Promising the moon

Republicans have put out their new "Pledge to America" as an attempt to counter the (justified) public perception that they are merely obstructionists, without a positive agenda. The document has a lot of stirring rhetoric, but not so much in the way of specific proposals. The Pledge is mostly a repetition of what Republicans like George W.Bush promised back in 2000. Cut taxes on the wealthy, let big insurance and oil companies have what they want, and spend less money on the poor. The inconsistency now is the same as it was then: without massive government borrowing there is no way to give all this money away to the wealthy. Even were you to completely eliminate food stamps, federal aid to education, and the VA program you couldn't do it. Just like with Bush, the likely consequence of a transfer of power to Republicans is to shift from tax and spend to borrow and spend. The debt will grow, because "cutting spending" on the social safety net, while continuing to spend merrily on defense and giveaways to the wealthy and powerful, has been tried before. When George W.Bush did it he took us from a surplus to huge deficits in a short time. Republicans have done Democrats a favor by making clear how they want to go back to their old, discredited ways. Hopefully Democratic members of Congress and the Senate will take advantage of this chance to warn the voters.