Welcome to the first issue of The Politics of Taxes.
To give readers a feel for how the right and the left see American tax policy, each installment in the series will provide links to articles and blog posts found on both conservative and liberal websites.
In this issue we discuss the topic of the Tax Day Tea Parties.
From the Left
The failure of the tea protests — not necessarily just in terms of numbers but also with respect to the lack of effectiveness — demonstrates that the right-wing noise machine is successful in influencing or organizing public opinion only when its propaganda is amplified by traditional and more mainstream media sources.
[T]he anti-tax rants can’t have it every which way at once. Fact is, the US has low taxes, either when compared to our peer countries or compared to our own historical taxes. We probably should be raising them, especially on the wealthy, to pay for the heavy costs of making right an economy ditched by Bush policies of regulatory laxness, crony capitalism, and military spending gone wild.
I am not willing to dismiss all rally attendees because of racist views held by some, comicly off-base views held by some, or ugly banners waved by others. I reject the habit of guilt-by-association in public affairs. If each of us had to endorse each banner held by each person at our rallies, we would not ever be on the sidewalk or at a public event.
From the Right
{The] Rasmussen survey is the first I’ve seen on the tea party protests that have been held around the country, mostly last Wednesday. Rasmussen finds that 51 percent of Americans approve of the tea parties, with 33 percent disapproving. By far the largest group of respondents, 32 percent, is “very favorable” toward the protests.
Almost equally interesting is that one in four Americans says that he or she personally knows someone who participated in one of the rallies. That probably helps to explain why the Left’s over the top attacks–slanders, really–didn’t gain more traction.
What resonated on Tax Day were non-partisan calls to roll back pork, hold the line on taxing and spending, end the endless government bailouts, and stop the congressional steamrollers who have pushed through mountains of legislation without deliberation. .
Remarks about the tea parties from [the Democrats] reveal what you really think about most of us. You Benevolent Elitenesses in Washington treat the rest of the country like helpless “hillbillies” or peasants that you have to take care of, you know, the ones that smell bad.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Leftfield // Apr 21, 2009 at 10:26 am
Well, only one of the six actually has anything to do with tax policy. Two if we count Michelle Malkin. I think those kinds of websites may not be the place to go for serious (or even unserious) commentary on tax policy. I look forward to the next issue of The Politics of Taxes to see if I’ve been too hasty in judging.
2 Peter // Apr 21, 2009 at 12:35 pm
Leftfield,
I appreciate your input.
You should count Malkin because of what she writes on this issue, not discount her because of what she has said or written on other issues.
I try to stick to the merits of her observations.
I think Malkin states very well the right’s view of the Tea Parties.
And the Daily Kos probably states the left’s view just as well.
I tried to be fair.
By the way, my favorite of the six articles is the one that appeared in The Nation.
The author manages to disagree with the sentiments of the tea party protesters while at the same time applauding them for exercising their first amendment rights.
We need more of that and less of the Janine Garafalo brand of hate-mongering, don’t ya think?
3 Leftfield // Apr 22, 2009 at 5:59 pm
Peter-
I appreciate the work you put into the blog.
I didn’t click through to read any of the linked articles. Just going on the excerpts you provided, I questioned whether to count Malkin because hers was only somewhat about tax policy.
Apart from Linda Beale, the rest of the excerpts are all about the politics of the tea parties, and the politics of the elite Democrats’ response to them and so on, and not at all about tax policy.
I’m more interested in the tax policy issues than the tea parties, perhaps because I don’t expect them to have much long lasting impact. (Maybe that’s because I’m generally more likely to agree with Kos than Malkin).
So I probably should have chosen a different post to make my first comment and I wouldn’t have gotten off on the wrong foot with you, if I have. Anyway, I’m interested in what you write about and enjoy your writing, so I’ll be back.
4 Peter // Apr 22, 2009 at 9:58 pm
Leftfield,
I didn’t take offense at all.
You made a good point.
I titled the series The Politics of Taxes because I wanted to highlight the differences between the parties.
Welcome back and I’m counting on you to let me know when I screw up.
5 The Politics of Taxes: Cap and Trade v. Cap and Tax // Jul 8, 2009 at 5:49 am
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