October 15, 2008

The Democrats can taste it. They believe they are just weeks away from an economic coup d’état that will allow them to restructure America’s economy in ways that would make FDR blush over the relative anemia of his New Deal proposals. Democrats know that the American economy has the potential to be transformed into a likeness of the European economies they yearn to emulate.

If a picture is worth a thousand words, so is a chart. Take a look at this chart entitled “Tax as a percentage of GDP” from Sweden’s Ekonomifakta Web site. The beauty of this chart is truly in the eye of the beholder—depending on your economic leanings.

What do you see in the chart? Better yet, what do Democrats see? What does a chart that compares the tax burden on the economies of various nations have to do with anything?

Well, with the United States ranking near the bottom of the chart having a tax burden of only 28 percent and Sweden at the top of the list with a tax burden of over 50 percent, a true free-market Republican would read the chart as proof positive that America is still a relatively free society, economically.

On the other hand, American Democrats see something else in the chart, something more profound. They see democratic socialism as the path to social justice—just look at the Europeans and their government services, not to mention their cultural superiority to “the great unwashed” here in the United States. Democrats see a world of opportunity for the expansion of the tax burden, taking solace in the fact that, “If Sweden can do it, so can we.” In essence, a Democrat sees the once-in-a-lifetime-opportunity to move another 20 percent of the United States GDP into the government sector—it’s like manna from heaven for a socialist.

A capitalist free marketer would argue how badly European governments have behaved in over-taxing and over-regulating their economies, but Democrats are hell bent on civilizing America’s outdated, 20th Century view of how an economy and a country should work.

The European “welfare state” is the agenda. What’s not to like about national healthcare and cradle-to-grave freebies, courtesy of good old Uncle Sam? Take the healthcare, for example. McCain and Republicans have done a poor job of making the case for a consumer driven, private sector system, and Obama has been virtually unchallenged in his assertions that government healthcare system will cure what ails the current system.

Some say it may be time for all of us aging hippies turned capitalists to pour a glass of un-oaked chardonnay and chill out to the Moody Blues song “Question”:

It’s not the way that you say it
When you do those things to me.
It’s more the way you really mean it
When you tell me what will be.

The Democrats are sure that the welfare state is “what will be” and are feeling the love and the buy-in from every spectrum of American society.

But don’t count the McCain-Palin ticket out just yet. Thank goodness, McCain has an uncanny ability to come from behind and connect with the voters. In this week’s final debate McCain will be better scripted on the issues that are moving voters—just-on-time delivery as it were. He will better articulate his private sector healthcare plans, and he will do a better job of explaining his mortgage relief plans. He always gets better, and he will this time, too.

Some naysayers are saying that the Republican Party has surely lost its way and deserves humiliation in November. Don’t count the mavericks out just yet!

Johnnie Byrd is a lawyer and host of “Johnnie Byrd’s Weekend” heard on WGUL-AM 860 in Tampa Bay, Florida. Contact Johnnie at johnnie.byrd@hotmail.com.