“Oh, for crying out loud!” That is what my mother used to say because she couldn’t swear. She had some other pet phrases that she used to express exasperation. I have my pet phrases also, some of which include verbs indicative of human procreation.
I ran through the gamut of them while reading Dick Armey’s piece about where the GOP went wrong. I saw the title, Where We Went Wrong, and I thought it would be some form of acknowledgement about the awful job the Republicans have done in running the country. But it isn’t.
Instead, it is a complete snowjob about what the Republican Party has as core values. He would have us believe that the Republicans are a party of fiscal responsibility. He wants to wrap himself in Reagan’s baritone and avoid the facts. The facts are that
- government spending went up under Reagan (Congress didn’t give Reagan all that he asked for!)
- the tax burden was shifted predominantly toward taxes on wages.
Here’s Armey:
Where did the revolution go astray? How did we go from the big ideas and vision of 1994 to the cheap political point-scoring on meaningless wedge issues of today — from passing welfare reform and limited government to banning horsemeat and same-sex marriage?
The answer is simple: Republican lawmakers forgot the party’s principles, became enamored with power and position, and began putting politics over policy. Now, the Democrats are reaping the rewards of our neglect — and we have no one to blame but ourselves.
Oh, poor selves. No longer in power, Mr. Armey wishes he was still the guy in charge. And what big ideas? The biggest idea the Republicans have is to do away with taxes on income from investment. Rich people want all kinds of goods and services, they just don’t want to pay for them. Here is the heart of conservatism:
Q: What is conservatism?
A: Conservatism is the domination of society by an aristocracy.
Get a job, Armey, one that pays minimum wage, and then see how Republican Party policies have worked for you.