Since the reelection of Barack Hussein Obama, there has been a steady drumbeat coming from the RINO wing of the GOP against Grover Norquist and the anti-tax pledges. The latest to bolt is Sen. Saxby Chambliss, the old coot from Georgia. Mind you, while claiming to be a ′conservative′, Chambliss has been a ′card-carrying′ member of the ′Gang of Six′, a bipartisan group of senators working on a compromise to the debt crisis for well over a year and a half. Not only are Republicans beginning to waiver to promises not to let income tax rates increase, but now they seem ready to allow for gasoline taxes to go up in order to acquire more federal revenue. Have we forgotten what the real problem is? That we are spending too much?
Currently, the federal government siphons a bit more than $3 Trillion dollars annually from us and the economy. Obama and his regime is spending well over $4 Trillion per year. Even when the politicians do talk about cutting spending, they usually only refer to cutting future spending increases. The magic of ′base-line-budgeting′ gives plenty of wiggle-room to avoid The Truth. Even Paul Ryan′s Budget 2.0 reflects this, with little to no real spending cuts, just reductions in the rate of spending increases, allowing the economy to grow its way back to a balanced budget.
The reason for the change in attitude is the misguided reasoning as to why Mitt Romney failed to defeat Barack Obama. The 2012 election should have been the easiest Republican presidential victory in history. Instead, it has turned into not only the largest missed opportunity, but now appears to have become an excuse for the RINO Establishment to purge the GOP of several key core groups, such as the fiscal and social Conservatives. We are now told that America wants nationalized healthcare, wants free contraceptives, wants amnesty for illegal immigrants, wants unrestricted abortions and wants to tax job creators out of existence.
This, of course, is not true. But the few candidates who actually had banners of bold colors, such as Newt Gingrich, Herman Cain, Michele Bachmann, and yes, even Rick Perry, were readily dismissed by the RINO Establishment as being too Far-Right to get elected. Cain′s ′9-9-9′ plan was about the simplest and easiest message to promote. Even Mitt Romney had to trash his original 59-point economic plan and adopt, but not give credit, to Newt′s 5-point plan. Romney, the palest of all pastels, only made one bold move during his campaign, selecting Paul Ryan to run with him. Yet, Mitt failed to properly define Ryan′s pro-growth budget plan to the voters.
Talking with a contact to the Beltway Insiders, I was asked what the theme of the GOP convention was? My reply was to paraphrase Captain Willard from ″Apocalypse Now″ saying, ″I really didn′t see any theme at all.″ My contact explained that usually, during a convention is when the party spells out their agenda to the nation. But the Romney convention failed to do so, with one exception – Clint Eastwood! He laid out the mission very simply and was not afraid to confront the enemies of Obama and the Welfare State. Several weeks before the election, and following the convention, I had written an article echoing this, calling on Romney to do a 60-minute infomercial much like Ross Perot did in 1992. Explain the problems and solutions in the clearest, simplest terms that any voter could understand.
Say what you want about Grover Norquist, he understands that raising taxes are never a good thing for an economy. Worse yet when you have an economy as weak as ours currently is. Obama might be focusing his eyes on just the top 1%, but they represent the top 3% of small businesses which have created nearly 50% of all jobs in past few years. We are already seeing how companies are lining up to purge their labor force in order to soften the blow that Obama-Care will cause. Adding higher tax rates to businesses, considering how we have some of the highest rates already in the world, along with raising the federal gasoline tax rate, will only serve to further slow down the economy and cause more unemployment.
If RINOs like Sen. Saxby Chambliss are now going to revolt from the Grover Norquist anti-tax pledge, compromise and give Barack Obama a free hand in raising revenues without any real spending cuts, then the game is over and it is time to seriously look at forming a new political party. The other, more simpler alternative is to purge the GOP of the RINOs and begin a new process of educating voters on what the Republican Party really should stand for.
November 25th, 2012 at 6:23 am
Oh, I thought that you were gonna define RINO’s in this piece.
November 25th, 2012 at 6:26 am
I thought I did, sort of. A RINO is a Republican who will compromise on increasing taxes. Any taxes!
November 25th, 2012 at 6:39 am
So, Reagan was a RINO, then?
November 25th, 2012 at 7:40 am
Great! I hope that the game really is over for you.
There was a time…when right wing extremists were way out there on the sidelines somewhere, screaming their heads off, as always, but no one paid them any mind.
Them were the days. I hope we see them again, real soon.
November 25th, 2012 at 8:27 am
In some respects he was. The big difference between Reagan and the current crop of politicians (except for Ryan, Newt and Guiliani) is that Reagan transcended politics, demonstrating that even with tax increases, mixed with other tax decreases and reduced regulations, would grow the economy and thereby making deficits less important.
We all know that we are never-ever going to pay off the National Debt. Even paying it down a small amount would be akin to a miracle. The issue here before us today is how to get the economy growing again at a healthy enough rate so that we can grow our way out of the budget deficits.
The GOP must be aggressive, leaving nothing off the table, when negotiating with Obama and the Democrats. The idea of rushing into some compromise now, buying one year to do some mythical tax reform, just is not going to cut it. Otherwise, they may as well just vote to abstain and let Obama have his way and let the chips fall where they may.
November 25th, 2012 at 8:36 am
Let us ask this question…
Is Sarah Palin a RINO because she forced oil companies to pay higher taxes and increased the ’share’ each citizen of Alaska got? There is wealth redistribution at its finest!
