When Clinton came in, the "Debt Bomb!" screams began, so Clinton dutifully shot the Santa Claus of "welfare as we know it" and kneecapped "the era of big government."
George W. Bush put Wanniski's program on steroids, giving the most massive Republican Santa tax-cut for billionaires in history, while borrowing almost $6 trillion and spending it all so fast, stretching the bubble so hard, that it actually popped in the last year of his presidency.
For three decades, Wanniski's strategy has worked brilliantly for Republicans and their rich donors, with the added bonus of largely wiping out the once-politically-active and pesky unionized middle class. Three Republican presidents ran the nation's debt up to such incredibly high levels that President Obama is now talking about shooting Santa Claus -- this time, cutting Medicare and other benefits.
But Wanniski hadn't figured on the collapse of the USSR when he put forth his theory, so now both parties are politically impotent. Republicans can't convince Americans to be terrified anymore, given that Obama's pretty handily (and cheaply) chopped the head off Al Queda, the Republican's most recent boogeyman. And Democrats can't play Santa Claus any more because the Republicans ran up so much debt, and taxes are so low, there's no way to get enough money to revive Santa.
It's going to make for a fascinating electoral season, as Republicans try to gin back up any fear card they can find because, to their chagrin, nobody's really all that afraid anymore of gays, communists, or Muslims. Democrats, meanwhile, are trying to revive Santa Claus, but Republicans in the House and Senate are successfully blocking their efforts to raise the taxes on rich people and corporations necessary to bring Santa back to life.
So -- at least for the moment -- it's dueling straw men.
Republicans are telling their base the next boogeyman is "Occupy Wall Street," and using GOP TV (aka "Fox News") and a well-funded punditocracy to push out the message. Democrats are repeatedly -- but unsuccessfully -- bringing before Congress proposals to revive Santa, with unemployment insurance extensions; jobs for infrastructure, teachers, and cops; and free healthcare for the growing class of the working poor via Medicare. But the American people -- at least so far -- actually like the OWS movement (even Republicans!), and the last election stripped Obama of the electoral advantage needed to actually pass Santa Claus legislation.
Which is why the electorate seems largely asleep, and political discussions seem vapid.
Barring another attack on America before November 2012, or the OWS movement turning violent, Republicans have lost their boogeyman. And so long as Tea Party control of the House of Representatives remains unbroken, Democrats have lost access to their Santa Claus.
Wanniski and Reagan are dead, but their legacy -- and strategy -- lives on"
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