The 2012 Presidential Election is over. The political ads are no longer flooding our television and computer screens across the country. The people have spoken and President Barack Obama has been given a second term. And the country is deeply divided.
If you have been on social media over the last week you surely have noticed a rather disturbing trend. People across the country, Republicans most likely, have went to social media, like Facebook and Twitter, and used them to vent their frustration over the results of the election. Some have declared they are leaving the country. Others have declared that the country is going to go down the toilet, is headed for ruin, or any other variation of that idea. Then there is a personal favorite of mine: some have openly wished the end of days would come so that they and their families, their children, can avoid four more years of Obama. Like he is a national disaster, a plague if you will. These declarations can be as humorous as they can be really kind of disturbing. They are the outward signs of a very deeply divided populace, one that is fractured and angry.
Why are they fractured and angry? And what can be done to bring the country back together again?
These are hard questions and they are ones I hope and pray the President is considering right now. He has to be the flag bearer of reconciliation and reconnection. He must do something he has yet to do as President, which is truly lead. The Republicans have made it clear, at least those in Congress have, that they are still as opposed to Obama's agenda as they were before. They will not be the ones to want reconnection, they will not be the ones to work to bring everyone back to the middle. No, this Republican party is too bitter, too angry to see the importance of compromise and a nation united.
The Republican Party of 2012 finds themselves in a very dangerous place right now. They have lost two Presidential elections in a row. They have alienated and angered women voters, particularly unmarried women. They have yet to connect with the ever growing Latino population and have started to lose some of the support and loyalty of their most loyal group: Seniors. They are a party at a crossroads. It was not Mitt Romney that lost the party the Presidency. It was not Paul Ryan and his somewhat radical ideas on Medicare. No, it was the fact that the Republican party has gone way too far to the right. They have become so radically out of touch with where we are as a nation that they are at the risk of becoming irrelevant.
What I see happening over the next several years is the party coming back to the middle, becoming more moderate again, and in so doing ditching the generally unpopular Tea Party and the Religious Right. Yes, you did read that right. In order for the Republicans to become a party that is relevant again they need to no longer be beholden to the Evangelicals and the Religious Right. Does that mean they need to no longer support a Pro-Life position? No, not at all. But it does mean they are going to have to come to a place where they will accept gay marriage. They certainly do not need to like it, but accepting it is key, because the truth is that gay marriage is going to be legalized. And soon. I would say it will become legal in the next ten years. It is simply not a religious issue. It is a constitutional one.
The Republicans are also going to have to figure out how to make in roads with women again. They deeply fractured their relationship to women with the party's strong push back to values and positions straight out of the 1950's. The fight against Planned Parenthood was a foolish one. As was the party's push to limit access for women to contraceptives. Even the Catholic Church has ceded some ground on their own views on contraceptives. Women make up a very important voting demographic and I do believe the Republicans will figure that out by the time 2016 rolls around.
One of the last thing I think a future Republican party will need to do is no longer slavishly protect the wealthy and corporations in this country. The American public agrees, by and large, that there are unfair advantages for the wealthy in this country. They feel the scales are tipped in favor of those at the very top. And they are right. The Republicans need to realize that by protecting those at the top they will eventually become a party that the dwindling middle class can no longer identify with. Many exit polls showed that one of the reasons people did not vote for Mitt Romney was that they felt he could not relate to where they were. More broadly that he could not relate to middle and lower class struggles and concerns. This is not just Mitt's problem, it is the party's as well.
Now let's come back to those angry masses on social media. These people who have taken to their Twitter and Facebook accounts and are using them as tools to funnel their frustrations need to be understood, not dismissed. It is true that some of what they write is utter nonsense and complete incoherent ranting. But it is far too easy to dismiss their comments as just that: the rantings of people who simply are whining in defeat or are racists, uneducated, or insensitive, . But I would argue that an effort needs to be made to understand where the anger and fear, yes fear, that is driving these rants is coming from. Many of the people who write these posts are scared; scared they might lose their jobs, scared that they might not find one, that they will lose their home, or sink further in debt. They are afraid, more broadly, that the country itself is headed into dark times and that America is in decline and more importantly what an America in decline means to them and their families. Their fears are certainly justified and perfectly rational. Their accompanying anger is also equally justified.
That is the key here. We need to look past the words that are written and concentrate more on why they were written in the first place. Which brings me back to one of my first points here. The need for the President and those in leadership to really work to understand the deep sense of fear and in some cases anger that many of the general populace has, including the aforementioned angry tweeters and Facebookers. Then they need to find out what they can do to help alleviate those feelings and concerns and in so doing bring both parties back to the middle.
It sounds so simple, almost too simple. But why can't it be?
The answer to that question is we live in America. Our form of government breeds contentious arguments, political maneuvers, grandstanding, partisanship, and backroom deals. It is a system that is not for the faint of heart and requires courage, absolute unwavering conviction, and brute political strength in order to make changes that really matter. Now you can have all of the aforementioned traits but before you can truly lead there has to be a clear sense of purpose. One that includes an understand of the issues, problems, and concerns that plague this country at the present time.
To that end, I am going to embark on a series of posts that get into the most important issues, concerns, and problems that I feel the President and those in Congress need to address over the next four years. Many of these could certainly be considered as overriding concerns of the general populace, concerns that are the root of their fears and doubts for the present and future of this country. To kind of get the ball rolling, I am going to write up one of those concerns here with the rest to follow in separate blog posts in the days, weeks, or months ahead.
1) Taxes.
This is the first major fight we will see the President and the Republicans get into. The Bush tax cuts expire at the end of this year and the President has made it clear he seeks to allow them to do so for the wealthiest Americans. Meanwhile, the House Republicans have already came out and said they will oppose the President when it comes to raising taxes on the wealthy. The positions are set right now on this one and it is gonna get quite ugly before they are through.
Let me take a moment here to explain what would happen if the Bush tax cuts were to be allowed to expire. I had quite a few people on Facebook make incorrect comments when it comes to this issue and it kinda bugged me enough to bring it up here. Here is the deal: If you make over $250,000 a year, the expiration of the Bush tax cuts would affect you. If you make less than that amount there will be no change. As far as how much of an increase on taxes, while it would basically restore the tax rate on those making over the aforementioned $250k back to the levels they were at under President Clinton in the 90's.
We are not talking about taking the tax rates on the wealthy back to 50% or more like it was back in the 1950's and 60's. No, their tax rates would go back to where they were under Clinton. No one in the wealthy class was struggling under Clinton and they certainly will not do so in this case either.
Making the situation even more complicated, the tax cuts on the middle class are set to expire by the end of the year as well. So if left unchecked, you could see a situation where taxes could rise up for both the wealthy and middle class alike. A scenario best avoided and one that has been dubbed a "Fiscal Cliff" by media types.
Now some readers, you know who you are, might say "Why not let both tax cuts remain?". A valid question. Let me give you an example to explain why it is wiser to leave the tax cut for the middle class and raise taxes on the rich.
Ok, You are a working class fellow or lady. You have worked hard, made tough choices, and have fought through some hard times. You finally achieve success and are flying high financially. But you are shortsighted and make some bad decisions. Eventually you fall behind on your bills and the debts start to pile up. At the same time, your bad decisions have caused previous revenue streams to dry up. You are in real trouble and a clock is ticking.
You are married. Your wife's parents are extremely wealthy. They have mansions, maids, nice cars, and vacation homes. Then there are your parents, hard working, middle class all the way. They have worked hard and are good people, but they just never can seem to catch up financially on their bills. They are struggling, their house is in foreclosure and they can barely make ends meet.
So you have two sets of parents; one wealthy and the other struggling a bit.
You need help. You need to bring money in to pay down some of your debts. You have a plan to do so, but you just need some extra cash right now to get things moving again and get you back to your previous levels of success. You have two avenues to pursue to get the money you need. Your parents or your wife's. So who do you choose to ask for the money?
You of course ask your in-laws, unless they hate you, for the money. First off they have the disposable income. And second you know they will not be put into a hardship by helping you. Your parents, on the other hand, are just hanging on and you know even if they would give you the money, that it would put them in dire straits financially.
Sure, you could argue that you (the government) screwed up, made bad choices, and spent unwisely and therefore should not be bailed out by your in-laws who made good choices and were successful as a result. That is a valid point certainly. However, if your in-laws let you fail, their daughter suffers as well for it. Now this metaphor is getting into slightly absurd territory so I am going to stop here. All I will say is that if the money is needed to make you whole, then it should come from those who will be not even in the proximity of hardship should they give it to you.
I am not advocating for wealth redistribution. No, I just feel that we are all in this together and the reason many in the wealthy class are doing as well as they are is due to the fact that they live in this country and that provides them the tools and avenues to be as successful as they are. Asking them to pay slightly more in taxes in order to help get us back on track is not wrong, nor overreaching.
Let me put it this way: Due to the great recession the nation has less people working. Less people working, less taxes being collected. Less taxes collected, less money for the government to have available to fund important programs and departments, both large and small. The Government has a cash flow problem and a massive spending problem (see Republican friends I do think some government cuts are in order). To solve these problems we need to get more revenue in the form of taxes while also reducing government spending on wasteful programs and avenues.
Ideally, what should happen here is that the Bush Tax Cuts expire. In their place a increase in taxes on those making over $250,000 a year. But here is the twist, the tax increase would only be for a set amount of time, like say 2 years. Uncle Sam would agree to re-examine things fiscally in two years. If it seems like the government is back on track, through spending cuts and other measures, then there would be a gradual re-lowering of taxes for those at the top. But it would be entirely dependent on the overall performance of the government at that time. We don't want to rush to cut taxes too soon.
The middle class tax cuts would be handled similarly, But in reverse. These cuts would remain in place for two years. Then they, like the tax increase on the wealthy, would be re-examined. If shown to no longer be needed, then taxes would go up on middle class workers.
Putting time tables on both of these tax options makes them more digestible to the Republican opposition as well as the wealthy themselves. Granted, it may piss off some on the left. But in the end this is the only way I see Obama getting what he wants, which is a tax increase on the rich and extension of the tax cuts for the middle class.
Time will tell of course. But to me personal tax rates are going to be the first thing to be fought out in the trenches in Washington. It should be of course and it will be interesting to see if Obama really takes the issue to the masses and uses the court of public opinion to pressure Republicans to concede some ground on allowing the Bush tax cuts to expire.
The next item I will be discussing is the need to revamp the corporate tax code. This is something the Obama should tie into his full court press on repealing Bush tax cuts. It just makes sense. So I will be tying them together as well.
Until next time my readers. Good night.
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