"The Tax Cut That Neutered Congress"

I was reading the Brown Alumni Magazine yesterday when I came across a good article by Republican Representative Lincoln Chafee about how the political maneuvering to cut Congress out of the loop of government started even before 9/11.

Many had been there in 1990 when the president's father, President George H. W. Bush, agreed to raise taxes to shrink the deficit, a big factor in his loss two years later. With presidential leadership exercised and political pain already endured, why would we suddenly want to turn the treasury upside down and shake out every last dime.

To me, the tax cut was a stalking horse. The Cheney-Bush strategy behind the cut was to set the tone—to preempt the Congress not just on taxes but on every issue. It would tame any future resistance to a radical agenda by serving up this politically irresistible prize: lawmakers could go home and say they had voted to cut taxes. The White House was out to neuter Congress, and the minute Congress rolled over for the cuts, it set the stage for one-branch rule in America and all the consequences we live with today.

He goes on to speak about how he and others interacted with Bush and Cheney, describing one-way "exchange[s] of ideas" and complete lack of interest in what these policies would do to election chances down the line.

He also reminds us of Jim Jeffords' defection from the Republican Party to become an independent caucusing with the Democrats. Jeffords had been elected in '74, in the immediate aftermath of Watergate, to a seat that had been held by Republicans since 1857, when Whig Senator Solomon Foot became a Republican.

I hope Chafee decides to go back and fight for his party later: he's the kind of person the country needs to knock the neocons out of power.

Edit: Forgot to say -- the article was excerpted from his new book, Against the Tide.