A guide to the gaslighting of voters.
Being an elected Republican today means navigating a fundamental contradiction: Voters love bold spending cuts in theory but hate them in practice. Surveys have long shown that Americans want deficit reduction and a smaller government. "Washington spends too much money" is one of the easiest applause lines in politics. But when asked about specific programs—Social Security, Medicare, defense, veterans' benefits, infrastructure, education, border security, the safety net, and nearly every other federal budget item except, perhaps, the 1 percent of total spending going to foreign aid and NASA—the electorate demands even more spending. Across the spectrum, voters prefer to talk like Sen. Barry Goldwater and spend like LBJ.
Democratic lawmakers handle the voter contradictions by emphasizing their support for expanding popular programs and vaguely hinting that taxing the rich can pay for it all (it cannot). Republicans, by contrast, square the circle with budget gimmicks. They make grand pledges to balance the budget within a decade and push for popular budget rules to create the illusion of spending restraint. Then GOP lawmakers simply ignore their own rules and continue spending and borrowing as usual. The current budget and tax debates have become a festival of gimmicks—here are the GOP's 10 most egregious ploys:
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