Mods vs Cons in GOP Extends Beyond Culture Wars
Olympia Snowe’s op-ed on how the increasingly narrow and dogmatic conservatism of the Republican Party drove Arlen Specter from the fold is worth a read. But I think it’s noteworthy that she seems more interested in a rote recitation of the plight of socially moderate northeastern Republicans than she is in actually looking at the particulars of Specter’s situation. It’s true that Specter was nominally pro-choice. But for the past 15 years, he’s assembled a voting record that’s pretty orthodox. He led the charge on behalf of Clarence Thomas, he worked mightily for all of Bush’s judicial appointments, and he still says he’s eager to filibuster Dawn Johnson.
Indeed, what’s notable about the Toomey-Specter grudge match is that it’s not primarily about cultural issues, it’s primarily about Specter’s alleged deviations on economic policy.
More broadly in the intellectual arena, the orthodox conservative position has started to include controversial—and, frankly, false—claims about which things are problems. To be a conservative in good standing, for example, you’re supposed to join with Alan Reynolds in denying that inequality is increasing. You’re supposed to join with George Will and David Boaz in denying that climate change is happening. Basically, if you say that there are any problems in the United States other than high taxes, you’re out of the tent. That, much more so than the continued prominence of conservative social issues, constitutes a radical narrowing of the definition of “conservatism” from where it was 25-30 years ago.
29 Responses to “Mods vs Cons in GOP Extends Beyond Culture Wars”
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April 29th, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Yup. We need to get you a Washington Post column Matt.
April 29th, 2009 at 3:43 pm
Conservatism perpetuates itself according to a very simple formula.
First, it uses its considerable public relations skills to deny there are any problems at all. The economy is always great. Wars are always being won. America always reigns supreme. Climate change is a myth. Suggestions to the contrary are the fault of the liberally biased press.
When this absurdity manages to break through, conservatives adapt a fallback position. Conditions may indeed be dreadful but there isn’t a damned thing we can do about it. For two reasons:
First, to admit there are problems is sacrilege. It is tantamount to blasphemy against that Virgin Goddess – aka the Good Old US of A.
Second, to suggest there are problems in need of solutions implies turning to government for help. And that we must never, ever do.
Under conservative rule it is permissible for government to be incompetent. It is permissible for government to be corrupt. It is permissible for government to be expensive, wasteful — even big. What is never permissible is for government to actually work.
Whatever problems we confront are solvable in one of two ways: One is by prayer to our God. The second is through the power of the free market. And to conservatives the two are pretty much one and the same.
Talk of “issues”, “public accountability,” “responsibility,” “good governance,” “bi-partisanship,” “national leadership and vision,” even “unity” falls on deaf ears. Because, among conservative true believers, government is never the solution to our problems. Government IS the problem, always and in every way.
April 29th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
I know this might sound crazy, but I half-wonder if party of the point of this editorial is preliminary spadework for a Snowe presidential run in 2012. The logic of the run would this: if Snowe ends up in a primary race against, say, Huckabee, Romney, and Palin, she might attract the 25% of the Republican party who have not gone completely insane (I know, I know…), if the southern right-wing don’t coalesce behind a leader in time. A not insignificant portion of the Republican commentariat (David Brooks, David Broder, Ross Douthat, etc.) would love the idea.
There is a leadership void in the Republican party in general, but really a leadership void in the center-right, and it seems to me that there is possibly an opportunity there. And Snowe has little to lose….
April 29th, 2009 at 3:57 pm
The Republican Party has had its ego and superego boiled away and has been reduced to its id. I was talking a while back with a good friend of mine, smart, hardworking, successful…got to politics and he denied he was a Republican, saying “I’m not a Republican. I really don’t care about party. I will vote for whoever will cut my taxes the most.” It’s the beginning and end of his political philosophy.
This raw selfishness is precisely what the GOP has become. And somehow these people fashion themselves the party of personal responsibility.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:25 pm
I really don’t care about party. I will vote for whoever will cut my taxes the most.” It’s the beginning and end of his political philosophy.
