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Tom Rinaldo

(22,912 posts)
Sat Sep 25, 2021, 11:34 AM Sep 2021

Republicans don't gain votes over economic issues. They LOSE votes over economic issues

Today's Republicans win votes over fear, hate, resentment, and (often manufactured) grievances. Now that Trump dominates the Republican Party pretty much the only Republican voters who support Republican economic policies are some very rich ones, and demographically, that is a very small (though powerful) sliver of the electorate. Hell, millions of well off Americans fully support paying their fair share of taxes under a progressive taxation scheme, because they understand that they are blessed and they don't want others to needlessly suffer from to the effects of poverty.

The fattest of fat cat Republicans may care about "pro-business" economic policies (to further enrich themselves) but average Republicans don't, unless they see how a change in economic policy will directly benefit them. During times of very high unemployment Republicans can sometimes pull off pushing tax cuts for the rich under the guise of helping "job creators" "create jobs", but even that usually fails to sway average voters. The last two givaways to the super rich, under Trump and George W. Bush, polled poorly with actual voters. Most voters strongly support Democratic economic policies, when they aren't being scared away by boogie man fear labels like "socialism." But the thing to remember is this: Republicans smear any and all Democratic economic policies as "socialist" regardless of how modest and/or mainstream by historic measures they may be. Appeasing the Republican Party with lukewarm half way measures hasn't worked for decades.They tie us to Hugo Chavez anyway.

Every element of President Biden's Build Back Better program is popular with American voters And for good reason, the policies that program introduce is of economic benefit to the vast majority of Americans. Beyond that, it strengthens America economically in the long run for all Americans. The average American voter is not a deficit hawk. Perhaps more to the point, even THE AVERAGE REPUBLICAN VOTER IS NOT A DEFICIT HAWK. Does anyone think they cared about red ink under Trump? The Republicans who sincerely do care about deficit spending are by and large a sober lot, and a small one at that. But you know what most of those "sober" Republicans care about more than the growing national debt? The preservation of American democracy. The core anti-Trumpers aren't quibbling about the detail's of Biden's policies now, they just want to see the insurrectionists defeated.

So why are the so called moderate Democrats so worried over the price tag for Biden's Build Back Better agenda? First let's be clear here, I am calling them the so called moderate Democrats because they don't represent the views of most moderate Democrats on this, either in Congress or the public at large. The so called "moderate block" of Democrats in the House of Representatives, who insisted on holding a vote on the "bipartisan infrastructure bill" in September, thereby derailing House leadership's plan to move that legislation simultaneous with the reconciliation act, consist of about a dozen members. They are a small minority of elected moderate Democrats in Congress. They are a tiny minority of the Democrats in Congress period, and they are opposing the President's agenda.

Why? The programs funded in the current Build Back Better reconciliation act are fully paid for, predominantly through a very popular mechanism, higher taxes on currently super rich tax cheats and loophole queens. Even if increased revenues end up coming up a few dollars short of the total tab that has never stopped Washington politicians before, it sure as hell didn't stop the Republicans under Bush and Trump. Money isn't the issue. Money is just a smokescreen. There are only two plausible explanations. One is deplorable and the other simply pathetic. Either they are firmly in the pocket of powerful special interests, like the entrenched big energy and pharmaceutical lobbies, or they have been cowed into total submission by the specter of Republicans beating up on them with scary words. They sure as hell aren't representing the interests of their voters. And they sure as hell don't believe in their ability to defend their votes enacting programs which their constituents already strongly support.

We can't defeat campaigns waged against us with fear by ducking our heads against incoming.

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Republicans don't gain votes over economic issues. They LOSE votes over economic issues (Original Post) Tom Rinaldo Sep 2021 OP
K & R Just_Vote_Dem Sep 2021 #1
Agree! Johnny2X2X Sep 2021 #2
The present tense corollary to not discussing Trump's economic record... Tom Rinaldo Sep 2021 #3

Johnny2X2X

(19,038 posts)
2. Agree!
Sat Sep 25, 2021, 12:16 PM
Sep 2021

Donald Trump was a total and complete economic disaster for America. He had the worst jobs record since Herbert Hoover and left the economy with the worst year for growth since 1947.

But you rarely hear any of that. If he had been a Dem, that’s all Reps would talk about. The economic disaster Trump was.

Tom Rinaldo

(22,912 posts)
3. The present tense corollary to not discussing Trump's economic record...
Sat Sep 25, 2021, 01:47 PM
Sep 2021

Is the media's near total reluctance to actually discuss the specifics inside Biden's Build Back Better Agenda. They just want to discuss the price tag of 3.5 Billion in the reconciliation part. And even then they seldom mention that the 3.5 Trillion would be spent over a ten year period, not all in one year. And for every ten times they point out that Democrats are talking about spending 3.5 Trillion dollars, maybe one time they will mention that they have a plan to raise the revenues that will fund the Build Back Better plan.

It's all about the price tag and almost nothing else.

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