Andre's Executive Order

This is part two of a series of articles challenging the Republican establishment to defend their representation of Conservative interests and to challenge current Republican talking points with common sense. Today's topic: Taxation Every single Republican running for federal elected office is asked (rather heavy handedly) to sign Grover Norquist's pledge to never raise, or cause to be raised, any income tax for corporations or individuals or to reduce any deduction available that in effect raises those taxes. The effects of this pledge and the mentality behind it saturate the Republican political landscape these days and was plainly visible in the debt ceiling debate earlier this month. The suggestion of raising revenues caused Cantor to storm out of a critical meeting and was a hard line in the sand drawn by all Republican leadership in both the Senate and the House. The opposition to tax increases was so vehement that the Republican party passed up two trillion in addit...

I challenge the Republican establishment to explain themselves. This is not an attempt to attack conservative base values, it is instead a direct attack on the Republican political party and its priorities. It is my contention that neither conservatives nor libertarians are being served by that group in its current form. Today's topic: Education The Money Tree Every time the state runs into financial trouble under Republican watch, education seems to be one of the first things on the chopping block. Corporations, meanwhile, are one of the last to see an increase in taxation to make up the shortfall. This defies basic structural logic if public education has value, which I think every US citizen would agree it does. To understand the logical failing, we have to understand what we mean by value. Having an education gives a student the tools necessary to be able to realize their individual initiative and perform the jobs asked for them in the private sector. So in effect educ...

What is the winning condition for Republicans on our political landscape? When do they know they have achieved a victory that renders one of their principle strategies 'finished'? In politics we often talk in abstracts. We want tax cuts, more funding for education, corporate deregulation, or consumer protections, but all of these things, in theory, strive to push towards a certain point on the horizon. After that point, if they are continued, they actually destructive. Take corporate tax cuts, for instance. The idea behind these tax cuts is that if business is a maximally profitable environment, they will generate jobs and stimulate the economy. However as any libertarian will tell you, corporations need the rule of law in order to have a fair playing field. The rule of law is enforced by the government. If taxes are cut too far, then government loses the ability to monitor and enforce that rule of law, and the free market begins to fall apart. So in theory there is a sweet...