Last week’s Republican National Convention seemed to pander to every voting group in America. From Governor Palin’s shout out to hockey moms to McCain’s continued reassurance to support social conservative issues, everybody got something to go home with except for one group, fiscal conservatives.
Fiscal conservatives have been written off by the McCain campaign and the Republican Party. As they went out of their way to reassure social conservatives that their pick of Supreme Court judges would be honored, promised the hawks that the war would be won, and made sure to reconstitute their support to the second amendment crowd. But what did the fiscal conservatives get?
Well, McCain promised to make the Bush tax cuts permanent. That sounds great, until you learn that Obama’s plan also incorporates the Bush tax cuts for most Americans. McCain promises to double the dependent deduction, but Obama is giving working Americans a $500 credit. McCain is promising to keep health care private, without telling taxpayers that they will have to pay a health care tax under this plan. McCain touts his plan to decrease the corporate tax rate. Problem is, a Wall Street Journal study found the McCain tax cut would only effect approximately 1.7% of businesses. And the list goes on and on.
The McCain people will say that fighting terrorism and protecting America helps the economy. This is true, but it also devalues the dollar and makes it hard to believe McCain’s plan to pay for all of his campaign promises. Never in American history have we been able to decrease taxes and wage war at the same time. Eventually our political leaders will be forced to choose between our occupation of Iraq and America’s future prosperity.
While all of the other voting groups are getting straight solutions from the “Straight Talk Express”, fiscal conservatives are being treated like second-class Republicans. A little reminder to the McCain campaign, unlike social conservatives, if we do not like the candidate that the Grand Old Party offers, we do not go home and sit on our hands. We go out and support the Democratic candidate. If you need an example, ask former President George H.W. Bush. Fiscal conservatives always vote and we vote our wallet, regardless of party.
To date, the Obama campaign is presenting a very good case for the support of fiscal conservatives. Their socialized health care does not include a tax increase on working Americans. The Obama plan also gets health costs off the books for American business, which would be a huge lift for the economy, and will weaken the strength of unions by making them a two issue organization. The Obama plan has a plethora of tax credits for working class Americans. And, Obama wants to eliminate the capital gains tax for small businesses.
The McCain economic team needs to go back and make a real economic plan Republicans can be proud of. Give fiscal conservatives what we want; less government, lower taxes, and real economic policies. The McCain campaign can either stop treating fiscal conservatives as second-class voters, or on November 4th, fiscal conservatives will start treating McCain like a second-class candidate.
- Kush Jenkins
