Republicans and the Tax Cut Compromise: Sellout

Republicans--the kind who betrayed both conservatives and the American people for a decade--came up with a "Christmas tree" compromise on not increasing taxes (extending the Bush tax cuts). That compromise alone reveals that the current bunch of Republicans has learned NOTHING--absolutely nothing--from their previous mistakes, other than the lesson Obama has learned: that they need to do better at fooling the people.

My initial reaction was to vote against every single Republican--for the rest of my life--who votes for this compromise. No, we should not raise taxes. The present tax rates should be extended. Maybe it was worthwhile making a compromise on that issue alone, such as by limiting the extension to two years (terrible as that kind of temporary tax bill is--a major defect in the original Bush bill imposing a better ten year limit, although still terrible economics, in a similar compromise/procedural device to gain passage of the original Bush bill), but this hardly justifies giving up principle in other areas (the Christmas tree effect where lots of politicians get what they want, so long as the Federal Government is Santa and the deficit is INCREASED). That is partly how the original TARP bill turned into a prok bill (especially as the Senate originally passed it), and a bill that really gave the President/Secretary of the Treasury a blank check to spend money to bail out Wall Street and General Motors in a way not even debated. It is how the original "simulus" bill became nothign more than a Christtmas tree of pork and political wish granting. It was how the health bill became the absolute monnstrocity it became (beyond the flawed concept of putting the entire health care system under the control of Federal bureaucrats).

Thus, this "compromise" on the Bush tax cuts shows that the "old" Republicans (many of them also being in the "new" Congress) have learned no lesson at all. They are Big Government guys who believe the American people want to be BRIBED, and who believe in the "Christmas tree" approach to legistlation.
It is NOT correct for Obama to say that Republicans held Democrats "hostage", or the American people hostage, on unemployment benefits unless you also admit that Democrats held Republicans hostage, and the American people hostage, on tax cuts for everyone. Both concepts represent "politics as usual" that the people supposedly voted against. They are separate issues that should not be linked (and for which there was no reason for linkage except Republicans did not want--wanting to fool the people who thought they had voted for "change"--a separate vote on this stupidity of indefinite extensions of unemployment benefits as some sort of new welfare program). Unemployment benefits were an entirely separate issue from extending the current tax rates, and there should have been a SEPARATE compromise (like a final three month extensioin to enable people to prepare for the cutoff) on that SEPARATE issue. Similarly, the NEW (although a substitue for the FAILEAILED welfare payments masquerading as a tax "simulus" in the original Obam "stimulus) represents a SEPARATE issue--completely new "stimuls" spending adding directly to the deficit rather than avoiding a tax increase).

Raising the Bush tax rates, by the way, would be no different than INCREASING TAXES if the Bush tax rates had been made permanent (as almost all of the original proponents of those rates wanted). The tax rates now in effect are the same tax rates that have been in effect for almost a decade. An INCREASE of those rates is the SAME as increasing rates which did not have an expiration date. It would be a TAX INCREWASE, just like any other tax increase (not ture, for example, of the Bush?Democrat $600--failed--tax cut in the srping/summer of 2008 or the "stimulus" tax cuts in the original Obama "stimulus" bill, since those were REPRESENTED to be short-tem, one-time payments which would NOT be extended, as well as being gimmicks instead of real, long-term tax rates).

If I believe Republicans have revealed why they have learned--at least the present group--NO lesson from the electioiin, and the past decade of Republican betrayals, why did I not maintain my resolve to vote against EVERY Republican who supported this Obama/Republican compromise? Easy. Too many Republicans, and even conservatives, are so invested in the Bush tax rates AND tax gimmicks that I would end up condemning (totally) too manyu people who--it can be argued--reasonably believe that this compromise is best for the American people. Yes, they are being disingenuous, and I think they are wrong (as I would vote against the compromise), but should the new Republican leadership, and so many potential Republican Presidential candidates), be condemned before I (and you) even see where the Republicans will go once they have more power in Congress--and more control over the agenda and the debate? Should I really condemn somone like Michell Bockman (one of my real heroines) if she chooses to vote for this compromise? I realized I just can't go that far.

But the Republican Party is AT RISK here. People like me are on the edge already of deserting the Republican Party for good. It would not take much. And the news today was that REPUBLICAN SENATORES (not to mention Democrats in the House and Senate) were adding "goodies" to this bill (shades of the "Louisiana Purchase" and Cornhusker Kickback" in the health care bill).

No. If Republicans add further things to this bill, or allow Democrats to "change" a bill I already don't like, Hell will freeze over before I ever vote for any Republican who votes for such a bill, for any office.

Further, Republicans are now in a position to STOP the lame duck Democrats who have been DEFEATED from adding ANY more leftist legislation into law after they did not get that legislation into law before the election. That cynical assault on democracy and fair play is something for which I will hold ALL of the Republican Party responsible, and not just the few Republicans who might vote to pass specific bills (like Scott Brown, Susan Collins, etc.). Time has run out. Repubicns can MAKE time run out. If they don't, it is because they don't have the guts to "run out the clock". Yes, I am talking about the fraudulent "Dream Act" (a DECEPTIVE amnesty bill on illegal immigration) and "Don't Ask, Don't Tell". I am even talking about the START treaty, upon which I have no strong positioin but don't think it should be rammed through in a lame duck Congress when there is no reason for the rush other than fear the new Senate will not pass it. I am talking about any other bills on the leftist Democrat "wish list" that they can get traitor "establishment" Repubicans to let them ram through in a rush to passs as much as possible before they lose power.
Already, Reupblicans have let Democrats push through a "magic wand" ("magic wand theory of government": wave a magic wand and say you have "solved" a problem) Food Safety Bill which basically turns the entire food industry over to the mercy of anything Federal bureaucrats want to do to them. If your food prices go up, you will know why. It is this bill, AND the unrestrained spending and deficits.

As I say, Republicans are in the process of proving that this is still "politics as usual", and that they are the same Republicans who betrayed us over the past decade. If they continue down this path, the Republican Party will destroy itself--just when it is gloating over one of its greatest victories. Sad to say, it will be no great loss if we can expect nothing more than more of the same. This Obama/Republican compromise is both the last chance Republicans will get from me, and the Rubicon for me. I am at the Rubicon. If Republicans go beyond the compromise that Obama announced, and let other things go through (with the POSSIBLE exception only of START), then I am done with the Republican Party. I am crossing the Rubicon, like Julius Caesar, and not looking back. Unfortunately, I do not have the power of Julius Caesar, but Republicans should realize that their are many out here like me (and I am not even part of the "tea party" movement).
Note: The above article is not proofred, due to my eyesight problems. I am trying to arrange for my brother to proofread at least some of these articles--which I cannot even spell check. If this note appears, you will know the article has not been proofread. If I am able to substitute a proofread version, I will delete this note. This is the policy I will follow from now on, at least until further notice.