www.realclearpolitics.com
Democrats the Party of Whiners
By Robert Robb
The Democrats have titled their party platform, "Renewing America's Promise."
A more honest and accurate title would be, "We'll Give You More."
The soul of the Democratic philosophy is summed up in this passage from the platform: "For decades, Americans have been told to act for ourselves, by ourselves, on our own. Democrats reject this recipe for division and failure."
Note the disdain for the ethos of self-responsibility. Democrats do not merely regard it as insufficient. Instead they regard the idea that people should provide for themselves as divisive. Even more significantly, Democrats regard self-responsibility as a "recipe for failure." In other words, Democrats don't think the American people are capable of making it on their own.
And so, Democrats have a government program for, well, everything.
Democrats want government to help you raise your kids, send them to college, train and retrain for a job, buy a home and save for retirement.
They must be saving the burial assistance program for 2012.
If you want an abortion or want to keep the child, it doesn't matter. Democrats want taxpayers to help pay for it either way. Democrats are also big on "investment" in "infrastructure." Of course, in the Democratic view, everything is infrastructure. It is paradoxical that the Democrats are stressing the need for public investment at the same time that their tax policies will shrink private investment.
Simply put, Democrats say they will give you more than Republicans, and that's why you should vote for them.According to Democrats, the lot of the average American is lousy. And according to the polls, the electorate is inclined to agree.
Income and wage statistics are tricky. There are problems with inflation measures and averages are affected by the large influx of low-skilled immigration the country has experienced.
However, perspective can be gathered by stepping away and looking at the broader picture. More Americans own their homes than at any time in history and their homes are larger than at any time in history.
Americans spend less of their income on the basics - food, shelter and clothing - than at any time in history. We own more stuff that does more stuff than ever before.
Yes, there is a housing slump. But the end result of that will be, if politicians will get out of the way, more people being able to buy more home at lower prices.
There is currently a pinch on wages. But it is caused by inflation. In a 57-page platform that includes such things as supporting refundable tax credits to families on the Northern Mariana Islands, there is not a single word about the importance of a stable currency to protect the buying power and the savings of average Americans.
During the depression, GDP declined by 40 percent and a quarter of the American workforce was out of work. In the 1970s, the economy was contracting about half the time, unemployment reached 9 percent and interest rates and inflation hit double digits.
