Daniel Gardner Guest ColumnistNinety percent of American voters have already decided who they’ll vote for in November and are unlikely to change their minds. That leaves the other 10-percent who are steadfastly ignoring three rings of political theater trying to attract their votes. We’ll see little if any movement in the polls among these independents until probably late September.
In the meantime TEA Parties will be cranking up the volume with regularly scheduled meetings to inform voters of candidates’ positions, and tons of postings on social media sites extolling the virtues of returning to constitutional governance. Though these messages are uniformly conservative, they’re not necessarily Republican, as we’ve seen in elections since 2010.
Independents in general and TEA Partiers in particular are fed up with Washington politics and blame both parties for leading us down a path of big government. Our nation was uniquely founded on principles designed specifically to limit the powers of the federal government. Founders forged limits creating three equal branches of government that would check and balance powers to prohibit any one branch from usurping unconstitutional powers, and then gave all other powers to the states and the people.
At a five-state press association meeting last week, in response to a question about radicalization of TEA Parties, I laughed as I said most TEA Parties I’ve attended were comprised of relatively small groups of people (50 – 100) averaging over 50 years of age, serving coffee and cookies as they discussed politics. And, the media are still painting these grandparents as radical extremists!
Independents know what we don’t want: more of the same out of Washington. That gives Mitt Romney a slight edge if he’ll tell us more specifically what he plans to do. So far the Romney campaign has been playing prevent defense, trying not to lose the election by making gaffs. After the Roberts’ court ruled Obamacare was filled with taxes, the Romney team brushed aside the gift and actually agreed with President Obama that the mandate was not a tax but a penalty…before coming out and saying it wasn’t a penalty but a tax.
In 2008 many of us independents voted against Barack Obama. If Mitt Romney can’t get his act together any better than this we’ll have to vote against Mr. Obama again hoping someone with real Founding principles will rise up in 2016 because four more years of Mr. Obama’s policies and unconstitutional grabs for power will crush our economy and fuel class warfare to the boiling point.
Mr. Obama talks about “rich” Americans paying their fair share of taxes? What is “fair?” The Congressional Budget Office reports the top 20-percent of taxpayers pay 86-percent of all income tax revenue. Under Ronald Reagan that percentage was 64- percent, and when George W. Bush entered office it was 81-percent. So much for the so-called Bush tax cuts!
Independents who make up the lion’s share of swing voters will likely decide November’s election in six or eight toss up states. None of us want more of the same out of Washington, and that’s all President Obama has promised so far. If Mr. Romney wants to win in November he needs to send a clear message of what changes he intends to make.