Clingers, here we go again

“That may be the final irony: The longer they cling to their ridiculous tax pledges, the more both parties lose their ability to shape public policy on the issues they claim to care about most. ” – and that’s a problem, how?

The Danger of Anti-Tax Orthodoxy - Ezra Klein, Bloomberg

“Republicans view taxes with an almost religious fervor: They are profane and must always be fought. Get thee behind me, revenues! Democrats see them as a kind of moral cause: They are about “fairness,” and should be used to help rectify some of the most glaring inequities in the economy. Lost on both sides is a more practical view of taxes: They are how the government pays for itself. “

There is a reason for this.  It is the “I will gladly pay tomorrow for a hamburger today” argument. For two long, Charlie Brown has been swinging at “the tax, spending cut” ball, only to have the spending cut part dropped after the new taxes go into effect. The spending drunks will say anything for one more drink.

PT Barnum said you would never go broke underestimating the intelligence of the American public. Maybe the Democrat party has been to that well once too often.

“But in the long run, this anti-tax orthodoxy is likely to harm both parties. Democrats cannot, in the coming decades, pay for the social welfare state they say they support by raising taxes only on the rich. Yet sharply raising taxes only on the rich -- the most noxious and counterproductive kind of tax increase, according to Republicans -- is all but guaranteed if Republicans continue to oppose any and all attempts at revenue- raising tax reform and force future tax hikes to come entirely through Democratic votes. ”

Consider this: suppose the house shutdown the Federal Government, and let the states carry the load until the drunk dries out.  Without the constant graft to fund the federal clerks, maybe they would find a real job.  And without the public unions, maybe to balance between the “makers and the takers” could resume a sustainable stability. I predict the States could do just fine without federal direction.