During the Pawlenty terms, we Conservatives thought we had the public's mandate to prevent new taxes and spending... Now that we control the Legislature and not the Governorship, we think we have the mandate to prevent new spending and taxes... Can we really expect to have it both ways?
As I listen to all the news coverage of this budget battle, I wonder what the consequences will be?
Will the GOP's NO COMPROMISE strategy gain more supporters than it loses?
Will Dayton's willingness to COMPROMISE gain him more supporters than he loses?
Thoughts?
Star Trib Dayton Offers Deal
Star Trib GOP $33.8 mil
Star Trib Blended Solution
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7 comments:
A bad idea is a bad idea. Half a bad idea is a bad idea. Raising taxes in a recession is a bad idea. Raising taxes on the most productive is a bad idea. Hold your ground, GOP.
Republicans always make the mistake of being reasonable and building the compromises into their proposal to begin with. Their assumption is that reasonable people will agree on what is reasonable, not recognizing that modern Democrats have not a single reasonable person among them.
In general, compromise is never the right answer to any problem. In almost every case one side is more right, in the objective sense, than is the other. Let us take a hypothetical. Suppose one "side" of a budget negotiation wants to spend 22% more money than is coming in, and the other side wishes to "live within its means." Is spending 11% more money than you have the correct solution?
Does doing what is right get you votes during the next election cycles? Or can you win the battle and lose the war?
If the moderates perceive Dayton as professional and willing to deal, and perceive the GOP as stubborn and argumentative... Who will they vote for in the upcoming cycles?
Remember, I am a big fan of gridlock... Getting one party in charge of the Legislative and Executive branches seems to bring headaches no matter which party it is...
It does amaze me that Dayton wants to have a budget larger than $34 Billion given where we were... Again ... When a "cut" is actually an increase...
G2A Baseline 2
G2A Starting Point
The TeaParty is going to be thrilled with the GOP. The rest of us are not thrilled at the nonsense that's passing for statesmanship. I don't want either party proving a point right now--I want them working toward a sensible, moderate solution.
"Republicans always make the mistake of being reasonable and building the compromises into their proposal to begin with. Their assumption is that reasonable people will agree on what is reasonable, not recognizing that modern Democrats have not a single reasonable person among them. "
I'm seriously beginning to think you have your parties confused. You clearly don't like the DFL proposal, but it's balanced and reasonable. The right came out with their heels dug in and hasn't budged an inch; what compromise was built into their propsal?
Dayton has made clear from day one that he's representing all Minnesotans (take a page from his book on that one). You can call him a lot of things, but you can't call him unreasonable.
Again, I'm going to point to the most recent poll that says SIXTY SEVEN PERCENT of Minnesotans want a budget solution that contains both tax increases and spending cuts. John's right--ignore the voting public at your own peril.
--Annie
Annie –
I often admit to being easily confused, but I believe that I am seeing this clearly enough, and I believe your comment shows clearly what the Republicans are up against in "doing the right thing." The fact is that the DFL has not submitted a budget for consideration, balanced or otherwise! They did not submit one last year when they held the majority in both houses of the legislature, at least up until the last hours of the session, and even then it didn't balance by billions. All they have done is criticize, and their big liberal megaphone manages to paint Republicans as the bad guys.
Republicans started out with the reasonable proposition that the state should spend no more than what it takes in– to live within its means. Then an improved revenue forecast added another billion dollars to what was coming in and Republicans "compromised" by spending that additional money.
I have repeatedly advised Republicans that the DFL and their allies in big media are going to Savage them regardless of what they do, so they may as well have done the right thing. Finally they appear to be taking that advice.
as for Mr. Dayton, you are correct that I have called him a lot of things, but reasonable is not one of them and if you don't like him being called unreasonable perhaps you prefer the term "irrational," because raising taxes on the rich never works, and anybody with two living brain cells to rub together ought to know it.
The poll you cite is just one more example of the liberal attack machine at work. There are a lot of ways to ask the question, but when you ask the average citizen a question like this, they assume a hypothetical situation in which one is presumed to be "reasonable" and "open to compromise." If you ask the question more like "do you believe Minnesotans are taxed enough already or should taxes be increased?" You get quite a different answer. Republicans simply have to make the distinctions clear as best they can. So long as they can do that, contrasting their increase in the budget with what the DFL proposes, which is no budget at all, they should be just fine.
About mandates, I have learned that the GOP always has one no matter what the outcome of a recent election or what opinion polls are showing. I'd just like to remind people that in the 2010 gov. race, 56% of people voted for candidates who ran on increasing revenues (Dayton and Horner votes.)
A real compromise would be haggling over what spending to cut and by how much along with which taxes to increase and by how much. If Dayton wanted to only negotiate which taxes to increase in a no cuts budget this would be similar to the GOP position of sticking to their no tax increase stand. In other words not much of a compromise.
This legislative battle looks like a loser for the GOP to me, but with the election 18 months away who knows how the economy will be doing and who the voters will hold responsible.
One last note, while it is true that spending is up in the last two years according to the measure that makes the most sense to me (price of government) this is compared to a twenty year low in spending. I believe the Minnesota economy and services were doing very well in the 90's when taxes were a bit higher than they are now.
price of government
Politically, I think flexibility and a willingness to compromise is the more appealing position. That's what people, and that includes a lot of Republicans, have told me. The Republican "no compromise" works well for their base, but my guess is, won't help them in the marginal districts they need to keep if they are to retain their majority.
--Hiram
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