Democrats Have Much To Gain And Little To Lose By Running On A Progressive Economic Message In 2020
Between Donald Trumps election and last years midterms, the Democratic Party shifted its economic agenda to the left and narrowed the focus of its message to bread and butter issues. Whereas Hillary Clintons paid messaging had centered on her partys commitment to multicultural tolerance, the Democrats 2018 candidates favored a relentless focus on health care and tax policy.
This Better Deal agenda was insufficient to lure the GOPs big government conservatives out of Trumps camp. But Democrats did make major gains with economically left-wing independent voters. According to the VSG survey, Clinton won that contingent by 19 points in 2016, but Democratic congressional candidates won it by 42 points two years later. Since economically liberal independents make up about 7 percent of the electorate, the Democrats improved margin with such voters netted them a 1 percent gain in the national popular vote. Critically, this gain was not offset by any losses among economically right-wing Democrats or independents, as both of those voting blocs became slightly more likely to vote Democratic in 2018.
The GOP is far more dependent on the support of economic liberals than Democrats are on the votes of economic conservatives. While the Republicans burgeoning low-income wing is aberrantly liberal on fiscal issues, the Democrats growing professional-class contingent is just as if not more left-wing than the rest of the party on questions of federal economic policy .
Privilege And Entitlement Starting On Third Base Is Deserving A Home Run
The elites of certain churches, universities, private schools or ethnicities may unconsciously accept their position as any crowned head assumed the divine right of kings. Growing up inside such an elite seems natural and right those in power enable others like themselves. If they studied hard and played on the football team, compared to their classmates who did not work as hard, they know they are deserving. For one in that position, its a forgivable failure of imagination to not consider that the student across town who also worked hard and perhaps did not achieve the same SAT scores, may have often gone to bed hungry, may have surmounted far greater obstacles to achieve a lot capacity and determination which should be counted in. The privileged may not see the distortions that benefit them. This is not confined to one party, one class, one ethnicity, one gender. Some of us simply benefit from a surfeit of privilege.
Off with their heads is not an answer. Possible answers include: wealth tax higher marginal inheritance taxes and crediting overcoming the privilege deficit, without demonizing people who won the birth lottery a 21st-century rework of affirmative action.
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6. Their life experiences open the corruption door.
They Need To Develop Specific Policies And Programs In Time For The 2024 Presidential Election
I much dislike sentences that begin Polls have shown . . . Still, but, yet, nevertheless and however, polls have shown that the confidence Republicans earlier felt in the forthcoming midterm triumphs may not be justified. The gain in House seats is now predicted to be less than expected and hopes for a Republican Senate majority dimmer than a few months ago. Among the causes of this are the Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade, which is said to have roused many women against the Republicans the poor quality of the current batch of Republican candidates and the division within the party between pro- and anti-Trumpers. But I wonder if something deeper isnt in play.
Can one hope to win elections based on general principles instead of particular policies and programs? What the Republicans had going for them in the midterms was opposition to inflation, the obvious madness of our open southern border, the crime openly rampant in big-city streets, the wobbly foreign policy of an American president who in this realm and others seems well over his head. However worthy of attack these things are, they leave the Republicans in the respectable but limited position of loyal opposition. What, apart from this opposition, does the party stand for that American voters can get behind in the passionate way that wins elections?
Mr. Epstein is author, most recently, of Gallimaufry: A Collection of Essays, Reviews, Bits.
Appeared in the August 31, 2022, print edition.
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Experiment Shows Conservatives More Willing To Share Wealth Than They Say
Across 60 nations, Trump supporters are outliers on their views on economic inequality. But their actions suggest its not a core philosophical difference.
American conservatives are global outliers in views about the fairness of income inequality, and theyre among the most likely to attribute such inequality to merit, an ambitious global survey reveals.
Yet when it comes to actual behavior whether to redistribute money to workers in an experimental setting American conservatives act a lot like everyone else.
The results suggest that policy preferences are not based on core philosophical differences so much as the stories that parties tell themselves about why people are rich and poor to begin with.
Wisdems: Ron Johnson And Republicans Want To Raise Taxes On Half Of America Democrats Want The Wealthy To Pay Their Fair Share
MADISON, Wis. While Democrats have been laser-focused on lowering costs for working families, the Republican Party has made a habit of favoring the ultra-wealthy over the families theyre supposed to represent. Thats why its no surprise that Republicans like Ron Johnson have adamantly opposed President Bidens Billionaire Minimum Income Tax which would tax the top .01 percent of Americans, reduce the deficit by more than $1 trillion over the next decade, advance safety and security at home and around the world, and make the investments needed to build a better America.
