Great Incentive To Fulfill Pact
The master stroke behind the “Contract with America” was that it conveyed to the American people the GOP’s understanding not only of their desire for smaller government but also of their demand for accountability.
Americans are furious over broken promises - not only by Presidents Bush and Clinton but by most of the political class. And they’re sick and tired of business as usual. This is why the new Republican leadership in Congress must deliver on the “Contract.” Voters surely will punish Republicans for breach of contract if they fail to follow through on their commitments, especially their pledge to dramatically reduce the cost and scope of government.
The good news for Republicans is that this is the best time in decades to cut federal spending.
The economy is strong enough to cushion the blows that government downsizing will entail. Like any other economic restructuring, cutting federal spending will cause temporary hardship for some families, communities and businesses. Better to do it in a time of rapid job growth and technological dynamism than in a time of stagnancy or recession.
Americans understand such surgery is necessary and will be especially amenable if it can be accompanied by a sweetener such as tax relief. One of the clearest messages of the November elections was that pork-barrel politics no longer works - voters would no longer re-elect a Tom Foley or Dan Rostenkowski or Jack Brooks simply because he could bring home more benefits to their districts. By contrast, even in a very liberal state such as Maryland, an Ellen Sauerbrey running on tax and spending cuts could come within a whisker of being elected governor.
But fiscal surgery will not be possible without shared sacrifice: All regions, all income classes, rural areas as well as suburbs and cities, must be affected. Labor Secretary Robert Reich was absolutely right when he urged Republicans to cut government subsidies to big business, or “corporate welfare,” as sharply as they cut public assistance for the poor.
And the congressional leadership must build political momentum for unpopular spending cuts. One way would be to convene congressional hearings and town hall meetings across America, with testimony from citizens willing to see cuts in programs from which they currently benefit.
Farmers could be found to testify of their willingness to see an end to farm subsidies, in the hope that a free-market agricultural sector will yield bigger profits in the future. After all, farm subsidies originally were meant to stave off hardship in times of massive agricultural depression, not as a permanent arrangement.
Retired military officers could come forward to say that they really don’t need full pensions in their 40s and 50s, particularly when young servicemen are overtaxed and struggling to make ends meet. So, too, small-business owners could be invited to come forward and testify that they don’t really need a Small Business Administration - that what would really help them would be lower capital gains taxes and a repeal of onerous regulations such as the Americans with Disabilities Act. Welfare recipients and public-housing residents could testify about how many anti-poverty programs discourage personal responsibility and economic mobility.
Residents of Houston and suburban Atlanta (House Speaker Newt Gingrich’s district) could talk about ways to trim the NASA space program. And Hollywood actors and producers might testify about their plans to raise private funds to finance National Public Radio and the National Endowment for the Arts to relieve taxpayers of costs that could easily be underwritten by the private sector.
Americans understand that the purpose of budget-cutting is not for Scroogelike parsimony. Rather, it is for the tax relief and long-term debt reduction American families want. Members of Congress could get the ball rolling - and win enormous good will - by voting to cut their own pay and pensions and to slash their own personal office staffs.
Republicans can even enlist many liberals and centrists on behalf of their cause by arguing that government will be stronger, more effective, and more compassionate if it does a small number of things but does those things very well. At the same time, it must be made clear that the federal government has taken too much responsibility for decisions away from families, businesses and local communities. Americans voted in November to take their country back, and that means limiting government in Washington.
The American people have made Republicans an offer they can’t refuse. If the GOP fails to deliver on its “Contract,” its role in history will be only transitional, much like Mikhail Gorbachev, who was unable to follow through on the revolution he unleashed in the Soviet Union. But if Republicans govern as they campaigned, they will lead America through one of the most creative periods of far-reaching institutional reform in our national history, and they will dominate American politics for decades to come.
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