Fair Tax, Boortz and Congress

NEIL BOORTZ, THE FAIR TAX AND THE NEW CONGRESS

Recently Boortz disclosed on his program that a high level Democratic congressional leader is interested in the Fair Tax. It was also indicated this leader is interested in having the Democrats adopt this program in the new Democratic congress.

Until now, Fair Tax supporters have only heard that Nancy Pelosi, Democrat and the new Speaker of the House had told her group that they should not co-sponsor the Fair Tax bill.

The revelation by Boortz raises a couple of interesting issues for the hundreds of thousands of Fair Tax supporters.

Boortz wavered some on his support of those who had co-sponsored the bill in his comments about not supporting the Republican candidates. Boortz is a Libertarian and he would normally support a Libertarian candidate. However, he knows the Libertarian candidates do not have much of a chance and he often gives support for the conservative candidate as the less objectionable of his goals which is a smaller Federal Government.
This past election, he along with many voters were objecting to the wasteful add-ons to bills of pork barrel projects and many felt they wanted to teach the Republicans a lesson.

I have to wonder if Boortz decided not to support Republicans because they sat on the bill and looked more kindly on Democrats because they might adopt the Fair Tax. He wavered and had differing viewpoints at various times. If the possible Democratic support did influence him, then he was suppressing his ideals of the Libertarian Platform in favor of the concept of the Fair Tax. Boortz had difficult decisions to make.

A second issue is the support of the Fair Tax by existing Republican co-sponsors when the leadership changes. It is believed that many would support the concept thus giving the Democrats a victory in their new platform of the “most ethical congress” and the support of the working person because the Far Tax helps the low income worker.

What would happen if the existing Republican Congress brought the bill forward for a vote? What would the Democrats do? If they voted against the bill, then passed it later when they took control they could receive some objectionable publicity of playing politics. If they passed it later they could make a small change in the bill stating they had overcome some objection.

When the bill is passed, the reaction by the lobbyists will be intense. Because the presidential election of 2008 is so important for the Democrats to win, they will not want to lose the financial support of the lobbyists so I doubt if it will come up for a vote until after the 2008 election.

If it does come up the members of congress will do the usual. They will look for an issue that they want to change in the bill. An issue sponsors cannot agree to. Then they will delay their votes to see what type of support it has. If it passes they will then vote yes or no depending on their need for financial support from lobbyists. If it does not pass they can then add their vote, yes if they can gain mileage, or vote no if it does better for them financially and then in the new year they can pass it with a slight change and claim it is a different bill.
In any event, the voting decision will be made about what is best for the survival of the congressional member. Seldom is the best interest of the voter considered and that is the level of politics in our government.

What this country needs is reform of the campaign finance system and stronger restrictions of special interest group influence. All interests must be heard, but the role of congress is to protect the best long term interests of the citizens. Often this coincides with the best long term interests of commerce and that is part of the Republican philosophy. But one side cannot be granted excessive power that will corrupt the leaders of our nation.