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Republicans Serve The Rich
Republican administrations, particularly the current one, favor the rich they hire people who are rich and extremely rich, or aspiring to be rich, or aspiring to serve the rich. Democratic ones do but to a far lesser extent. Donald trumpeted he would have the best people and that they would be the wealthiest people, because their wealth proved they knew how to get things done. Hes followed through, with the wealthiest first-term Cabinet ever, with a net worth of at least $2.3 billion, not counting Trumps own estimated $3.1 billion. A July 2017 Forbes article, however, pegged the Trump cabinet at $4.3 billion. Its not clear why someone with inherited wealth, such as Betsy DeVos, at over $1 billion, knows how to get things done, but this tends to confirm the real element being valued. Obamas first cabinet total net worth was $67.2 million, or 1/35th as much as Trumps. George W. Bushs 2001 cabinet had a total net worth of $351.5 million.
When Was The Republican And Democratic Parties Formed
The Democratic Party was founded by Andrew Jackson Martin Van Buren on January 8, 1828, in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He was the United Statesâ seventh president but the first democratic President.
The Democratic Partyâs shocking emergence can be linked to the countryâs anti-federalist factions. It was during that time the United States of America gained independence from British colonial masters.
The anti-federalist factions, which democrats originated from, were also grouped into the Democrat-Republican party. This was done in 1792 by James Madison, Thomas Jefferson, and other federalistsâ influential opponents.
On the other hand, the Republican Party is pretty much younger than the Democratic Party. It was formed in 1854 by anti-slavery modernizers and activists.
The republicans were against the expansion of slavery in Western territories. They fought hard to protect African Americansâ rights after the civil war.
The Republican Party is often known as GOP. The meaning is Grand Old Party. The first Republican President was Abraham Lincoln. From Lincolnâs emergence, Republican Party started gaining ground in America.
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Gender And Marital Status
The Democratic Party has a significant advantage with women. Thirty-seven percent of women affiliate with the Democratic Party, giving them a sizable advantage over the 24 percent who identify as Republicans. Marriage tends to have a significant impact on how a woman votes. Unmarried women vote Democrat about 62 percent of the time, while married women tend to be evenly split between the parties.
House Democrats Argue Wealthy Aren’t Paying Their Fair Share Republicans Disagree
This July 24, 2018, file photo shows a portion of the 1040 U.S. Individual Income Tax Return form for 2018 in New York.
– House Republicans and Democrats went after one another in a hearing Wednesday, arguing over whether America’s most wealthy are paying their fair share of income taxes.
The U.S. House Select Committee on Economic Disparity and Fairness in Growth hosted a hearing on tax policy focused on inclusive growth, which led to the debate.
“We have the most progressive tax code among any OECD nation, that means we’re taxing the rich a whole lot more than we’re taxing the folks on the lower income,” Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said.
Most Republicans argued a similar point, whereas Democrats argued that the uber wealthy didn’t pay enough in income taxes due to tax breaks and needed to pay more.
“It is unsustainable for working-class people to continue picking up the tab for tax breaks that the wealthy enjoy, in part due to the Republican Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” U.S. Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said.
To clarify, U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, R-Wis., asked four witnesses what “fair share” would mean when applied to a federal income tax, asking how much of a billionaire’s income should be taxed.
Georgetown Law Professor Dorothy Brown responded, “40-50%, I mean historically we’ve had as high as 70%.”
William Gale from the Brookings Institute also said 40-50%.
Except for Dr. Rachidi, every witness said that deficits do not matter.
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Silence From Congressional Liberals As Democrats Move Toward Salt Tax Cut For Wealthy
Congressional liberals have gone silent as Democrats have moved toward raising the cap on federal tax deductions for paid state and local taxes, a move that would result in large tax cuts for the wealthy.
This week, Senate Democrats paved the way for raising the $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which was imposed by Republicans in the 2017 Trump tax overhaul, by approving a budget resolution that will allow them to pass a major spending bill without GOP votes. Leaders have said the SALT cap relief would be included in that legislative package.
The idea of raising the SALT cap is strongly supported by representatives of high-tax states that stand to see their finances strained by the loss of the full deduction.
But a number of liberal Democrats oppose raising the cap on the grounds that the bulk of the benefits would accrue to very high-earning households. Enough House Democrats have opposed such tax cuts in the past to make it impossible for Speaker Nancy Pelosi to pass the bill without GOP help if they stood firm.
But the Democrats who have opposed removing the SALT cap did not respond to requests for comment by the Washington Examiner this week.
The issue has made odd bedfellows of Republicans and some Democrats, with the liberal-leaning Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy blasting a repeal as inequitable.
Her office also did not respond when contacted by the Washington Examiner.
Congress Net Worth Demographic
One way to look at the question of who is richer between republicans and democrats is to examine the people representing us in Congress.
The net worth of a democratic senator in 2011 was $13.5 million, compared to a net worth of just under $7 million for Republicans. Interestingly, Democratic senators have on average twice the net worth of a Republican senator!
The story is a little different in the House Of Representatives, where the average net worth of Democrats is $5.7 million opposed to $7.6 million for Republican representatives.
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Democrats Are Gay Republicans Are Rich: Our Stereotypes Of Political Parties Are Amazingly Wrong
Got your answers? Now keep reading.
