Bush’s Budget and the “War of Ideas”
The Republicans like to say they’ve been winning the “war of ideas.” “Good ideas always beat out bad ones,” Newt Gingrich used to say. But when you get past the broad pitch for lower taxes and a kick-ass defense, the GOP hasn’t sold a thing - except slogans: “It’s not the government’s money, it’s your money!”
Let’s talk about “your money.” George W. Bush can’t sell the ideas underlying his budget because they would never fly with the voters. Better to sloganeer. Take a look at the hilariously titled budget page on the White House Web site. It says, “A Blueprint For New Beginnings. A Responsible Budget for America’s Priorities.” Sounds fantastic - just what the country needs: a forward-looking budget, a sensible and sober-minded budget, a budget that will cut the deficit in half in five years! “Yee-oowwwaaahhh!,” as Howard Dean would say.
Now, imagine, just for a wildly improbable moment, that George Dubya actually went to the people to explain in some detail the difficult choices he faced and the tough decisions he had to make. What if he actually tried to sell his idea of cutting back or eliminating 128 programs - budget items like aid to local police, fire and emergency rescue departments; modernization of the air traffic control system; programs to improve writing skills and teach foreign languages, increase the number of high school counselors, reduce alcohol abuse in secondary schools, and provide employment services for the disabled. What if he told us why he had to put the squeeze on those programs and cut the Environmental Protection Agency’s budget by seven percent rather than put on hold the idea of making permanent his tax cuts for the rich - at a cost of $1.1 trillion. What if he actually tried to make the argument that continuing to shift the tax burden from investment and wealth to work is sound economic policy? Or that enforcement of environmental laws is less effective than industry self-regulation?
Of course, these fundamental Republican ideas and budget priorities are not really marketable to the American people. They can’t be sold on their merits, especially when voters see the numbers: those cuts in 128 programs will save the government a grand total of $4.9 billion out of a projected deficit this fiscal year of $521 billion.
So Bush won’t even try to engage in a real war of ideas. He’ll do what he always does - offer a few slogans, obscure the details, twist arms on Capitol Hill and hope for the best.