| It's fun to scan Montana's Op-eds for the week from "conservative" to "liberal" newspapers, from Wolf point to Missoula.
Not surprisingly the focus is definitely on budgets, taxes and the upcoming legislative session:
Posted: Friday, November 12, 2010 6:00 am | Updated: 2:44 am, Fri Nov 12, 2010.
Belgrade News
"any effort to arrive at a tax-reform solution that benefits Montana's middle class taxpayers - the majority of us - is blocked before the session even begins by a gimmicky pledge to never raise taxes, at all, ever.
One issue this creates is with our problematic medical marijuana law. The burgeoning new industry - entirely untaxed and virtually unregulated - begs for both. But according to one Republican legislator who spoke to the Belgrade News recently, taxing medical marijuana is "not an option because most of us have signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge."
Bob Brown, Former MT Secretary of State and Adjunct Professor at UM editorialized in the Big Fork Eagle on Sunday (11/19) about what Montanans should expect if real budget cutting actually occurs in WDC. Says Brown:
The Republican tide swept across Montana with perhaps even greater velocity than the rest of the nation. There is no question about the mandate for cutting spending here. That being true, Montanans should brace for some belt tightening, because 40 cents of every dollar the Montana government spends comes from our big brother in Washington. The most uncomplicated and frequently mentioned strategy for cutting back is to return federal spending to 2009 levels. That year Montana received $1.9 billion in federal aid. On a per capita basis, only six states were higher on the federal dole than Montana. In 2010 our federal piece of the pie jumped to $2.3 billion. That $400 million increase in one year by itself equates to more than 20 percent of all the money the state takes in from taxes, and would be a $100 million over-draft on the $300 million Montana now has "in the bank." The impact of such federal cuts would surely prove the old saying that a government big enough to give you what you want is big enough to take from you what you have. Since our state constitution requires a balanced budget, we won't have the alternative of going into debt to compensate for federal cuts. Our state government will have to severely cut services or drastically increase taxes, or both. With conservative Republicans now in control of both houses of the legislature, don't figure on any taxing solutions..........swallowing hundreds of millions [of cuts] won't be as easy, but the reality is that our nation can't continue to live beyond its means. Significant reductions at all levels of government have to occur. Nickeling our way out this time will not be an option for Montana. This time we will feel the pain.
Likewise, the Flathead Beacon's Kellyn Brown says: "Every politician has his or her own agenda as to what should be accomplished over the next few weeks, but most would agree with Rehberg's assessment that the budget and tax cuts loom largest."
Most any newspaper from around the state that's saying anything seems to be cautious about great Republican mandates. From the most conservative to the most liberal (if there really is any such thing in MT besides "Left in the West") they all remember the last presidency when the GOP added more to the national debt than the last two Democratic presidents combined. Indeed, my beloved Rachael Maddow (MSNBC) pointed out that the Crown Prince of Conservatism, Ronald Reagan, grew the debt by 187% during his term. GW Bush was a piker by comparison with about 90% and the two Democrats trailed all the Republicans with Carter at and Clinton in the low 40's. I'm not sure how these figures were calculated but the essential point is accurate, the GOP is THE debtor party in historical terms. You have to give them credit for turning the issue around on the Democrats in political terms. I guess that means kudos to the evil genius "Turd Blossom" (Rove).
The Republicans have lost their arrogance and they are doubting the keystone of Reagan's conservatism where tax cuts are supposed to balance budgets. They know better now. "Supply side" economics are dead and buried by the Great Recession. Modern conservatism may stand for "smaller government" but they are even cautious about that. They know that cutting government means sacrificing their favorites, like defense spending, and there simply isn't room for huge tax cuts because the actually do decrease revenues. The Great Recession has brought sobriety to the heady days of the stolen 2000 election when huge tax cuts rolled through. The GOP was sure that the budget would magically balance and prosperity would abound. Neither happened and now the GOP, fresh off the Tea party demolition of its ideology is looking for new ground. They also sense that "small government" isn't really what people want; Democrats and Republicans both know that Americans want "good government" regardless of size. That means that it's not really about budgets and taxes, it's about delivering services and solving problems when resources are thin. Their task is finding the equation to deliver. The Democrats failed during their biennium and the GOP knows the price that they'll pay if they don't find it either. |
