Over the course of the last year, as the campaign for the U.S. Congress has been ramping up, I have been pushing for a full and open discussion of the critically important issues that face America in the years ahead. I’ve repeatedly asked for debates to help define the differences between us. As candidates, we owe it to voters in these critically important times to articulate our differences, so that they can make their choice on a thoughtful basis.
Sadly, we have had very little, if any, substantive discussion of the issues. Instead, the campaign has degenerated into a game of who can put up the most signs for various events, who can put the more stickers on people’s lapels, who can give the snappiest two minute speeches, and who can make the most outrageous promises that will encourage the greatest applause. This primary campaign is rapidly becoming a circus.
Knowing that there is little danger of being publicly challenged, some candidates are now listing out their “agendas”, stacked with wholly unrealistic promises which will never be met and are fully dead on arrival. Not only can these promises never be met, but they will ultimately feed the public’s cynicism and contempt for politics, politicians and our government. As statements of long term intent they would be on the mark. But has short term promises they are empty sloganeering. We need to get serious and honest with the electorate.
Of late, various candidates have been pushing three promises which are nothing short of pandering to the crowds. First, there is the promise to repeal of ObamaCare. Without question, the recent healthcare bill was a disaster. It will make health care more costly and is increasing entitlement programs at the very time when the entitlement programs are bankrupting our nation. It must be rolled back along with most of the government’s efforts to provide goods and services. Governments are not well designed to provide goods and services and thus almost universally do so badly.
But repealing ObamaCare will take time and a massive political change in Washington. The GOP will need to win back the White House and take back both houses of Congress, with a substantial filibuster-proof margin in the Senate - something the Republican Party has never had. Both of those are unlikely in the short and medium term. Let’s not make a promise we cannot keep. More realistically, the best we can do is to de-fund ObamaCare if we win back the U.S. House in November. This, I pledge to do until we have the power to repeal it.
Secondly, there is the promise to roll back the stimulus package. No one has been more publicly critical of the stimulus package than this author. But there is little left of the stimulus package to roll back. By the time the next Congress is sworn in, over 90% of the 2009 stimulus package will have been spent. There is precious little that can be repealed. That horse has left the barn.
Finally, there is the promise of tax cuts. Of course, everyone wants to see tax cuts. But, with massive budget deficits running at every level of government, this promise is nothing short of a lie. Ronald Reagan learned that “supply side economics” is a fiction. If something is too good to be true, it probably is. That certainly is the case here. Tax cuts can only happen when we can finally get the government out of the activities it should not be doing in the first place.
What, one is compelled to ask, would the world’s nervous financial markets make of such an effort? The answer is that the dollar would crash, interest rates would skyrocket, the national government would not be able to borrow or even roll over the national debt and the economy would be thrown into a massive melt down.
President Obama came into office promising hope and change. We have seen that such ephemeral promises are effective political rhetoric, good for getting elected, but ultimately bad for public policy. I fully support the intent and goal of these promises. But, such promises cannot be attained in the next few years will only add to the electorate’s disillusionment. Let’s not repeat these rhetorical sins for the sake of winning an election. Let’s frame the issues seriously and speak to the voters as thoughtful adults. The voters will know how to cast their ballots.