Michele Bachman's Awesome Story

During the New Hampshire debate, Michele Bachman enthusiastically stated, “Republicans have an awesome story to tell.” It’s worth taking a look, especially at what has happened to our economy over the past three decades.

We have had predominantly Republican leadership in the White House and the legislature since 1980, with the exception of a 2-year Democratic advantage in the House. This was a sea change, as Democrats had controlled the legislature during the previous three decades.

Republican legislation for tax cuts and deregulation have resulted in our lowest tax rates and highest levels of income disparity since the Depression. The top 1 percent now has more of our nation’s wealth than the bottom 90 percent. Coincidentally, there was also Republican leadership in the legislature and the White House leading up to the Depression.

John Boehner insists that Republicans will not raise taxes on “the people we expect to create jobs and invest in our economy.” Hope must spring eternal.

The past three decades resulted in prosperity for only a few. Tax cuts didn’t create more jobs or a robust economy. In fact, President Bush had the worst record for creating jobs of any president in half a  century. Presidents Clinton, Carter, and Johnson occupy the top three job-creating spots. Ronald Reagan is in fourth place.

Republicans had ample opportunity for success. George W. Bush had a Republican legislature for over four years, giving him more ability to carry out his agenda than any other recent president. He cut taxes and regulations, increased the size of government, doubled our national debt, and left us in deep recession.

Demographics have been favorable for growth and prosperity. While the baby boomers are now beginning to retire, they were in their most productive years from 1980 to 2008; yet middle class wages have stagnated since 1980, and our national debt tripled, then doubled. Democrat Bill Clinton provided our single balanced budget.

Republicans have given us no tangible evidence of being concerned about our crumbling infrastructure and job creation, as their legislation remains focused upon ideological issues. They are even attacking “Obama’s light bulb law," although the legislation was enacted by President Bush.

Despite obvious evidence to the contrary, they cling to the belief that tax cuts are the way to prosperity. According to the CBO, tax cut legislation has been the primary cause of our debt, and the tax cuts have shown no sign of creating jobs. In spite of this, Republicans remain unwilling to accept a budget compromise, even one consisting primarily of spending cuts. They have essentially rendered themselves incapable of governing. The conservative columnist David Brooks has reluctantly come to the conclusion that the Republican Party is no longer a practical governing alternative.

Michele will have to resort to yet another of her fact-challenged accounts in telling this story, or she could choose to recall the earliest years of Republicanism. Aristotle proclaimed that citizenship consisted of duties as well as freedoms. Civic virtue had not been supplanted by self-interest. Government was not demonized.