The press has discovered that the presidential candidates have not been telling the truth about taxes, spending and the federal budget deficit.
Of course, they haven`t. Since when have the American people wanted the truth?
Certainly not in 1980, after Jimmy Carter put on that cardigan sweater and told us we had to kick our imported oil habit by dialing down the thermostat and driving less. Fat chance. We went for the movie actor who told us to keep pushing the pedal to the metal. It was morning in America, remember?
Same thing four years later. Walter Mondale, giving us more unsolicited straight talk, warned that he and the movie actor would have to raise taxes after the election. ”He won`t tell you,” Mondale said about the main difference between himself and the incumbent. ”I just did.” Wrong again. The main difference was that Ronald Reagan carried 49 states.
Fast forward to 1988 and George Bush`s now-famous admonition to the hearing impaired: ”Read my lips: No . . . new . . . taxes.” No wonder Michael Dukakis, a candidate, like Mondale, prone to fits of candor, never had a chance.
Now it`s 1992. Both candidates have learned well the great lesson of modern American politics: You don`t win by telling folks what they don`t want to hear, even if it happens to be the truth.
A major difference this time around is that the Democrat is just as hip to the game. Bill Clinton`s program for America, his ”Putting People First” agenda, is a compendium of things people want to hear. It was all scientifically done, using focus groups and sophisticated polling techniques to find out which slogans turn on the key voting blocs.
They determined that an electoral majority of the middle class favors more and better education and training, more and better investment in public works and basic research, more and better health care, more and better retirement benefits. Oh, and one other thing: they want to get the federal budget back in balance without raising their taxes.
Carter, Mondale and Dukakis all knew that was impossible. Each, in his own way, said as much. The fools.
This year the Democrats aren`t making that mistake.
Say you want more for less? Check out Bill Clinton`s ”Putting People First,” or ”New Covenant,” or whatever his platform is called this week.
The Wall Street Journal recently examined it and determined the numbers don`t come close to adding up. (President Bush`s numbers are even more out of whack, but after 12 years of voodoo economics, that shouldn`t surprise.)
The Journal totaled up the four-year cost of Clinton`s proposed programs- $134 billion for public works, $63 billion for education and training, $140 billion for health-care reform, and so on. Then they subtracted his proposed defense spending cuts, his income tax increase on the wealthy and other revenue enhancers. Turns out his program would increase the deficit by $217 billion, not lower it by the $142 billion he claims. The gap, then, between the promise and reality of Bill Clinton: $369 billion. (For Bush, the reality gap was $440 billion.)
But who wants reality?
Certainly not those of us who want government to tax somebody else so our benefits can keep going up while the deficit goes down.
Certainly not me. Not if it means taxing as income the Tribune`s contribution to my monthly health insurance premium; or eliminating the interest deduction on my home mortgage; or needs-testing my Social Security benefits when I retire. Those are my bennies, pal. Keep your hands off! I worked hard to get this job, buy this house and save a little extra for retirement. Why punish me for that?
Better you should tax those other folks or reduce their benefits. I sort of liked Ross Perot`s idea for a 50-cent-a-gallon tax on gasoline. (How did you guess I take the train?) And how about ending the deductibility of interest on second-home mortgages? (Nope, never did buy that cottage in Michigan.)
Anyway, you get the idea. Them is us. You and I are the Americans who don`t want to be told the truth.
We much prefer political candidates who make us feel good about ourselves, who reassure us that the nation`s problems are caused by somebody else and should be fixed by somebody else.
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Deep down we know there is no ”somebody else” and that we`ll lose our pet tax breaks sooner or later. Probably some of our benefits, too.
Just now, though, we may as well sit back and enjoy being told the things we like to hear one more time. It should be a pretty close election, the best show in two decades. For a while there, I was afraid the Democrats would never get the hang of it.