What Has Happened to the Democrat Party?
History has been made yet again, with one of the largest tax cuts in the nation’s history. Every tranche of taxpayer, even non-taxed citizens, stand to benefit from the landmark legislation passed by congress this week. Yet, in spite of the universal benefits to taxpayers and economic growth potential deriving from it, there was not one Democrat legislator who voted for it. What on earth has happened to the Democrat Party?
Just over 50 years ago, a young, energetic Democrat President knew the laws of economics. John F. Kennedy belonged to a party that genuinely tried to do what was right for the country as a whole, where laws of economics were understood and were not maligned by one-liner mendacity, like “tax cuts for the rich.” Granted, it was also an era when the media sought to report, rather than shape or influence public opinion based on ideological alignment.
Unlike many of his fellow alumni from Harvard, especially our last president, John Fitzerald Kennedy understood economics. Shortly after he was sworn in, the President said, “Lower rates of taxation will stimulate economic activity and so raise the levels of personal and corporate income as to yield within a few years an increased — not a reduced — flow of revenues to the federal government.” He was the first supply-side president, and understood that the key to economic growth is to free up capital for private investment that creates jobs, makes and sells things, and increases the standard of living for the entire country. After all, he had history on his side, and it had worked for nearly 200 years.
“Our tax system still siphons out of the private economy too large a share of personal and business purchasing power and reduces the incentive for risk, investment and effort — thereby aborting our recoveries and stifling our national growth rate,” he said.
And on another occasion, “It is a paradoxical truth that tax rates are too high today and tax revenues are too low and the soundest way to raise the revenues in the long run is to cut the rates now… And the reason is that only full employment can balance the budget, and tax reduction can pave the way to that employment. The purpose of cutting taxes now is not to incur a budget deficit, but to achieve the more prosperous, expanding economy, which can bring a budget surplus.”
JFK’s tax cuts were passed posthumously in February, 1964. The result of those significant tax cuts, which still didn’t go as far as he wanted them to go, had dramatic effects on the economy. Real GDP grew at 5.8% in 1964, 6.5% in 1965, and 6.6% in 1966, while the unemployment rate declined from 5.2% in 1964 to 3.8% in 1966, falling all the way to 3.5% in 1969. And, as predicted by our first supply-side president, tax revenues increased dramatically, from $94 billion in 1964 to $153 billion in 1968.
He not only understood real-world economics, but he understood the proper role of government in a free society, as America was founded to be. He said to the New York Economic Club in December, the year before he died, “The federal government’s most useful role is not to rush into a program of excessive increases in public expenditures, but to expand the incentives and opportunities for private expenditures.”
In other words, the role of government is to foster a climate that is conducive to economic growth, rather than creating government programs – expenditures, as he referred to them – which siphon the lifeblood out of a free economy. JFK was a Reaganite, economically speaking, before Reaganites even existed.
Today’s Democrat Party is most certainly not a “democratic” party, or a “party of the people.” It’s a party that creates and preys on victimhood. Those who are convinced they are victims of any type, even institutions from centuries ago, are the natural prey of today’s Democrat Party. And those who may not feel to be victims, can still be targeted, and convinced that they are victims, by the emotion-laced, illogical diatribes of Democrat demagogues.
Four years ago presidential candidate Mitt Romney was recorded saying something that was deemed sufficiently controversial as to undermine his presidential aspirations. He stated, “There are 47 percent who are with him [Barack Obama], who are dependent on government, who believe they are victims, who believe the government has a responsibility to care for them, who believe they are entitled to health care, to food, to housing, to you name it.”
Remarkably, he was most harangued for his reference to the 47%. Since that was the focus, clearly his premise was correct. For the “victims” of society, whether real or imagined, are those courted and pandered to by the DNC.
One pundit at the time opined that what Mitt should have said, was, “The Democrat Party has become the party of victims. It is the party of those who stoke the embers of their own victimhood. It is a party that needs victims, even creating new ones when the old ones are no longer victims, and making victims of those who clearly are not.”
The tax reform legislation provided a perfect case in point. Democrat leaders demonized the “wealthy” even though they already pay over 90% of the nation’s taxes, attempting yet again to make the “middle class” a victim-class. They misrepresent, mischaracterize, and outright lie about a proposed piece of legislation that will benefit so many. It’s impossible to even have an honest, genuine debate about the merits of a bill with them when they emotionalize everything with trite one-liners, and strip their arguments with any semblance of logic and fact.
There was not a single Democrat out of 242 in the House and the Senate combined, who was willing to have a backbone to do what was right for the country as a whole, and so many of their constituents. They thereby have proven they’re little more than lemmings to party leadership, who are the masters of playing the victimhood card.
It’s a sad commentary on our state of political affairs in the country when one of the two major parties can no longer engage in the process of governance to improve the lives of our fellow Americans. Instead, they serve as the new “masters” to the supposed aggrieved, with nary a thought of how their pandering vitiates their oath to “preserve and protect” the Constitution, and the rights it guarantees our citizens. They obviously have no interest in doing what is right for the nation, but only in advancing their agenda by creating and fostering victimhood. The most salient question is, should the Party that has negligible interest in doing what’s best for the country ever be granted control over any branch of government again? https://www.conservativedailynews.com/2018/01/happened-democrat-party/
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Democrats did the right thing by voting against what almost all economists said was the worst piece of legislation they've ever seen. I'm sick of republicans trying to pretend this legislation is anything but the deficit exploding giveaway to the very top. One only needs to look at the FACT that all the regular taxpayer cuts are minuscule and expire soon. Why would any person, democrat or not vote for that crap on Americans? Race to the bottom and widens the wealth gap. Oh, and CEO's and business leaders already admitted they won't be passing the benefits down. They are already doing stock buy backs. The secret is out.
What the seed ignores is that unemployment was at 6.6% while Kennedy campaigned and dropped to 5.8% by the end of his first year with no other stimulus other than the "confidence" in a new POTUS. The tax reduction worked BECAUSE of the high unemployment rate.
Former Secretary of the Treasury Jack Lew says that tax reduction while at "full employment" is a ticking time bomb.......
NOTHING...happened to the Democrat Party.
People just finally woke up to reality for a "Change" !
People will certainly be waking up to a change in a few years when all the nonstop spending and expansion of govt programs leads to cutbacks and austerity measures. What the US govt is doing is unsustainable.
are you saying what was going on before trump was sustainable?
Trump is trying to do something about that PROBLEM. Liberal types find that to be a no-no though !
After all....it's Trump doing....and NOT Hillary ! But we all know that Hillary would have kept the status-quo !
I'm sure trump will "fix the problem." Run the country into the ground by giving wealth to the wealthiest, then declare bankruptcy and sell off parts of the country and all our resources here and overseas and then skip out with as much as he can take with him. We can be like Greece, but I don't think we'll come off that well.
After that, of course, U.S. currency will no longer be a corner stone of the world's economy and they'll have to rush to replace it with the Euro or whatever is the most stable, and the U.S. will go even deeper in the hole, if that's possible.
But the important thing is trump and his people will get to celebrate the destruction of the U.S. and try to make Naziland or whiteland or holyland or the new confederacy or frontierland or "the plantation" or whatever the hell they think would be the REAL 'Merica paradise. With all them "lands" that will mean a nice long civil war on top of everything else as to who DOES rule and where.
Gee, all the billionaires will have to leave the country, unless they want to buy a state or two for their personal rule and use. Most would leave though, who wants to live in a toilet bowl of a country like that?
Can you say "third world country?" Places like Iran, N. Korea, Russia, Pakistan will be sending US aid and food and medicine, and we'll really appreciate "the doctors without borders" although they'll probably get shot and eaten.
But hey, some good will come of it. They'll get the Border wall, built AND PAID FOR by Mexico, even. To keep the U.S. out. Canada will build one too, making it a twofer on walls, also to keep the U.S. out. wonder how many refuges other countries will take?
ROFL Yeah, trump will "fix it" as much as he can as long as he can.
By the way, have you heard? Reliable sources in positions where they have access to such facts showed direct evidence that ultra-con sites, especially fox "news" are putting out UV rays from the television, killing billions of brain cells in the prefrontal lobes over a short time. Seems it makes people easier to manipulate and more gullible. Over time.
Have you seen that girl Alice? She was scheduled to be at the Mad Hatter's Tea Party......Not sure if that's in the same fantasy world as the one you seem to be living in.
Joy Behar ?
Is that you ?
So far...there have been 40 or so companies that have given bonuses to their "Employee's" since this Tax cut was signed. More to come IMO !
And we ALL know what people do with extra money !
Spend, Spend, Spend.
LOL
Is it any sillier than "trump's gonna fix everything?" I'm not sure if some people understand what the word fix means.
Liberals are now putting out boycotts of all of these companies.
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Um......this...
Why do you have so much hatred to the white family living in the White House? This is a fair question because I have seem many.many libs saying that conservatives hated Obama simply because there was a black man in the White House.
Trump does have a way of getting people to eventually cooperate, unlike the Pansies before him.
I see you are now trying to spin your own comment. Fail...Obama now has money, and alot of it, before and since he left the White House. Somehow, I don't ever see you calling him Black Trash with money. Wonder why that is? (No I don't)
Not a bigot....a racist. Two different things. DELETED (COC Violation) (A. Mac)
GENERAL WARNING: It's getting ugly in this discussion … STOP NOW WITH THE PERSONAL INSULTS!
I've always looked at your comments as well thought out and full of substance/s/
More than likely. Desperation does not look good on anyone.
Skirting the CoC [ph]
Take a look at Texan1211's comment below and apply it to yourself.
Give it up. You have lost. Believe me, i
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Try proofreading before posting next time. What an incoherent comment. Name a mainstream site you've ever seeded from. The weak threat at the end is atypical. Publish partisan bullshit, then cry victim.
Very nice of them companies. What percentage of all the U.S. based companies is that? .02%?
Today’s Democrat Party is most certainly not a “democratic” party, or a “party of the people.” It’s a party that creates and preys on victimhood.
This is a big reason why I left the party a little over a decade ago. When I was young, I thought the Democratic Party cared about issues that impact regular folks while the Republicans cared mainly about big business. I care about both from a macro perspective, but I feel like the guy who make $20K a year needs more protection than the guy who makes $1 million a year.
But today's Democratic Party has lot its focus - and its collective mind. Now EVERYTHING is offensive and all problems can only be solved by legislation. The personality of the Democratic Party is more like the Spanish Inquisition or Salem c. 1698 than it is of an organization trying to solve problems and advance the country.
Just look at the hysteria generated over Trump leaving a climate agreement that even its most educated supporters admit will affect the climate no more than maybe - maybe - a degree in temperature. And that's if everybody does their part to the utmost - and there is no rational basis for such an opinion.
That's your focus. Not building highways. Not finding ways to help labor and management get along better. Not protecting citizens from foreign gangs.
they brought a 60yr plan to a screeching halt...
the dems and repubs got bought out yrs ago by people who do not have our best interests at heart...
those people lost their grip on our country and now the best advice anyone can give them is simple.
RUN (but it is probably to late