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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsThe GOP is now governing solely of, by, and for Red America.
Good article:
The Closing of the Republican Mind: The tax debate offers a clear measure of how deeply insular the GOP has become. Its now governing solely of, by, and for Red America.
... But there is a more straightforward reason why not a single Democrat backed the (tax) legislation: The GOP not only entirely excluded Democrats from the process of drafting the bills, but the party punished Democratic constituenciesfrom residents of high-tax states to graduate studentsin the bills substance. The tax plans represent a political closed circle: bills written solely by Republicans and passed solely by Republican votes that shower their greatest benefits on Republican constituencies. Meanwhile, the biggest losers in the plans are the constituencies of the Democrats who universally opposed them. Its not just redistribution: The tax bills are also grounded in retribution.
In that way, the tax debate offers the clearest measure of how powerfully the Republican Party in the Trump era is folding inward. Neither Trump nor GOP congressional leaders are even pretending to represent the entire countryor to consider perspectives beyond those of their core coalition. Instead the party has shown that as long as it can maintain internal unity over its direction, it will ignore objections from virtually any outside sourcenot just Democrats, but also independent experts, affected interest groups, and traditional allies abroad.
In a best-selling book published during the Reagan years, neoconservative cultural critic Allan Bloom lamented The Closing of the American Mind. The Trump era is crystallizing the closing of the Republican mind.
In several distinct ways, the party is now governing solely of, by, and for Red America. Key among them:
Distorting the legislative process: On the tax and especially the recent health-care bills, the GOP Congress short-circuited the legislative process to minimize public input. Leadership negotiated all the key decisions behind closed doors. That dampened public debate and ultimately forced legislators to vote on massive (and at times handwritten) packages with little time to consider consequences or mobilize opposition. More important, the negotiations took place only among Republicans, denying meaningful input to Democrats or skeptical groups.
... Punishing Democratic strongholds: The tax bills, as Ive noted before, are not unusual in benefitting GOP constituencies. But they are unusual in consciously punishing so many Democratic-leaning groups, especially in the House bill. Among others, these groups include families in blue, high-tax states, whod be hurt by restrictions on state- and local-tax deductibility; homeowners in large, mostly Democratic metro areas, whod face limits on mortgage deductions; and students, whod face higher taxes on college debt or graduate tuition waivers.
This confrontational instinct extends beyond taxes. Violating conservatives usual fondness for federalism, the House passed legislation Wednesday that would force every state to recognize a concealed-weapon permit granted in any state. The administration is seeking to withhold federal grants to pressure so-called sanctuary cities that limit local cooperation with federal immigration authorities. And Trump is trying to undermine blue-state regulatory standards by allowing the interstate sale of health insurance.
MORE: https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/12/taxes-trump-congress/547706/
onecaliberal
(32,863 posts)urantia1
(11 posts)Are now gone. Good luck America
underpants
(182,826 posts)- David Frum's perfect description from a few years ago.
They are fighting a battle internally to keep their own wolves at bay and Trump has added a ferocious vindictive element that they now have to feed too.