Republicans Swimming Against Strong Current

After the last election the Republicans in Congress thought they had the world by the tail on a downhill pull. They had taken over the House of Representatives with a significant majority and closed the gap in the Senate to just a few votes. It was obvious to them that they had the votes to block anything the Democrats wanted to do, and maybe even force through a return to their "trickle-down" economic policies.

These Republican congressmen, especially the ones who had come to office by playing to the teabaggers, decided they had been given a mandate by Americans to cut the deficit and cut taxes -- and that was true to a certain extent. The majority of Americans did want the deficit to be cut and didn't want new taxes on people already hurting from the millions of job losses. It was going to be as easy as floating down a creek on an inner tube (while drinking a beer and catching some sun).

But those Republicans evidently misread (or misjudged) the American public. They assumed they could do whatever they wanted and convince the people it was necessary to cut the deficit and create jobs (neither of which they've done well in many years). And what they wanted to do was cut taxes even more for the rich and the corporations and get rid of some government programs they never liked anyway -- like Medicare and Medicaid (and Social Security after that). They would cater to their corporate masters and convince the American people it was necessary to "save the country".

They could probably have gotten away with some cuts to social programs, but they decided they wanted it all. So the House Republicans voted almost unanimously to pass the Ryan Budget Bill -- a bill that would severely slash funds from Medicaid, abolish Medicare altogether, and give the rich more tax cuts.

I thought at the time they proposed the bill that they were making a mistake. After all, several polls had shown the people didn't want Medicare and Social Security to be messed with and thought raising taxes on the rich was a pretty good idea -- exactly the opposite of what the Republican bill would do. It looks like I was right, and these Republicans have severely overstepped the boundaries of acceptability in the eyes of the public.

Two new polls released recently show that vary large majorities of Americans are opposed to cutting taxes for the rich (they want those taxes raised) and getting rid of Medicare and Medicaid. The first of these polls was a McClatchy/ Marist poll done with 1,274 adults between April 10th and April 14th. Here are the numbers from that poll:

RAISE TAXES FOR THOSE MAKING OVER $250,000?

All Americans
yes...............64%
no...............33%

Independents
yes...............63%
no...............34%

Democrats
yes...............83%
no...............15%

Republicans
yes...............43%
no...............54%

This surprised me a little bit -- that 43% of Republicans were ready to raise taxes on wealthier Americans (and only slightly more than half were against it). But these paled in comparison to the number of people opposed to cutting Medicare and Medicaid (even among conservatives). Here are those numbers:

SHOULD MEDICARE AND MEDICAID BE CUT?

All Americans
yes...............18%
no...............80%

Conservatives
yes...............29%
no...............68%

And these numbers are not out of line. Another poll, the Washington Post/ABC News poll, shows very similar numbers. This survey was conducted April 14th through April 17th of 1,001 adults nationwide. It shows:

RAISE TAXES ON THOSE MAKING OVER $250,000?
yes...............72%
no...............27%

CUT SPENDING ON MEDICAID?
yes...............30%
no...............69%

CUT SPENDING ON MEDICARE?
yes...............21%
no...............78%

Instead of a leisurely float downstream with a mandate from voters, the Republicans now find themselves swimming upstream against a huge current of dissatisfied voters (including many in their own party). They may think they can spend a lot of money on advertising (gotten from their corporate buddies) and change people's minds on these issues. I don't think so.

The fact is that Medicare (and even Medicaid) are very popular programs with the American public. They like the idea that all the elderly are covered with medical insurance (and to a slightly lesser extent the poor), and they are not willing to give up those programs. And Americans are just as fond of Social Security. The fact is that regardless of what the Republicans might say, these programs have been very successful in doing what they were supposed to do -- keep the elderly healthy and out of poverty, and provide medical care for the poor.

And giving further tax cuts to the rich and to corporations doesn't make much sense to the voters either. They bought into the argument that the deficit needs to be cut, and they know that can't be done by continually giving more money to the rich. Most think it's time for the rich (and the corporations) to step up and pay their taxes.

Republicans would do well to abandon these radical positions right now and admit to the voters that they were wrong, but admitting any mistakes do not come easily for Republicans and I doubt they'll do that. If the Democrats were smart they would beat this drum until it wears out and ride these issues all the way to election day in 2012. The Republicans could well have given Democrats the issues they need to retake the House of Representatives and keep the White House.