Its pretty well known that Democrats and Republicans like each other less than they used to. And its pretty well known that being a Democrat or Republican can bias how we view virtually everything, including objective facts such as the state of the economy.
Now new research illuminates a key source of partisan animosity: Our internal pictures of the opposite party are terribly inaccurate. When asked about the groups historically associated with each party, we think these groups make up a vastly larger fraction of each party than they really do. In other words, we think each party is essentially a huge bundle of stereotypes and this tendency is particularly pronounced when were characterizing the opposite party.
The research, by political scientists Doug Ahler and Gaurav Sood, can be tidily summarized in this graph. It shows peoples average guesses for what percentage of each party is in each group, as well as the true percentage.
Depressed yet? It gets worse:
Former Breitbart News Investor Robert Mercer And His Wife Diana Have Given $6544024 To Conservatives
Total donations: $6,544,024
Party: Republican
Net worth: Unknown
Robert Mercer, 73, is the former co-CEO of Renaissance Technologies, a hedge fund valued at $50 million in 2017, according to The New York Times. Mercer left the hedge fund in 2017 after clients, including the retirement fund for Baltimores police and firefighters, withdrew their investments from Renaissance over concern about Mercers political donations and involvement with Breitbart, The Times reported.
The $6.5 million that Robert and his wife Diana donated to Republicans in 2018 was the smallest figure theyve given in any election cycle since 2012, CNBC reported. The couple, once among President Trumps biggest supporters, have become fatigued by the resulting media attention, sources told CNBC.
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How Democrats And Republicans Differ On Matters Of Wealth And Equality
A protester wears a T-shirt in support of Bernie Sanders, an independent from Vermont who is part of … a group of Democrats looking to beat Trump in 2020. Photographer: John Taggart/Bloomberg
If youre a rich Democrat, you wake up each day with self-loathing, wondering how you can make the world more egalitarian. Please tax me more, you say to your elected officials. Until then, the next thing you do is call your financial advisor to inquire about tax shelters.
If youre a poor Republican, however, you have more in common with the Democratic Party than the traditional Wall Street, big business base of the Republican Party, according to a survey by the Voter Study Group, a two-year-old consortium made up of academics and think tank scholars from across the political spectrum. That means the mostly conservative American Enterprise Institute and Cato were also on board with professors from Stanford and Georgetown universities when conducting this study, released this month.
The fact that lower-income Republicans, largely known as the basket of deplorables, support more social spending and taxing the rich was a key takeaway from this years report, says Lee Drutman, senior fellow on the political reform program at New America, a Washington D.C.-based think tank.
Across party lines, only 37% of respondents said they supported government getting active in reducing differences in income, close to the 39% who opposed it outright. Some 24% had no opinion on the subject.
List Of Current Members Of The United States Congress By Wealth
| This article needs to be . Please help update this article to reflect recent events or newly available information. |
This list of members of the United States Congress by wealth includes the fifty richest members of Congress as of 2018. It displays the net worth ” rel=”nofollow”> liabilities) for the member and their immediate family, such as a spouse or dependent children. These figures offer only an estimation of wealth, as the Congressional financial disclosure rules use value ranges instead of exact amounts. As an upper range is not specified for values over $50 million , large assets are not represented accurately. Additionally, government salaries and personal residences are not typically included in disclosures. Furthermore, several members of Congress do not use a standardized electronic format, instead filing reports that range from vague to indecipherable. As of 2020, over half of the members of Congress were millionaires and the median net worth of members was approximately $1 million.
The original documents for each member’s disclosure are publicly available on a database website, maintained by OpenSecrets.
Since 2009, the salaries per annum of members of the United States Congress have been as follows:
| Position |
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Murphy: Democrats Deliver For American Families While Republicans Cut Taxes For The Rich Play Games With National Security
WASHINGTONU.S. SenatorChris Murphy , Chairman of the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee onHomeland Security, on Tuesday delivered remarks on the Senate floor calling outSenate Republicans hypocrisy for opposing the Build Back Better Act whichwilllower costs for families and create good-payingjobs whileusing rising inflation to score political points. Murphy alsoslammed their refusal to come to the table to negotiate the fiscal year 2022Homeland Security budget, playing political games with national security andundercutting the Biden administrations ability to humanely manage the border.
The Build BackBetter agenda, the bill that is going to move before the House andthe Senate this month with no Republican support is all aboutreducing costs for average, regular Americans. Reducing the costof health care, reducing the cost of energy, reducing the costof child care, said Murphy.
Murphy continued: Republicans’ priorities historically have beento deliver benefits to the wealthy, to the elites, totheir corporate friends. And so when faced with a very differentagenda, an agenda that is all about cost reduction, tax cuts foraverage families, for families making $30,000 a year, for plumbers,for teachers, for factory workers, for janitors, not a singleRepublican vote.
Clickhere to watch hisfloor speech in full.
A fulltranscript of his remarks can be found below:
