Creeping Incrementalism

RAHN: No tax increase needed

Richard W. Rahn

Thursday, August 7, 2008

Full article Richard W. Rahn Washington Times

Excerpts:

Over the past 40 years, do you think the federal government has become relatively larger or smaller in relation to the size of the economy?

Please take a look at the table below and perhaps, surprisingly, you will see that the federal government, in terms of taxes and spending as a share of total gross domestic product (GDP), has remained almost constant for decades, even though it has grown steadily in absolute terms. (State and local governments, however, have been growing as a share of GDP, and burdensome regulations have been growing at all levels of government.)

Even though income tax rates by the end of the Reagan administration (1988) were less than half the rates of 1968, tax revenue as a percentage of GDP was actually a bit higher. Budget deficits have averaged about 3 percent of GDP for the last 40 years, and the government debt as a percentage of GDP (approximately 37 percent) is close to its historical average for the last half-century. As the numbers show, those who say disaster is upon us and we must increase taxes are just plain wrong!

WALL STREET JOURNAL

GOP Reformers Face a Tough Fight

Kimberly Strassel

July 18, 2008; Page A11

Full article Kimberly Strassel WSJ

Excerpts:

The 11th commandment of politics is that elected officials shall not take sides in their party primaries. Then again, Missouri Republicans are burdened with so many sins, what's one more?

For an insight as to why the GOP is down and out in Washington, take a look at Jefferson City. That's where Sarah Steelman, the state treasurer, is running in an Aug. 5 primary for the Missouri governorship. And it's where her reform campaign against earmarks and self-dealing is threatening the entrenched status quo, causing her own party to rise against her.

So bitter are House Minority Whip Roy Blunt and Sen. Kit Bond at Ms. Steelman's attack on their cherished spending beliefs that last month they rallied the entire Missouri congressional delegation to put out a public statement openly criticizing her campaign against six-term U.S. Rep. Kenny Hulshof. Joining them in their support of Mr. Hulshof has been the vast majority of the state Republican machine. Ms. Steelman is clearly doing something right.

REAL CLEAR POLITICS

June 26, 2008

The Can't Do Society

By Victor Davis Hanson

Full article RCP

Excerpts:

We have become a nation of second-guessing Hamlets.

Shakespeare warned us about the dangers of "thinking too precisely." His poor Danish prince lost "the name of action," as he dithered and sighed that "conscience does make cowards of us all."

With gas over $4 a gallon, the public is finally waking up to the fact that for decades the United States has not been developing known petroleum reserves in Alaska, in our coastal waters or off the continental shelf. Jittery Hamlets apparently forgot that gas comes from oil -- and that before you can fill your tank, you must take risks to fill a tanker.

From the John Gibson Show on FOX News

Full article John Gibson My Word

Excerpts:

Los Angeles City Council members are going to ban fast-food restaurants in certain parts of south Los Angeles. The proposal has passed out of a committee and is going to the full City Council.

Councilwoman Jan Perry pushed for the ban in her district, saying: "We have a serious problem in my district with fast-food restaurants and the increasing level of obesity and diabetes."

South Los Angeles is a minority community so we would presume she is talking about constituents who are African-American and Hispanic. Blacks and Hispanics aren't the only fat people in this county by a long shot, but they appear to be singled out in Los Angeles, all in the name of good health.

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Food police and creeping incrementalism are alive and well. The latest Government intrusion into our lives is a plan to outlaw french fries in N.Y. and Chicago. (I’d sooner outlaw the French than french fries)

That’s right, those tasty little innocent floppy potato strips we all love to pig out on once in a while, are now on the endangered species list.

The reason for this latest insanity? A villain called trans fats. This is the process of turning vegetable oil into solid fats though hydrogenation. Don’t ask. Anyway these fats are said to be a contributing factor toward heart disease.

Creeping Incrementalism

O K, let me get this straight. I can start my morning with bacon and eggs, toast and jelly, topped off with a couple cups of coffee with cream and sugar. For lunch, a nice thick corned beef sandwich on rye with mustard, an ice tea and piece of pie.

At dinner the wife has broiled a thick sirloin with baked potato, lots of butter and sour cream, and oh yeah, a vegetable of some sort. All followed with a big bowl of ice cream.

Later that evening I sit watching the “Face” draining a few beers and belching like a champ. I ask my son where he’s going as he heads for the door.

He tells me he and his friend are going to Mickey D’s for a burger and fries. WHAT? Fries? No way, no son of mine is going to eat french fries, not while I’m head of this household.

Do ya follow my logic here? I mean when you think of it, it’s kind of hysterical, but there’s a more sinister plot going on behind the scenes. This is the murky veil of creeping incrementalism.

An article I read entitled; The Government and Your French Fries, by Sam Dolnick of the Associated Press, includes the following sentence. “The latest version of the Chicago plan would only apply to giants with annual revenues of more than $20 million.” Sure, and Anna Nicole Smith is normal.

Remember when the cigarette storm troopers embarked on their creeping incrementalism witch hunt? They began their witch hunt in 1973. Officials ruled airlines must create non smoking sections.

Since than we have all watched as incrementally, smoking has been banned in more and more places. There is even a suggestion to ban smoking in private residences.

I remember a caller to Rush Limbaugh who stated she could smell cigarette smoke coming from her neighbors house, which she admitted, was some distance away. Maybe the police can use her like a sniffing “second hand smoke” dog.

Don’t get me wrong. I have not been a smoker for almost 40 years and now find them offensive. However to not give bars a choice to have smoking or non smoking is ridiculous. If a bar permits smoking and I don’t approve, I don’t have to go there.

Reminds me of the guy who went to the doctor and when the doc asked what his problem was, the guy raised his arm and said, “Doc, it hurts when I do this” and the doc replied, Don’t do that.”

When the shoe banger Khrushchev was in power he said it would not be necessary to invade the U.S. He stated he would defeat us by incrementally taking one slice of pie at a time.

This is strategy the left has adopted but with an updated handle. "Creeping Incrementalism." Maybe some conservatives have a point when they compare the left to communists.

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