Riling Up The Republican Base

THE ART of politics is to divide up the electorate neatly into 51-49, with 51 percent for our side. You want to fire up your base, encourage moderatew with your message of hope, and put the other base to sleep.

But Democrats seem to be working hard to fire up the Republican base. First of all, The Prowler reports, the Democrats are planning to reintroduce the Fairness Doctrine that requires “both sides” of an issue to be aired on the public airwaves. And the reason seems to be pure politics.

"First, [Democrats] failed on the radio airwaves with Air America, no one wanted to listen," says a senior adviser to Pelosi. "Conservative radio is a huge threat and political advantage for Republicans and we have had to find a way to limit it. Second, it looks like the Republicans are going to have someone in the presidential race who has access to media in ways our folks don’t want, so we want to make sure the GOP has no advantages going into 2008."

Look Democrats, if you want to do one thing that would really rile up the Republican base, go ahead, make my day.

Then there’s the Democratic plan to let the Bush tax cuts expire. According to the Heritage Foundation:

As it currently stands, the House budget resolution proposes to allow the Bush tax cuts to expire, which could potentially cause the average taxpayer to face an additional $3,026 in taxes. Further, allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire could cause great damage to the economy, reducing both job creation and economic growth.

Last time the Democrats increased taxes, in 1993 the result was immediate. The voters chose in 1994 a Republican Congress.

Maybe the Democrats are doing these things because that’s the only tune they know how to play.

But I’d say that the strategic thing to do would be to keep the Republican base fast asleep and discouraged.

After all, the Democrats spend something like $2.5 trillion in taxes a year on pensions, health care, education, and welfare. Isn’t that enough to keep their supporters at home?

Sphere: Related Content |

Christopher Chantrill blogs at www.roadtothemiddleclass.com. His Road to the Middle Class is forthcoming.