Conservatives! Stop Accepting their Premise! - Commentary on Ace’s Article on Ace of Spades HQ.

Ace had an interesting article up (linked here) yesterday on Ace of Spades HQ.  As much as I usually love Ace’s posts, I have to take issue with this one.  He starts by making a compelling case that the Democrats and the Republicans have (since Bush 41 (inferred)) only two stated priorities.

Democrats:  1 – Increase discretionary spending on ‘general welfare’ programs, or at least maintain current levels of increases.  2 – Balance the budget.

Republicans:  1 – Cut taxes, or at least maintain current tax rates.  2 – Balance the budget.

All well and good.  Debatable for sure, but no issues here.  He then convincingly, and rightfully, says that the only compromise between the two is the abandonment of the common second priority: balancing the budget.  Under Bush 43, the deficit increased.  Under Obama and the Congressional Democrats since 2006, the deficit skyrocketed.

Where Ace fails in his analysis is his acceptance of the premise that lowering taxes decreases federal tax revenue.  He makes the claim that cutting taxes has a net negative effect on the budget.  This is patently, and demonstratively wrong.  It may be so for one or two years, but every economist worth his intellectual and academic salt knows that lowering taxes increases tax revenues over a determined period of time.

For years and years liberals have sold us this lie to mask their true motives for taxes.  We all agree the government has to be funded in some manner, yet the truth is liberals believe taxes serve as a punishment for the wealthy.  To the liberal, everything is measured in outcome.  The fact that other people (not them of course, because they all hypocritically seek to enrich themselves (the underlying premise… no truth… of capitalism)) ‘end up’ with more is fundamentally unfair.  So, rather than encouraging lower achievers to succeed, they punish the wealthy with taxes for their supposed unfair outcome.  Liberals and taxes is like watching my three year old and one year old.  Both of them do not care about what they have in their own hand.  They do not care how much effort and ingenuity it took for them to obtain it.  They lust for, and are envious of the object in their sibling’s hand.  They will abandon their own property and seek to take the other’s.  The net outcome of this is a net decrease in wealth and production.

When we continue to fall for this premise (that tax cuts lower revenue) we allow the liberals to continue their class-envy tactic.  We conservatives lose every time we accept their premise and play by their fundamentally flawed rules.  If you attack their true intentions, their mask will slip.  Keep making the mask slip, and eventually the obnoxious, petulant, envious, bratty kid underneath will emerge.