Washington Post columnist Matt Miller took a long, hard look at the Republican "cut, cap and balance" plan, and thinks it's hard proof that the GOP doesn't understand the math of running the government.
If there’s one fact you need to emblazon in your mind to make sense of the current debate, it is that Ronald Reagan ran the federal government at 22 percent of GDP back when our population was much younger. (Under President Obama, the extraordinary measures enacted to fight the recession – plus a collapse in the denominator, GDP -- have boosted spending to around 24 percent, while revenue has dropped to 15 percent from its 18-19 percent longtime average).
It is simply not plausible to argue that as we double the number of seniors on Social Security and Medicare, Uncle Sam will be able to operate at spending levels 10 to 20 percent below those over which America’s modern conservative icon presided.
This from someone who has advocated major changes to Medicare and Social Security. However, Miller rightly points out that trying to run the government at Reagan-era spending levels simply isn't realistic. He puts the solution rather bluntly: "Taxes must rise."
Moreover, Miller points out, reducing spending to Reagan-era levels would require cuts to the FBI, national parks and student loans in a way that would amount to political suicide. But then again, we're dealing with a GOP caucus dominated by people who only care about the here and now, not the long term.
The Republican aversion to raising taxes shouldn't surprise anyone who's been here for a long time. For years, I've said that Republicans have never met a tax cut they didn't like. And this is coming from a fiscal conservative who, at bottom, doesn't like raising taxes--but accepts that you have to do it in order to maintain quality of life. But Miller argues--convincingly--that Republicans have become so fanatical about low taxes that they can't bring themselves to admit that their governing philosophy doesn't really work.
So why does the GOP pretend otherwise? Because acknowledging mathematical reality is too politically painful. Because uttering this simple phrase – “to accommodate the retirement of the baby boomers, taxes will need to rise” – is forbidden by official Republican doctrine.
Because official Republican doctrine has banned honest math.
The only reason they're even arguing it now, Miller says, is because it's become essential to their brand. Which makes sense--even after Hurricane Katrina, they still want to cut government down to where it can fit in a bathtub.