The answer, of course, is NO! Sarah Palin is neither a RINO nor a Socialist. What she accomplished was a mutually beneficial arrangement where the oil companies ponied up more for the citizens of Alaska, helping the state’s economy, while she cut through 30 years of red tape to get the natural gas pipeline deal done, so the oil companies will earn larger profits. That is how the game should be played.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:35 am
You would think that an elected official could make decisions on a case by case basis and not be committed (or more correctly, blackmailed) by adherence to some “pledge”.
Presidents and legislators often have to vary from their campaign message because the country has problems that are not “static”, that is, circumstances change.
Compromise is necessary. It used to be called governing.
This “taking my ball and going home” attitude of many politicians is stifling any progress, but has got them re-elected in the past. The exit polls, however, told a different message. “Quit acting like children and get something done”.
November 25th, 2012 at 10:58 am
Yeah Sarah Palin is a RINO. Reagan was a RINO. Gingrich is a RINO. Biggest RINO of them all was Lincoln. Andy is a RINO. Arriba is a RINO.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:39 am
“The exit polls, however, told a different message. “Quit acting like children and get something done”.”
Is that what you think ?
I’ve searched and searched and the only incentive I found behind voting for Barry was that folks love things the way they are with the promise of more nannystate freebees to come.
You guys had all the chance in the world to “get something done” between 08-10 and so far I cant think of one thing you’ve done yet.
And please, dont throw Obamacare at me.
Where I come from its not done til someone reads the damn thing.
And, if anyone has read it, they’re now committed to the loony bin recovering from delirium.
Because no one has been able to make heads or tales of the damn thing yet except for the guaranteed rise in cost of at least 25% in 4 years.
I couldnt give a rats ass if nothing gets done in the next 4 years as long as these incompetents are running the show.
At this point, I’d take a bullet in the head for my family and country if it got rid of this idiot so finally something that makes sense will happen.
God forbid we get into another war.
99.9% of all intel briefings would be redacted by Mr. Sharpy.
I’m a RINO, I smoke pot,listen to rock, have hair down to my ass, wear jeans,recycle my cans, and protest in public often.
November 25th, 2012 at 11:45 am
Oh Gawd no, if Micky is a RINO then they are all gone. The last True Republican gone, Micky, gone with the wind.
November 26th, 2012 at 6:54 am
I think this is where we draw the line, Buzz…,
Governing does not simply mean ‘getting something done’, but getting the right thing done. In this case, the goal is to grow the economy, which is the only real way to A) reduce unemployment, B) strengthen our position in the world, C) increase tax revenues WITHOUT raising tax rates and D) working our way towards a balanced budget WITHOUT Draconian spending cuts.
Obama is engaging in purely class warfare, targeting the top 1% to continue his expansion of the Welfare State. So any Republican who will go along with that is a RINO.
November 26th, 2012 at 7:17 am
” What she accomplished was a mutually beneficial arrangement where the oil companies ponied up more for the citizens of Alaska, helping the state’s economy, while she cut through 30 years of red tape to get the natural gas pipeline deal done, so the oil companies will earn larger profits. That is how the game should be played..
So basically Palin extorted tax payments in exchange for a pipeline deal?
Gotta love how Cons spin re-distribution and tax payments when they want to.
November 26th, 2012 at 7:34 am
So Andy, I assume you agreed with Cantor on the debt ceiling negotiations.
“Shut it down”
November 26th, 2012 at 8:18 am
Buzz,
I’m confused? When did Cantor say “shut it down”??? I’ve read that Cantor said Obama has to get serious about entitlement reform. Even the New York Times published that!
http://www.nytimes.com/2012/11/09/business/debt-ceiling-complicates-fiscal-cliff.html?_r=0
I think trying to always blame House Republicans for the financial mess Obama and the Senate Democrats have created is wearing thin. Judgement Day is just around the corner, 37 days from today…
November 26th, 2012 at 3:50 pm
Andy et al, what you continue to overlook is that this “the goal is to grow the economy” has been tried now for over a decade and has proven to be an abject failure, as it always has in history, for reasons I’ve repeatedly explained, which you’ve consistently ignored.
You are no more than water toters for the top wealthy for whatever reasons is beyond me.
But as I mentioned earlier, keep drinking that koolaid and sell this nonsense. Voters are eating it up.
November 28th, 2012 at 6:08 am
Oh, Ronald!
You guys keep forgetting that when GW Bush took office, we were in a recession following the Dot-com bubble bursting and the Asian-Contagion. That the 9/11 attacks then made things worse. Yet, once the Bush Tax Cuts were in place, giving us 10 years of economic CERTAINTY, the economy began recovering.
Unemployment fell as we had some 50+ straight months of terrific job creation, over 300,000 new jobs per month. Our GDP grew at a healthy rate. Another thing you Democrats like to ignore is that the Bush Tax Cuts were actually quite ‘Progressive’, as the wealthy wound up paying MORE in taxes! The top 1% went from paying about 28% of all income taxes to 37%. The top 50% went from paying 92% to 98%.
We have seen throughout history that every time tax rates are cut, the economy booms. It did so in the 1920s, in the early 60s, then through most of the 1980s. Even Clinton, while increasing tax rates on income, slashed tax rates on capital gains, helping to fuel the Dot-com boom, along with cheap money from the Fed.
Growing the economy is not hard to do, provided that your head is not shoved up Karl Marx’s @ss!