Confronting the Hollow Men

T.S. Eliot’s 1925 poem, The Hollow Men, says “the way the world ends” is “not with a bang, but a whimper.” If Eliot were writing today, the hollow men might be America’s conservative ideologues, the world that of the national anti-tax movement, and the whimper the one barely heard on Sept. 12, 2007.

That day, Roll Call, the tiny-circulation Washington newspaper, reported that Republican senators were fretting about “new polling data showing tax cuts are no longer priority No. 1” with voters. One senior GOP aide admitted that when it comes to tax cuts, “We’ve worn out the message.”

That Republicans’ 30-year anti-tax revolution could ebb with such little fanfare is a testament to how fast public attitudes about taxes are evolving.

In 2005, an NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll found most Americans believe President Bush’s tax cuts “have not been worth it because they have increased the deficit and caused cuts in government programs.” That same year, a Los Angeles Times survey found a majority believe the best way to stimulate the economy is not through “returning money to taxpayers through tax cuts” but through “spending for improvements to the country’s infrastructure.” By 2007, a New York Times/CBS News poll found most Americans would accept higher taxes to pay for public investments.

The country has stopped listening to the anti-tax hollow men whose ideology puts regressive tax cuts before responsible public investment. That shift is due to events both sensational and mundane.

We have all seen horrifying television images of underfunded infrastructure — from bridges collapsing to steam pipes exploding to cities blacking out. Similarly, we have all experienced firsthand the negative consequences of resource-starved government services — from potholes that go unfilled to long lines at the Division of Motor Vehicles.

And as public opinion has changed, so have politicians.

Take Minnesota, a closely divided political bellwether. Earlier this year, the Democratic legislature sent Gov. Tim Pawlenty (R) a bill to boost the state’s gasoline taxes from among the lowest in the nation in order to upgrade bridges and roads. After Pawlenty vetoed that bill and Minneapolis’ I-35 bridge subsequently fell into the Mississippi River, the governor reversed himself on the tax issue.

Pawlenty, of course, is not the only Republican hollow man frantically backtracking. Idaho’s Butch Otter (R) — one of the decade’s most anti-tax members of Congress — is now as governor floating a similar tax hike to upgrade his state’s transportation system.

Here in Colorado, Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper is championing a ballot measure that would slightly raise property tax rates to pay for improvements to public infrastructure. He is joined by Gov. Bill Ritter (D), who nixed upcoming property tax cuts and froze current rates in order to let schools keep more resources. Both men realize that financially neglecting public priorities has become more politically and substantively dangerous as opposing the anti-tax hollow men, even in the traditionally tax-averse Rocky Mountain region.

Now, in Congress, a group of House Democrats led by Rep. David Obey, D-Wis., is proposing to attach a “war tax” to President Bush’s $190 billion Iraq spending bill. Their goal is two-fold: 1) Force the nation to confront the astronomical cost of this war 2) Stop war expenses from serving as the Bush administration’s excuse to slash every other federal priority.

Not surprisingly, all of these efforts have met with the hollow men’s outdated anti-tax bromides.

In Minnesota, Republican leaders have called the Democrats’ tax proposal a “pocket-picking mechanism.” In Colorado, the right-wing Independence Institute called Ritter’s property tax freeze “fiscal date rape,” while Denver’s lone Republican city councilor attacked Hickenlooper’s bond initiative as “a tax increase” — as if that alone is reason for voters to consider opposing it. Meanwhile, House Republican Leader John Boehner of Ohio belittled congressional Democrats’ war tax proposal as a plan to “raid every taxpayer’s wallet.”

These sound bites may yet prevail in some skirmishes, but Democrats’ offensive at the same time they are winning more elections signals that the public is rejecting the hollow men’s anti-tax mantra of “every man for himself” in favor of progressives’ motto that “we’re all in this together.” The term “tax and spend,” long an effective epithet, has become a positive, can-do brand of “invest and responsibly finance.” Or, put more colloquially, “You get what you pay for.”

And though the anti-tax hollow men will keep pining for their greed-is-good glory days, America will be better off for the change.

David Sirota is a syndicated columnist based in Denver. His e-mail address is ds@davidsirota.com.

Talk to us

> Give us your news tips.

> Send us a letter to the editor.

> More Herald contact information.

More in Opinion

toon
Editorial cartoons for Tuesday, Feb. 11

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

CNA Nina Prigodich, right, goes through restorative exercises with long term care patient Betty Long, 86, at Nightingale's View Ridge Care Center on Friday, Feb. 10, 2023 in Everett, Washington. (Olivia Vanni / The Herald)
Editorial: Boost state Medicaid funding for long-term care

With more in need of skilled nursing and assisted-living services, funding must keep up to retain staff.

Sentencing reforms more complicated than column described

I read Todd Welch’s Jan. 29 column. He is certainly entitled to… Continue reading

President Trump running nation like his failed businesses

We’ve seen it before; President Trump will do or say anything to… Continue reading

Intent of Trump’s nominees is to subvert good government

It is clear that Donald Trump has something specific in mind with… Continue reading

Comment: Real dangers loom with Trump’s incoherent trade policy

Even if Trump could settle on a justification for his tariffs, the results could leave the country far. weaker.

toon
Editorial cartoons for Monday, Feb. 10

A sketchy look at the news of the day.… Continue reading

bar graph, pie chart and diagrams isolated on white, 3d illustration
Editorial: Don’t let state’s budget numbers intimidate you

With budget discussions starting soon, a new website explains the basics of state’s budget crisis.

Comment: Trump can go only as far as the courts will allow

Most of Trump’s executive orders are likely to face court challenges, setting the limits of presidential power.

Comment: Civil service needs reform; Trump means only to gut it

It’s too difficult to hire and fire federal workers. A grand bargain is possible, but that’s not what Trump seeks.

Saunders: U.S. Iron Dome isn’t feasible now, but it could be

Trump is correct to order a plan for a system that would protect the nation from missile strikes.

Harrop: Trump has no sense of damage from tariff threats

Even if ultimately averted, a trade war with Canada and Mexico could drive both from U.S. exports.

Support local journalism

If you value local news, make a gift now to support the trusted journalism you get in The Daily Herald. Donations processed in this system are not tax deductible.