The Patriot Post® · Party Platforms: Freedom vs. Servitude

By Business Review Board ·
https://patriotpost.us/articles/43695-party-platforms-freedom-vs-servitude-2016-07-11


As both parties gear up for their respective conventions later this month, the glaring and growing disconnect among Democrats, particularly on the economy, is impossible to mistake. On the GOP side, the focus clearly is on reducing onerous tax rates and cutting off the federal government’s out-of-control spending. Republicans recently unveiled a tax overhaul that, at least in theory, would constrict tax filing to fit on a postcard. And for those who question the plan’s viability, a new Tax Foundation study evokes high praise.

According to the study, “[T]he plan would significantly reduce marginal tax rates and the cost of capital, which would lead to 9.1 percent higher GDP over the long term, 7.7 percent higher wages, and an additional 1.7 million full-time equivalent jobs.” Additionally, “[T]he plan would lead to 0.7 percent higher after-tax income for all taxpayers and 5.3 percent higher after-tax income for the top 1 percent. When accounting for the increased GDP, after-tax incomes of all taxpayers would increase by at least 8.4 percent.”

Meanwhile, Democrats are getting ready to accept their most anti-capitalist platform to date. Among the changes is abolishing what the Democratic Platform Committee is calling the “starvation wage” and replacing it with a $15 minimum wage — one of the more popular talking points of Socialist Bernie Sanders. As NBC further explains, “The document goes further left than Clinton’s position on a number of issues, with Sanders policy director Warren Gunnells saying his campaign achieved ‘at least 80 percent’ of what it came for. ‘I think if you read the platform right now, you will understand that the political revolution is alive and kicking,’ he said.” In other words, the Sanders Effect is in full swing.

In a piece titled “Is Anemic Growth the New Normal?” columnist George Will writes, “America’s economy has now slouched into the eighth year of a recovery that demonstrates how much we have defined recovery down.” As much as Barack Obama touts himself for ostensibly saving the economy, the fact is, America is in the midst of a decade of sub-3% GDP growth. And Democrats not only want to continue Obama’s failed policies, they want to expand them. The Obama recovery has been a colossal failure. To vote for more of it is to embrace servitude. The GOP offers a way out.