Why would Americans have any respect for allegedly “conservative” politicians who seem intestinally incapable of standing up to quacking liberal Democrats who refuse to get serious about the business of reducing the deadly serious 14.3 trillion-dollar national debt?

By Chuck Rogér

Only about 20% of Americans see themselves as ideologically “liberal” (1, 2). In recent Rasmussen polls, surveys of likely voters found that:

1. 22% think that tax cuts hurt the economy;
2. 26% believe that less government spending hurts the economy;
3. 23% claim that raising taxes helps the economy;
4. 24% say that government spending helps the economy;
5. 25% believe that America is headed in the right direction.

On issue after issue, just over 20% of voters hold beliefs utterly out of whack with reality. And about 20% of Americans are liberals. Coincidence?

Maybe. Let’s put the implications of the beliefs professed by voters in items 1 through 5 into a list and see what we get.

Between 22% and 26% of American voters believe that:

• letting taxpayers keep their own money to spend hurts the economy;
• stopping government bureaucrats from wasting taxpayer money is a bad economic strategy;
• confiscating more of the money that taxpayers would have spent to bolster the economy bolsters the economy;
• encouraging government bureaucrats to waste taxpayer money is a good economic strategy;
• when government inflicts itself into every aspect of citizens’ lives, the country moves in the “right direction.”

These five bullets capture the sum-total of economic wisdom possessed by organisms in the classification of critters known as “liberals.” This contention is supported by one of the recent Rasmussen polls. Examining finer detail on the question of whether America is headed in the right or wrong direction, we see that only 48% of Democrats (mostly liberal) say “Yes,” versus a staggering 85% of Republicans (mostly conservative) and 72% percent of independents (mostly centrist). The poll is yet another indication of liberals’ fundamental inability to connect with reality.

Now we come a most interesting poll statistic. Republicans hold only a four percentage point lead over Democrats in Rasmussen’s generic congressional ballot. The temptation might be to conclude that the American people are clueless, for why, oh why, do a great many more people not see that Republicans are better than Democrats?

The question is a trick, one which employs a debating gimmick known as the “straw man” logical fallacy. In the straw man fallacy, one intentionally represents someone else’s position in a way that is inaccurate and then attacks the position. The question of why more people don’t see Republicans as superior to Democrats uses a straw man. It’s like asking a man who has never beaten his wife, “Why do you beat your wife?” The question assumes facts not in evidence in order to trip the man into self-incrimination.

A plausible reason why more people don’t see Republicans as better than Democrats is that Republicans are not better than Democrats.

So far, Republicans in the 112th Congress have not sufficiently demonstrated that they represent the people’s interests any better than Democrats do. Remember, a huge 85% of Republicans and 72% of independents believe that America is headed in the wrong direction. Nearly 60% of voters understand that government spending hurts the economy. Why would such intelligent voters slobber at the chance to cast favorable views toward gutless Republicans?

Before House Budget Committee Chairman Paul Ryan unveiled his “Path to Prosperity” budget resolution, Republicans had offered at most a measly $61 billion in spending cuts (1.6%) against $3.8 trillion of total spending. And Republicans have made noises about compromising on even smaller spending cuts, perhaps as minuscule as $33 billion, only 0.9% of spending. Why would Americans have any respect for allegedly “conservative” politicians who seem intestinally incapable of standing up to quacking liberal Democrats who refuse to get serious about the business of reducing the deadly serious 14.3 trillion-dollar national debt?

Chuck Rogér blogs at Clear Thinking

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