Much debate and commentary has occurred concerning the present poll gap, and what appears to be a Very Bad Election for the Dems this November. (Longer term, the Dems prospects are brighter, both because of demographic shifts, and the economy will ultimately rebound--but that doesn't help this fall). Much of the arguing here, and elsewhere in the progressive media, has been whether or not the Dems have been insufficiently progressive, or too much so. But that's an argument for another day.
Instead its time to focus on a common framing of the difference between the GOP and the Democrats--the belief that the GOP, despite the Bush years, is suddenly party of fiscal responsibility.
They're not--they're simply the BOP.
The Bend Over Party.
Some of the GOPs electoral advantage is due to a fired-up base, responding to various cultural cues--and not opposed to the Dems because of well-grounded policy reasons, but because of belief of some rather nasty things about Obama (the same "dems are traitors" messaging that has been going on for years, exacerbated by the presence of a dark-skinned President with a foreign sounding name). But such dog-whistle politics doesn't explain the enthusiasm gap entirely; (and I'm disappointed that more on the other side of the fence aren't equally fired up to vote against such arrant nonsense and bigotry.)
Much of the gap, it seems, is simple economics--"its the economy, stupid". The economy sucks, a Dem is in the WH, therefore the Democrats must suffer. Two and four years ago, a similar dynamic brought down the GOP.
But that doesn't explain it all--the GOP, despite spending like a drunken sailor for eight years and driving the country into the ditch (Obama's favorite metaphor), seems to have successfully rebranded itself, among the middle of the electorate, as the "serious" party--the one that is interested in fiscal responsibility, while the Dems are busy blowing the wad on silly things like HCR. Obviously, this is a right-wing framing of the issue, and one that we all reject, but one that much of the country seems to be buying into. The GOP message seems to be:
* The financial situation is bad
* We need to restrain entitlements
* This may cause some people some pain
* The other party is not serious about doing so, and is thus unfit to govern.
Now whether or not the Tea Party republicans are really serious about the above, or this is just another empty campaign tactic, remains to be seen. At least a few prominent GOP candidates (Angle, Rand Paul, etc) are actively running on an anti-Social Security agenda, and opposition to HCR is uniform among Republicans.
But there is a flaw in the GOP's "austerity" and "responsibility" rhetoric, one which Democrats might do well to point out more often. It exempts the rich.
Austerity and responsibility are well and good things. Unlike some commenters on the left, who have staked out positions such as "deficits don't matter", or have explicitly called for looser monetary policy (and inflating down the debt)--or even repudiation of some of it--I think that reducing the public debt is important, and may cause some pain. But, and this is important--the pain must be borne by all; and especially by those able to afford it. The GOP proposals not only would spare the wealthy any pain, but additionally state that exempting the rich is necessary--otherwise they won't invest in the US.
Which is why the GOP needs to be rechristened the BOP--the Bend Over Party.
Many GOP partisans have been blunt about this. Newt Gingrich, a few weeks ago, was blabbering on how much nicer the investing environment was in China. He specifically was speaking of taxes (China doesn't levy an income tax), but many other facets of the Chinese economy--low wages, lax regulations (if any at all)--are highly attractive to investors. There have been lots of tales of long lines of wealthy US citizens at US consulates abroad, looking to renounce their citizenship (and thus have no further obligation to pay US taxes on income earned abroad--which is where they've been busy investing). And much of the GOP (and some conservadem) desire for extending tax cuts for the rich is based on the belief that if this is not done, the rich will take their money elsewhere--that only by bending over, can we entice American investors to invest in the American people.
This is the GOP, excuse me, BOP economic platform in a nutshell: The rich have the rest of us over a barrel, there's nothing we can do about it (to try would be "socialism" and unspeakably evil), so we might as well Bend Over and take it. And to paraphrase a certain infamous right-wing Texas politician, if its inevitable, we might as well relax and enjoy it.
This is the message that needs to be broadcast loud and clear. Richard Trumka's been saying it, but few other prominent Dems have--perhaps out of fear of being labeled a "socialist". The Bend Over Party thinks that the American People have got too good a deal, and are now using the current economic crisis (which they caused) as a pretext to renegotiate that deal. And the Newer Deal they propose is a raw deal for anyone who isn't wealthy.
There's a lot of populist anger out there, much of it being captured by the Tea Party. But many tea partiers (the common folk, not the politicians and leaders), despite distrusting Democrats for numerous reasons, are just as legitimately concerned about their own economic fates as Democrats--and have no love for Wall Street or the investing class; they just want good jobs for their communities. However, the institutions they trust have all been telling them the only way to get jobs back is to Bend Over--repeal the social safety net, repeal the regulations protecting their health and communities, repeal anything which might make their homes less economically competitive than the Third World.
It's time to call out the Bend Over Party. Its time to point out that patriotic duty extends beyond the men and women of modest means serving in Afghanistan or Iraq. The wealthy of this country, who have earned their fortunes here and enjoy the peace and prosperity of this land, have a duty to their fellow citizens who are suffering. In fact, those who have enjoyed the most prosperity ought to have the strongest duty. It's time to reject the idea that asking the rich to pay their fair share is "socialism".
In the 1980s, "trickle down economics" kindasorta worked--simply because the investments in America that tax reductions allegedly produced, were investments in America. Not today, however. The trickle-down economics of the past decade have indeed brought prosperity--to Asia. But the American people are suffering. And the Bend Over Party, rather than seeking to do anything about the suffering of Americans, seems intent on delivering the coup de grace--telling the country that we must dismantle our safety net, or we'll never see those jobs again.
There's a reason that the leaders of the Bend Over Party accuses the President of being a terrorist-sympathizer, or in some cases a Muslim, or in some cases an interloper who isn't eligible for office he was elected to. There's a reason that they bash queers and talk constantly about gay marriage and all of that.
It's because they don't want the people to see who the real traitors are. And it's because they don't want America to notice just who wants to bend US over, and do you-know what to all of us.