer an ever growing Federal government. I'm not sure McCain can do that simply because of the current American mindset. I really hope he can. Perhaps I'm being too cynical. Please convince me otherwise.
Perhaps I wasn't clear in this entry, but I'm basically agreeing with you. The excuse (which he didn't use at the time) for McCain's vote against the tax cuts may lead us to conclude that he will never support a tax cut given that we'll never see his required spending cuts. (That's why I call them the "Never" tax cuts)
McCain proposed giving displaced workers the difference between the wage of their old job and the wage of their new job. That's a proposal for a huge increase in government spending.
The McCain-Kennedy amnesty bill would have increased spending by 2 trillion dollars, according to the Heritage Foundation.
So, we need to dispense with the idea that McCain is a limited government man, given that he is willing to use government power to do everything from silencing conservative groups in political discussion (McCain-Feingold) to increasing regulation over industry (Global Warming regulations).
McCain is using spending cuts as his current excuse as to why he opposed the 2001 and 2003 Bush tax cuts.
At the time of the debate over the tax cuts, McCain stated very clearly that the reason he opposed the Bush tax cuts was the same reason Ted Kennedy opposed them: that they were tilted towards "the rich."
This has been pointed out time after time after time on this web site.
Where have you been?