The one thing that the Super Committee has made painfully clear is how out of touch our Congress really is. Grover Norquist, K Street, and a handful of billionaire bank rollers now have as much power as the American public. Polls have shown again and again that Americans support tax increases to take care of budgetary problems. By the way, this sentiment is shared by Republicans, the rich, and the very rich.
So why isn’t Congress (specifically, GOP and Tea Party members) reacting to popular opinion? Many lawmakers realize that the people that donate to them and buy their political ads are part of the minority of Americans that see “tax” as a dirty word, except when Ronald Reagan does it. Most of the lawmakers that are refusing to mention tax cuts realize they can still get re-elected, even if they know they are being irresponsible. In 2012, when the economy is still recovering and income disparity is still at an all-time high, they will ask their constituencies for another chance, this time faulting the EPA, Wall Street regulation, and health care reform. They know that Americans supported all of those measures when they were introduced, but they also know that unless they tow the line of conservative interests, their campaign coffers will be empty the next time around.