A recent commentary by Cal Thomas exposes the agenda behind Republican obstructionism in the House and Senate. In just a few columns, the elder statesman of hyper-conservatism confirms a suspicion that most progressive observers possess regarding Republicans' behavior in government. The right wing believes that government is bad, and Republicans in government have been busily working to ensure that this is true.
"... a public loss of faith in politics and politicians increases the possibility of government becoming smaller. That could mean less spending, a smaller deficit and ultimately, one hopes, lower taxes."
"... a public loss of faith in politics and politicians increases the possibility of government becoming smaller. That could mean less spending, a smaller deficit and ultimately, one hopes, lower taxes."
This is the goal of modern-day Republicanism: small government. The right wing believes that the achievement of this goal would allow their benefactors, the richest of the rich in America, to attain wealth beyond the fabulous levels they have already achieved.
But one has to question the assumptions in that quote from Thomas's article.
Just what spending would be less? Republicans always push for higher military spending (which unsurprisingly helps enrich stockholders in the military/industrial complex) while legislating for decreased welfare spending for such things as food stamps (feeding poor children), education spending (ensuring that children grow up with the tools to be successful in life and NOT dependent upon the government), infrastructure spending (to prevent bridge collapses and the like), and unemployment compensation (so families who have been harmed by Republican policies can at least continue to eat). It is quite apparent that government would become smaller by limiting spending beneficial to the majority of Americans while continuing spending on projects that increase the wealth of the richest Americans.
A smaller deficit? Puhlease! Deficit spending has already decreased dramatically under the O'Bama presidency, although you never hear about it in the media. “The CBO projects a $642 billion budget deficit for fiscal year 2013, down more than $200 billion from its February estimate and the smallest annual shortfall since 2008. It is the lowest level of deficit spending to date under President Obama, who faced $1 trillion or more in annual deficits during his first term.” (link) Deficits rose because of massive, unfunded spending on two wars on terrah and the public assistance spending necessitated by the economic crash that started under GWB. Deficit spending is going down and would go down quicker if Republicans would stop obstructing in Congress.
Lower taxes? Indeed. Tax rates are already lower than in decades past. Many corporations pay virtually nothing in taxes. The wealthiest Americans pay a lower tax rate than do middle class Americans. Yet that is not enough lessening of the tax burden on wealthy Republican donors! This lower tax mantra does not benefit the average American for the simple reason that in order to get even bigger tax cuts, Republicans would cut programs that help most Americans, such as Medicare, Social Security, unemployment compensation, road and bridge construction and renovation, education, etc. etc.
I would like to thank Cal Thomas for hinting at the true reason behind the right wing's desire to kill effective, excuse me, big government: the wealthy can do without it, and that's all that matters.
