LITTLE ROCK — This is a lament for the once powerful and relevant Democratic Party.
The old order of things is changing with a swiftness that nobody could have anticipated and political parties are not exempt. The demise of this previously potent coalition is not entirely unexpected, although the final struggle is a frightful spectacle. These are hard times for liberals and progressive thinkers, but we must not be consumed with grief.
There is a local aspect to this national realignment. Two Democrats, Gov. Mike Beebe and U.S. Sen. Mark Pryor, are in deep trouble, and it was all provoked by a bunch of cheeseheads.
Newly elected Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker is taking on public employee unions there. Democrats in the state’s Senate have fled to Illinois rather than allow the legislative process to proceed. Demonstrators have occupied parts of the state Capitol for several days.
Books will someday be written about this terrible mess, and there will certainly be a chapter dealing with the hoax phone call to Walker that was purported to have originated with one of the billionaire Koch brothers. In that recorded conversation with an impostor, the governor made an offhand comment that could be taken to mean that he had considered planting agitators among the peaceful demonstrators.
Even though the discussion provided some insight to Walker, he seems not to have acted on the most negative instinct. Democrats have seized upon this item as if it were the smoking gun revealing everything that is wrong with the political adversaries. It is as if a secret videotape had just surfaced showing Walker with a shotgun on the grassy knoll in Dealey Plaza.
Those Wisconsin state senators who are on the lam down in the Land of Lincoln should come back home and let the work of law-making continue. All that can be done now is to hold Republicans accountable for crushing state employee unions and all the other harm done to vulnerable people. That will not be easy.
All of this is very relevant to the Arkansas General Assembly, where members are on an incomprehensible tax-cutting spree. There is quite a list of proposed reductions that includes the sales tax on manufacturers utility bills and used cars and a retail sales tax holiday in August in addition to Beebe’s proposal to take another half cent off the sales tax on groceries.
In better economic times, this kind of foolishness might be tolerated, but we should stand back and take a long, hard look at the congressional budget debate. Somehow the focus has shifted from creating jobs to cutting anything that might be described as a domestic or social program.
We all know the deal. The federal debt is large and getting worse. This needs to be addressed while lawmakers try not to extinguish the faint signs of recovery from a staggering economic slowdown. Admittedly, this is like walking a tightrope.
Republicans in Washington seem to sincerely believe that slashing $100 billion in federal spending will cause little suffering and create millions of new jobs. It is much more likely that economic conditions will get worse when federal payrolls are decreased and social programs reduced or eliminated.
The threat of a shutdown is a potent weapon, but it is a little like having the atomic bomb. Yes, the enemy will probably surrender, but the world will be nothing but a wasteland. If the United States government closes the doors for even a few days, this is going to send an alarm throughout the international community.
Resolving the fiscal issues at the federal level would call for serious negotiations and mutual respect. Since that is not going to happen, we should only expect the worst. Elected officials around here ought to be concentrating on this reality.
Beebe has been headed for a political Waterloo for some time, but it would have been expected in the 2012 fiscal session. The loss of a substantial slice of state revenue may be felt later this year, when the latest consequences of federal irresponsibility also reach the local people.
One would have to be mighty cynical to think that some members of the General Assembly are deliberately trying to provoke a financial crisis to sabotage Beebe. That is probably not the case, although the outcome will still be generally negative for the foremost Democratic politicians.
Although Pryor is a Democrat in name only, he will be held fully accountable for everything that goes wrong in Washington. If he is reelected, he should change his name to Houdini.
As to Beebe, holding off an ill-conceived frenzy of tax cuts is more than sound public policy. It is a matter of political survival.
Nobody knows what will replace the listless and moribund Democratic Party. One would hope that it might be independent of big business, socially moderate and economically progressive.
There is always hope.
Free-lance columnist Pat Lynch has been a radio broadcaster in Central Arkansas for more than 20 years.
Editorial, Pages 11 on 02/28/2011