16th US President Abraham Lincoln famously stated in his Gettysburg Address, "we here resolve... that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth," but after a quick examination of the controversial Republican tax bill, the federal government of the United States seems to be exhibiting anything but the mentioned populist format.
According to a poll from Public Policy Polling, 57 percent of Americans now approve of the Affordable Care Act. Only 29 percent approve of the GOP’s tax cuts. According to these figures, Republicans have managed to make tax cuts less popular than Obamacare.
Yet, last week, when they possessed the opportunity to tweak their bill before final passage and thus make it something the American people might be able to support a bit more, the primary revision Congressional Republicans made was to lower the top tax rate, the rate paid by the richest Americans, even more than the bill already provided.
To me it seems, to say the least, strange that a Republican president and Congress that ran for office on a populist platform is now exhibiting behaviors of a plutocracy-governed nation, where "#DrainTheSwamp" becomes tax breaks for hedge funds, the well-connected and the president’s family.
But there is also something profusely confusing about this scenario. This is not how politicians are supposed to act. Also known as the "public servants," politicians are meant to have an inevitable instinct for self-preservation and "survival," an extensive recognition and knowledge of the public will, and a fear of electoral consequences if they stray from the will of the people. This is why we have terms like “conviction politician” — because elected officials who vote their conscience rather than vote their careers are believed to be so rare.
Republicans were pushed out of their offices in Virginia, New Jersey, and even Alabama elections. Overall, they’re currently running 9 points behind their 2016 performance score. Ballot polling approximated on average show Democrats with a staggering 11-point lead in 2018 — more than enough to take back the majority in the House of Representatives by then. Congressional Republicans are facing detrimental losses in the midterms, and they know it.
Nevertheless, Republicans have been exhibiting an open disregard for public desire. While Obamacare was not a popular bill by any standard when it was passed by Congress initially, it still managed to poll in the 40s. In contrast, the Republicans have released two bills, the repeal of Obamacare and this new tax bill, that have polled between the teens and the 20s.
Yet, current Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) stated in 2014, speaking of the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare): What should be reinforced is the idea that government and public remain connected, yet quintessentially separate.
The chaos [the Affordable Care Act] that has visited in our country isn’t just deeply tragic, it was entirely predictable. And that will always be the case if you approach legislation without regard for the views of the other side. Without some meaningful buy-in, you guarantee a food fight. You guarantee instability and strife. It may very well have been the case that on Obamacare, the will of the country was not to pass the bill at all. That’s what I would have concluded if Republicans couldn’t get a single Democrat vote for legislation of this magnitude. I’d have thought, maybe this isn’t such a great idea.
Look back now, it almost seems as if the Majority Leader and the party he represents has no regard for the very ideas that he upheld in this 2014 statement. So how much does public opinion truly matter?
In the most basic sense of understanding of modern politics, it is important to note that overall public opinion does not matter. While American politics glorifies and seemingly upholds the power of the voice of the common person, members of the House and Senate only need to focus on three things: their donors, party, and re-election constituency.
In cases such as the Jobs Act and the Tax Cut, benefits largely go to big-business corporate shareholders, those with unearned rather than earned income, and those with ‘pass-through’ income from businesses that will now be taxed at the new lower corporate rates rather than at individual tax rates. These beneficiaries, in turn, end up being the major political donors who help both sides of the aisle secure their seats.
In examining their voters, the current GOP is an excellent example to analyze. In short, Republicans don't have much to fear in terms of their constituency. Most lower and middle-income voters in red districts and states will see no difference or a modest/insignificant decline in their taxes at first. Over time, their taxes will rise, but in a particularly gradual and largely invisible way that will be hard for them to trace back to their lawmakers’ votes in 2017 when the costs have long exceeded the pre- Tax Cut era.
Finally, members of both the House and Senate need to focus on their party. While voting along partisan lines is commonplace on The Hill, this isn't necessarily because they so strongly believe in their vote and stance that they present in public. To remain in power, a politician must have the confidence of their party. If a politician backed by a party happens to stray from the party's publicized stance, they can just as easily be ousted and replaced as they were placed in their seat.
Looking back at history, thirty-third US Vice President Henry A. Wallace (VPOTUS to F. Roosevelt in his second term) was a highly beloved progressive and liberal-esque gentleman. Beloved by millions, he was eventually ousted by the then-conservative Democratic Party for being "too-liberal" and replaced by a much more conservative Harry S. Truman. Case in point, any politician must have the confidence of their party's leadership if they want to keep their jobs.
The United States has long been known in the international community as the gleaming beacon of democracy. As millions of people worldwide suffered at the hands of leader they didn't elect and laws they didn't have any say in, the United States supposedly symbolized a release from such oppressive principles.
The United States of America was the nation of populism, where every step of the government was dictated by the people themselves. But looking at it now, are we truly living in a populist society. If party leaders, big business, and a handpicked batch of constituents that politicians need to please are placing these men and women into their seats of awesome power, it's time to ask: has the United States turned into a plutocratic government?
