Barone: Voters Want Growth, Not Income Redistribution

Conventional wisdom holds that Americans favor big government wealth-redistributionist policies during times of economic distress. At least that's what many of us have been "taught by the great and widely read New Deal historians" — a lesson that "has been absorbed by generations of politicians and political pundits."

But, writes political sage Michael Barone:

I believe that historians have taught the wrong lessons about the 1930s. And I believe there is a plausible and probably correct reason why economic distress has apparently moved Americans to be less rather than more supportive of big government...

Barone analyzes election returns throughout the 1930s to buttress his argument. He also points to a recent Gallup poll confirming that today's voters "realize that they stand to gain much more from a vibrantly growing economy than from redistribution of a stagnant economic pie."

while 82% of Americans think it's extremely or very important to "grow and expand the economy" and 70 percent say it's similarly important to "increase equality of opportunity for people to get ahead," only 46 percent say it's important to "reduce the income and wealth gap between the rich and the poor" and 54 percent say this is only somewhat or not important.
 
In addition, by a 52 to 45 percent margin, Americans see the gap between the rich and the poor as an acceptable part of the economic system rather than a problem that needs to be fixed. In 1998, during the high-tech economic boom, Americans took the opposite view by the same margin.

It turns out that class warfare politics isn't the winner some liberals think, and (as Barone notes) "it hasn't produced a Democratic presidential victory in a long, long time.

Lowry: Thatcher vs. Decline

"Margaret Thatcher is on the cover of Newsweek," writes Rich Lowry at National Review, "or—the next best thing—Meryl Streep is on the cover as the former British prime minister in a new biopic." While Mrs. Thatcher is a rich study in class and gender politics, Lowry suggests

at this moment in our history ... it is Thatcher's central purpose that is most important: her unyielding rejection of British decline. She rejected it with every bone in her middle-class body, even though sophisticates scoffed at such a naive nationalism. She rejected it even though the grandees of her own party said it was inevitable. She rejected it even though she knew reversing it meant forcing a wrenching political and economic crisis... 

Mrs. Thatcher "accomplished what Britain's consensus had once deemed impossible."  As some dare to suggest that America's best days may be behind her, the Iron Lady stands as a great reminder that "decline is inevitable only if its self-fulfilling prophets prevail."

About that New Year's Dieting Resolution...

If you're one who follows Thanksgiving and Christmas celebrations with a New Year's resolution to shed a few pounds, you might want to avoid the USDA's dietary guidelines. Cameron English explains:

While blaming lack of exercise, overeating, and (this week) poor parenting, the real culprit has been almost entirely overlooked: The awful dietary advice dispensed by mainstream medical science over the last 30 years. If we want a healthier, slimmer population, we have to stop eating the sugar-laden diet so many experts have recommended to us.

The United States Department of Agriculture's (USDA) dietary guidelines are the gold standard for healthy eating, according to most experts. The problem is that these recommendations promote a low-fat, calorie-restricted diet based on grains like bread and rice. These kinds of foods consist almost entirely of carbohydrates. When you digest carbohydrates, they are converted into sugar in your bloodstream, the same sugar found in ice cream, soda, potato chips, and all the other junk foods most people would recognize as unhealthy. Since high blood sugar is toxic, your body produces a hormone called insulin to bring it down to a reasonable level. The trouble with this, however, is that insulin brings down your blood sugar by converting it to fat and sending it into your fat cells to be stored. There are many problems with this process...

Healy: Now it's 'Obama the Irrelevant'

"If our fashion-conscious president still finds the time to read the lad-mags," writes Washington Examiner's Gene Healy, "December's GQ had to hurt. Obama made the magazine's list of "The 25 Lease Influential People Alive ... Obama 'should be the most transformation figure of the century,' GQ carped. 'Instead, he wields all the power of a substitute teacher at night school.'"  Read the rest.

CATO: The 'Tea Party' Budget

The “Tea Party Debt Commission” affiliated with FreedomWorks recently released a budget plan (download here). In formulating its plan, the commission took into account fifteen budget plans introduced by various groups and policymakers, including Cato’s Downsizing Government website.  I think the plan is an adequate response to that criticism. The following are some additional comments on the plan’s contents: -more-

IBD: Badly-Needed Alaskan Oil is Kept From Market by Obama Decision

The same administration that says we can and should get oil from the National Petroleum Reserve in Alaska (NPRA) is blocking a bridge needed to get it to market on environmental grounds...The NPRA, 23 million acres of North Slope wilderness, was established in 1923 by President Harding to ensure a reserve of oil for the U.S. Navy.  More

Heritage Foundation: How the EPA May Cost You Thousands

Brace yourself. The cost of a new car in America is set to explode, thanks to a new regulation proposed by President Obama's Environmental Protection Agency ... read more