This raw selfishness is precisely what the GOP has become. And somehow these people fashion themselves the party of personal responsibility.
As someone who is self-employed and pays well over 42% of income in taxes*, I must admit that “selfishness” like that sounds more and more reasonable every day (even more so on days I have to pay bills).
That is just income tax — not counting property tax, excise tax, sales tax, etc.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:27 pm
Basically, if you say that there are any problems in the United States other than high taxes, you’re out of the tent.
Not really. Republicans are allowed to express an extremely broad range of petty hatreds and grievances with the actually-existing United States, including immigration, public schools, academia, social security, medicare, medicaid, gay marriage, abortion, sex education, judicial review, minority set-asides, big cities, New Yorkers, New Englanders, Hollywood, urban culture, popular music, free speech, freedom of the press, separation of church and state, our 200+ year history of secular governance, speed limits, the outcome of the Civil War, the 14th Amendment, the 16th Amendment, any federal department or agency other than the DOD, any government official who doesn’t wear a uniform, majority rule in Congress… and pretty much any other aspect of American life and history except small business, guns, the military, the church, and aid to Israel.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
“As someone who is self-employed and pays well over 42% of income in taxes… That is just income tax”
If you’re paying well over 42% of your income in taxes, you are making a metric shit-ton of money per year. Not that there’s anything wrong with that, but it doesn’t incline one to much sympathy for your woes.
Of course, the real answer is that you almost certainly are paying much less than 42% and can’t perform basic math. But you never know.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
If that’s just income tax, then yeah, but he could be lumping FICA in there too.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
I pay a good chunk of my income in taxes. But my income isn’t tremendous. The amount of extra quality of life I get for lower taxes, not to mention the lower quality of national life, just simply isn’t worth it.
Not everybody agrees that lower taxes will make them or the nation any better off. People write and say these things like it’s simply unquestionable. Well, it isn’t.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
That is, presuming I / we get something worthwhile for these investments. I don’t want to live in some crappy, junk, third world shitbox where everything is cheap and shitty because nobody earning a half decent income wants to pay any taxes. If that’s what I wanted, I could move to a middle-upper middle class neighborhood of many a 3rd world nation.
April 29th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
Pretty interesting point about the narrowing range of “things that count as problems.”
In reply to #1: I’m more and more reconciled to the idea that Yglesias is in the right niche for Yglesias. It’s a niche that is in a lot of ways more interesting than a WaPo column.
Do I ever read the WaPo expecting to learn anything? No. I read it on rare occasions when it a column is so absurd or amusing that it has become notorious. But I don’t learn anything from that. I read Yglesias every day, and always learn something.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
Yup, FICA takes a big bite out of self-employment income. Still, Haddock (nice name!) should’ve said “income and payroll tax.”
Anyway, I’d be curious to know who Bosch’s friend voted for in 2008, and who actually would’ve cut his taxes the most. Obama did after all just pass a big tax cut for the middle class.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:03 pm
I think the thing about Specter or Snowe ,is not that they are “moderate ” or “liberal” , but that they are independent thinkers who don’t let themselves be boxed in by ideoligy.
I often disagree with Specter’s veiws . I have also read that on a personal level ,he is a jerk [ a realy big jerk] .But i admire the fact that he does not follow either party, but makes his own choices.Are some of these choices politacly motivated? Of course,thats politics. But i think most of the time he treats each issue seperatly, and does not try to be liberal or conservative.
Keep in mind he is 80 years old. At this point he can make his own choices, and not care what people think.
I like Snowe. There is a feeling on this blog that there are 2 beliefs . Liberal and conservative. And that if you are not COMPLETLY liberal, that you are evil!
I voted for Obama because i felt [and still feel] that he was a pragmitist.I feel that way about Snowe as well.
I wish the world could be divided between ,”the good guys” and “the bad guys” .The real world is much more complicated.
