"Dumb" Conservatives v. "Smart" Conservatives

Dumb Conservatives v. Smart Conservatives

By Deborah Lake

The Bush administration is pushing like the devil to make the tax cuts for the top 1% permanent. They need to pay for that somehow, is the common view. Well, here's the plan to do it... raising taxes on most everyone else.

Reagan's tax "reforms" in the 1980's hurt middle class and working class taxpayers while helping those who didn't need it. Bush's program does even more harm than Reagan's. Homeowners will lose significant deductions, and those seeking the benefits of home ownership will be less likely to buy a home.

Sigh. If anyone still thinks that George Bush shares their values, I have a bridge in Brooklyn for you. Or maybe some nice swampland in Florida?

What perplexes the heck out of me, I must admit, is the terrible short-sightedness of a policy proposal like this. Even if they can get the legislature to support and vote for something like this, which they can, (see CAFTA vote armtwisting and bribery scam), it's terrible public policy for those who support capitalism.

See, support for US style capitalism is sustained by a solid, prosperous middle class willing to back the moves of the ultra rich. Why? The middle class sees itself as an auxiliary beneficiary. The Bush administration, although not the first to do so, has taken the structures that create a middle class for granted. Or it has actively worked to dismantle those structures, as it demonstrates by this latest proposal.

Like I keep saying, there are dumb conservatives and smart conservatives. FDR knew how to protect capitalism by giving it a smiley face. The Bushes, well, are just in the bush league here.

Someone said to me, "Do you know why George Soros is so pissed off at GWB? He has exposed the mechanisms at the heart of the system for everyone to see. The little man behind the curtain."