How the GOP Can Reverse the Progressive Advance
The first two months of the Biden administration have taught Republicans a painful lesson: Yes, elections have consequences, but elections that are not conceded have even worse consequences. Former President Trump’s insistence that he “won in a landslide” cost the Republicans control of the Senate, derailed a necessary post-mortem discussion about how the party can do better (after losing the popular vote in seven of the past eight presidential elections), and has crippled the party’s ability to combat an increasingly radical progressive agenda. Rather than owning the libs, the GOP is getting owned.
In short order, the Biden administration pushed through a massive $1.9 trillion stimulus package—a Keynesian spending orgy more than twice the size of Obama’s stimulus—that used the COVID emergency to advance an ambitious progressive wish list. The package expanded Obamacare, laid the groundwork for universal income and day care, and included a brazen federal power grab that prevents states from lowering taxes by mandating that states who do cut taxes cannot receive aid.
That was just the first act in an administration that wants to be as ambitious as FDR’s. As Biden described in his first press conference, Democrats are now gearing up to push a massive infrastructure package, followed by a sweeping domestic proposal focused on universal pre-K and free college. Together, they would cost about $3 trillion. Rather than paying for this by reducing government waste and cutting lower-priority spending, Biden wants to raise taxes for individuals and businesses. Democrats are aiming not just to transform our physical infrastructure (i.e., roads and bridges) but our nation’s social and political infrastructure. Their aim is liberal supremacy across the board—in culture, politics and economics.
The only thing more alarming than the size and scope of these proposals is the degree to which Republicans are sleeping through them. While a few Republicans such as Pennsylvania Sen. Pat Toomey deftly documented the excess of the Biden stimulus, the clearest response was a secret vote in the Republican conference to bring back earmarks. So much for contrast.