Taxes are the talk of the town right now.
In the wake of President Biden’s address to the nation, those in the world of politics have switched into high gear. Scrambling for details, countless groups are working the phones trying to get a better understanding of just what will be included in the administration’s looming spending proposals and – more importantly – just how they intend to pay for them.
Just yesterday, Politico posted this story: How Dems learned to stop worrying (mostly) and embrace tax hikes.
Not much has changed in the years since 2017 when narrow Republican majorities fostered a push for comprehensive reforms informed by that party’s platform. I’m sorry, but regardless of party, I’m skeptical of any proposal that comes out of a single-party controlled environment. And I would caution any who would listen: beware the poison pill in these proposals.
Our system is built on compromise. Which means it’s also built on friction. And friction slows us down – which isn’t a bad thing.
As much as we’ve bemoaned the need for politicians to “just do something already,” we’ve also ignored the actual something they’re called to do is negotiate and compromise. Those negotiations and compromises are critical to balancing the diverse interests of 330 million Americans who don’t agree on much of anything. The system is built on that friction. But when one party controls the executive and legislative branches, that’s when the “something” gets done in bigger ways – and often ultimately leads to a dramatic shift in power.
We’ve seen this story over and over again, and we’re likely to see it play out again in the coming two years.
- Party A narrowly gains requisite seats to pursue agenda X alongside a compliant executive.
- Agenda X goes a bit too far and Party B can take an aggressive opposition stance, fundraise and retake critical seats.
- Party B chips away at Party A’s majority status, taking away either house of the legislature.
- Agenda X comes to a screeching halt, while Party B uses its new influence to promote Agenda Y.
- Agenda Y becomes the rallying cry of a base sufficiently infused to win unified control of the government in 1 to 2 election cycles.
- Rinse and repeat.
Admittedly, this is oversimplified. But come on, don’t we see the road ahead? But that larger, theatrical political fight is where we focus 90 percent of our attention. No wonder we’re all burnt out by politics as usual. That cycle is downright destructive.
As advocates, we need to be focused on promoting the middle ground. No matter who’s in charge, we should be positioning ourselves to bring people together. Yes, we can strategize on optimizing our opportunities within that cycle above. BUT, and this is big, for our just cause to be advanced, it must be built to survive and thrive through that same political upheaval.
I know that’s a hard pill to swallow because we all have our own political leanings. But in my book, the real poison pill to fear is when there’s no need for those in power to work across the aisle.
Chalk it up to idealism if you will, but I think it’s actually quite practical. The only downside for this approach? We don’t get any of the cool slogans or swag. Sorry, it’s just really hard to fundraise when you’re “for” gridlock.
Part of the Possible 