I feel the whole RED STATE, BLUE STATE thing is ridiculous.Most people have mixed political views that can change according to circamstances.This culture war stuff is often a creation of the media.
Would i vote for Snowe in 2012? I do not know. But i am open minded enough to listen to what she has to say.
There is nothing wrong with holding veiwpoints that are liberal or conservative.But when people close their mind to all other views the country suffers.
Plus ,who defines these things ? I beleive one of the governments basic duties is to maintan and look after public lands.I feel this way as a conservative. Others might agree with me, but do so as liberals.
It is about what you believe in. Not what you call yourself
April 29th, 2009 at 5:09 pm
[...] 29, 2009 · No Comments yglesias: More broadly in the intellectual arena, the orthodox conservative position has started to include [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
Even including FICA his math doesn’t add up.
The top federal rate is 33% correct? And that only applies to income in the top bracket, his income was taxed at lower rates on the way up. And yeah FICA is 15% on the self employed but it stops at what $97K or so? So basically for the amount of taxable income between the top bracket and 97K you would be paying 48%, but you paid a significantly lower percentage on the income on the way to that top bracket and pay 33% on the income above $97K so I think it is pretty near impossible to be paying 42%. I cry foul unless he shows us the math.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:44 pm
you are making a metric shit-ton of money per year
That’s “metric shit-tonne”, surely?
But yeah, even lumping in SE tax, it’s pretty fucking hard to send 42% of your gross income to the IRS, given what’s deductible as a business expense.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
In watching the GOP implosion, I’m struck by who’s being forced out. First, the libertarians were kicked out (although, they’ve since been let back in with the teabag parties). Then the “good-government types” were kicked out. I distinctly remember talking to my boss at a non-profit who didn’t understand how to talk to Republicans anymore – she couldn’t simply stress efficiency.
What’s weird is that the good-government types were the core constituency of the GOP from the 1950’s onward. It was the Democrats who were too beholden to interest groups (labor unions) to effectively govern. Hell, Herbert Hoover, of all people, has good government commissions named after him. Now, the GOP can’t approve a centrist governor of Kansas for fear of its anti-abortion base.
April 29th, 2009 at 5:56 pm
[...] point, Ramesh Ponnuru!2. And Matthew Yglesias chimes in:It’s true that Specter was nominally pro-choice. But for the past 15 years, he’s assembled a [...]
April 29th, 2009 at 6:43 pm
Republicans stand for two things:
1) Lower taxes for the rich
2) Lower wages for the poor
Anything else they profess to be important is to attract fringe groups who don’t mind or don’t know they’re supporting those two principles.
April 29th, 2009 at 6:53 pm
Just out of curiosity, I decided to figure out how much an unmarried individual who earned $500K in self-employed income this year would owe in taxes, if they claimed the standard deduction and deducted no business expenses.
According to the IRS, you would owe $149,837 in income tax. According to another online calculator, you would owe an additional $26,039 in SE tax. You can deduct half of the SE tax from your income, but let’s say you’re an idiot and forget to do this. You now owe a total of $175,876 in federal income and payroll taxes, which is just a hair over 35%. If you live in a fairly high tax state like Maryland, it’s possible to owe about 8% in state income tax.
So yes, it’s possible to pay a bit over 42% in income taxes if you count state, local, and FICA, you don’t claim any deductions, and you make a metric shit-tonne of money.
And in the process, you still clear more money after taxes than the median household earns in five years. So I’m not feeling terribly sympathetic to your plight.
April 29th, 2009 at 7:53 pm
Ah yes, the typical conservative troll. First, I don’t believe that you are said small business owner. Second, I don’t believe that you actually pay that much in taxes, for reasons that LaFollette Progressive delineated. Third, the fact that your selfishness sounds “more and more reasonable every day” is another lying talking point. Your taxes haven’t been raised since Clinton was in office. You’ve received numerous tax cuts over the last 10 years, and still you are griping about taxes getting worse? Talk about dishonest drivel. This trolling post is nothing but lies and deceit.
