If a Republican President can accomplish as much in tax cuts and deregulation as Obama has accomplished in raising spending, it would be a great day for America when such a President gets elected.
Yeah, but consider that they needed supermajorities before they could make any real moves, and it cost them dearly to do it. This kind of setup only occurs about once every two generations, it has
immense value, and they squandered every bit of it to accomplish what little they did.
If our side ever has that much political power to invest into a cause, then I too believe that it would be an impressive day for America. Thing is, we've never had anywhere close to that kind of power. And we're not likely to acquire it any time soon, not unless we really shape up. (1)
Now, you mention cutting as much as "Obama" has increased. Let's consider some numbers.
Obama's 2009-2010 budget was $3.6 trillion. Next years budget as proposed by Obama would have increased spending by about $200 billion. They never passed it last year, and now Boehner and the incoming Republicans are pushing through an alternative budget that would cut spending by $100b. So we're looking at cutting the budget by an amount that's half of what Obama would have increased. (2)
I say this to try to keep things in perspective. This year alone we're canceling out half of one of Obama's would-be budget increases for the year.
Look at how much we can do with what little power we have right now. Yet our side keeps looking for the quantum leap solution, the all-at-once proposal that will instantly set everything aright. But that's a fantasy. We don't have that kind of power right. Even if we did, real life isn't a sitcom that gets resolved in an ADHD attention span.
The real solution is right here in front of us. It's not nearly as sexy or appealing. It doesn't take supermajorities for us to accomplish what you want. We don't need Grand Slam all-at-once proposals. We just need to keep at the mundane work we're doing right now. We
are succeeding, slowly.
God bless Rand Paul and his $500b budget cuts that axe a quarter of the Federal bureaucracy. Truly, I hope he can get it passed, I just don't see how that's realistic. I think it's going to be the Boehners of the world, grinding it out one little bit at a time, $100b at a time that carry the day. (3)
I really wish people weren't fighting that so hard.
(1) We're making serious progress on this front. If we can keep it up, and keep it togethre, than the political future is going to be very interesting. Still, conservative/libertarian supermajorities are a long,
long way off.
(2) Granted, the Republicans' $100b cut hasn't actually passed yet, but right now it looks a lot more probable than not.
(3) Rand himself has a competing $200b cut proposal that stands a much greater chance of becoming law. I wish he was pimping that one more.