OxBlog

Monday, January 13, 2003

# Posted 9:09 PM by Ariel David Adesnik  

HOPE SPRINGS ETERNAL: David Brooks' op-ed on Americans' paradoxical support for tax cuts has been generating lots of comments just about everywhere. Matt Yglesias, citing TNR blog &c., says Brooks is a charlatan. In contrast, CalPundit thinks Brooks has cut straight to the heart of the matter.

In short, Brooks argues that Americans' unflagging belief that they are (or soon will be) rich leads them to support tax cut plans that favor the rich. The best response to this is &c.'s point that if Americans really favored tax cuts for the rich, Bush wouldn't have to spend so much time pretending that his tax cuts benefit all Americans equally.

While that response has merit, I think it's too simple. My guess is that most Americans are willing to swallow the administration's rhetoric without thinking twice because they are optimistic about their personal welfare. &c. is right that no one would support a tax cut the President described as a reward for the rich. But since Americans are pretty happy with their standard of living, they also won't invest the time it takes to figure out whether the Democrats or the Republicans have better statistics. I guess that's democracy.

UPDATE: Matt says thinks this is a pretty good explanation.
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