March 28, 2017

Personality and Policy

In the aftermath of the debacle over the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump can learn a valuable lesson that will serve him well in the next battle over tax reform and other issues.

In the aftermath of the debacle over the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump can learn a valuable lesson that will serve him well in the next battle over tax reform and other issues.

The president was elected largely on the force of his strong personality and vague promises to fix things that are a “disaster,” a favorite word of his.

Personality is not policy. Leaders who lead by personality can also die by personality, which is what happened in the House last week when the president’s threats and arm-twisting failed to deliver enough votes. The strategy, if one can call it that, now appears to be to allow Obamacare to collapse under the weight of rapidly rising premiums and deductibles, withdrawal of insurance companies from the exchanges and limited access to physicians of one’s own choosing.

The president’s thinking appears to be that, prior to next year’s congressional elections, Democrats will come crawling to him and beg for political relief. I wouldn’t count on that.

Politicians regularly campaign on promises to change Washington, or in President Trump’s vernacular, to “drain the swamp.” No one can really change Washington. More politicians are changed by Washington than change its political culture. As for draining the swamp, that would be fine, as long as the swamp only contained water, but the swamp contains politicians, lobbyists, lawyers and numerous interest groups one might call “swamp people.” These people are happy with the status quo because it gives them access to government and a sense of power, not to mention vast sums of money for persuading members of Congress to include, or exclude, items in legislation that appeal to their wealthy clients.

Before embarking on tax reform, the president might first consider a campaign to expose the numerous ways Washington wastes taxpayer money. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the federal government collected $422 billion in the first two months of fiscal 2017. The prior year also saw record amounts in tax revenue. Why does government never have enough of our money? Why doesn’t government ever ask if we have enough? It’s not just income taxes. There are taxes and fees on everything, from airline tickets, to fishing and dog licenses. The website theeconomiccollapseblog.com lists 97 of them.

President Trump should read the tax reform speech Ronald Reagan delivered from the Oval Office on May 28, 1985. While Reagan had an undeniably strong personality, this speech was full of policy specifics and led to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the last time the tax code was reformed.

Here is part of what Reagan said: “For the sake of fairness, simplicity, and growth, we must radically change the structure of a tax system that still treats our earnings as the personal property of the Internal Revenue Service; radically change a system that still treats people’s earnings, similar incomes, much differently regarding the tax that they pay; and, yes, radically change a system that still causes some to invest their money, not to make a better mousetrap but simply to avoid a tax trap.

"Over the course of this century, our tax system has been modified dozens of times and in hundreds of ways, yet most of those changes didn’t improve the system. They made it more like Washington itself — complicated, unfair, cluttered with gobbledygook and loopholes designed for those with the power and influence to hire high-priced legal and tax advisers.”

There were two keys to getting tax reform passed then: An avalanche of letters and phone calls to Congress from people of all political stripes and Reagan’s pledge to work with Democrats on a reasonable bill that would give Democrats partial credit.

President Trump should follow Reagan’s strategy, which was more policy than personality.

© 2017 Tribune Content Agency, LLC.

Who We Are

The Patriot Post is a highly acclaimed weekday digest of news analysis, policy and opinion written from the heartland — as opposed to the MSM’s ubiquitous Beltway echo chambers — for grassroots leaders nationwide. More

What We Offer

On the Web

We provide solid conservative perspective on the most important issues, including analysis, opinion columns, headline summaries, memes, cartoons and much more.

Via Email

Choose our full-length Digest or our quick-reading Snapshot for a summary of important news. We also offer Cartoons & Memes on Monday and Alexander’s column on Wednesday.

Our Mission

The Patriot Post is steadfast in our mission to extend the endowment of Liberty to the next generation by advocating for individual rights and responsibilities, supporting the restoration of constitutional limits on government and the judiciary, and promoting free enterprise, national defense and traditional American values. We are a rock-solid conservative touchstone for the expanding ranks of grassroots Americans Patriots from all walks of life. Our mission and operation budgets are not financed by any political or special interest groups, and to protect our editorial integrity, we accept no advertising. We are sustained solely by you. Please support The Patriot Fund today!


The Patriot Post and Patriot Foundation Trust, in keeping with our Military Mission of Service to our uniformed service members and veterans, are proud to support and promote the National Medal of Honor Heritage Center, the Congressional Medal of Honor Society, both the Honoring the Sacrifice and Warrior Freedom Service Dogs aiding wounded veterans, the National Veterans Entrepreneurship Program, the Folds of Honor outreach, and Officer Christian Fellowship, the Air University Foundation, and Naval War College Foundation, and the Naval Aviation Museum Foundation. "Greater love has no one than this, to lay down one's life for his friends." (John 15:13)

★ PUBLIUS ★

“Our cause is noble; it is the cause of mankind!” —George Washington

Please join us in prayer for our nation — that righteous leaders would rise and prevail and we would be united as Americans. Pray also for the protection of our Military Patriots, Veterans, First Responders, and their families. Please lift up your Patriot team and our mission to support and defend our Republic's Founding Principle of Liberty, that the fires of freedom would be ignited in the hearts and minds of our countrymen.

The Patriot Post is protected speech, as enumerated in the First Amendment and enforced by the Second Amendment of the Constitution of the United States of America, in accordance with the endowed and unalienable Rights of All Mankind.

Copyright © 2024 The Patriot Post. All Rights Reserved.

The Patriot Post does not support Internet Explorer. We recommend installing the latest version of Microsoft Edge, Mozilla Firefox, or Google Chrome.