April 29th, 2009 at 7:59 pm
And LaFollette, since the state taxes are deductible that is gonna push him back down
April 29th, 2009 at 8:10 pm
RESPONSE TO JIM T AT COMMENT 17
I agree with you.Not only are the Democrats now seen as the responsible party on the economy. But many people,[including myself] thought that Obama would be more effective fighting terriosim than Macain!
The democrats used to come across as the ” COOOL ADULT” party .You remember when you were 16 and there was some guy who was a ” cool adult” that would buy beer for you and your friends. You liked him , but even back then you knew he was irresponsible.
The Republicans on the other hand were like a strict father. You may not have liked what he did , but you knew it was for your own good.
Nowdays the Republican party comes across as your mentally ill uncle . You know the one. The guy that spouts conspiriacy theories about aliens at the family reunion dinner table, while everybody looks away and is embaressed for him.
For those of us that want to shrink the size of government by making it MORE EFFECTIVE , these are sad times .
April 29th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
Regarding the debate about taxs
I am self employed so i am not a fan of taxs.But then again who is. The US president makes $400,000 a year, so Obama raised taxs on himself .
Incredibly, people seem to forget what taxs are for.They are not supposed to “punish” anyone. They are to raise revenue for government services.
In my idea of a perfect world , we would not pay taxs.In my idea of a perfect world, every woman in the world would find me incredibly sexy. I am not holding my breath and waiting for either of those two things to happen!
We are broke !We unfortantly must raise taxs AND cut services. This is not because government services are bad.Despite what people think, most government money [ which is tax money] is spent on the middle class.
Yes , some goes to bailout the rich [too much if you ask me].
And yes, some is spent on the poor [ sometimes spent well, sometimes not ] . But most goes towards middle class guys like myself.I do not own a car , but i have still riden on the [[government built] highway before, as well as the public bus. We all have used these types of services.
Some think that spending should decrease. Personally i agree . But the fact is , even if you cut the budget of all of the waste, you will still have to raise revenue.Most government spending is not waste.
There are too many conservatives who think that taxs are some sort of punishment ,and too many liberals that think taxs SHOULD be some sort of punishment.
I have never been on welfare,never recieved unemployment,never had a government loan or grant in my life. Despite this ,the government will spend far more on me than i can pay back in taxs.
WE Americans need to make sacrifices. Not because we are bad people ,or because government programs are bad [many excellent programs will have to do with less money].
We must sacrifice now , so that we do not have to make greater sacrifices in the future.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:02 pm
Yup. Which makes one wonder whether it’s about economic policy, really, or just about opposing Obama. The base wants to see full on war, and the base is dictating terms in PA, and Specter had an obvious choice to make: adapt or retire. But the point is that this isn’t about orthodox policy habits or voting trends, it’s about GOP public appearance. And the prevailing tone suggests that, if you’re in the GOP, your either with the party and against the president, or else your unwanted.
April 29th, 2009 at 11:14 pm
Surgeon generals get uniforms, and they don’t like them very much. Although I may be wrong. Perhaps C. Everett Coop just had a very odd sense of fashion.
April 30th, 2009 at 12:26 am
@6 LaFollette Progressive:
Great list. I was disappointed when ended. I got the sense that if your fingers hadn’t gotten tired you could have gone on forever.
April 30th, 2009 at 8:30 am
The Jam was a great band, but I’m surprised Maine elected All Mod Cons to the Senate
April 30th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Although Toomey talked more about fiscal conservativism in 2004, the pro-life message was always there (”And I’m proud to be pro-life”), and the reason why Toomey came so close was because he pulled in the small but very motivated group of voters driven by the pro-life message. The trick in pulling off a primary challenge would probably be to energize the pro-life diehards while managing not to energize other Republicans. You could think of his message as similar to a dog whistle, with the pro-life signal wrapped in fiscal conservatism.
Looking back at 2004: