Policy instead of personality

In the aftermath of the debacle over the Republican effort to repeal and replace Obamacare, President Trump can learn a valuable lesson that will serve him well in the next battle over tax reform and other issues.

The president was elected largely on the force of his strong personality and vague promises to fix things that are a “disaster,” a favorite word of his.

But leaders who lead by personality can also die by personality, which is what happened in the House last week when the threats and arm-twisting by the president failed to deliver enough votes. The strategy, if one can call it that, now appears to be to allow Obamacare to collapse under the weight of rapidly rising premiums and deductibles and the withdrawal of insurance companies from the exchanges.

Before attempting another legislative push to repeal Obamacare, the White House may now shift its focus to tax reform. But before the president takes on the monstrosity that is our tax code, he might first consider a campaign to expose the many ways Washington wastes our money. According to The Washington Free Beacon, the federal government collected $422 billion in the first two months of fiscal 2017. It’s not just income taxes. There are taxes and fees on everything, from airline tickets, to fishing and dog licenses. The website The Economic Collapse lists 97 of them. And yet the government never seems to have enough of our money.

President Trump should listen to the tax reform speech Ronald Reagan delivered from the Oval Office on May 28, 1985. While Reagan had an undeniably strong personality, this speech was full of policy specifics and led to the Tax Reform Act of 1986, the last time the tax code was reformed.

Here is part of what Reagan said:

“For the sake of fairness, simplicity, and growth, we must radically change the structure of a tax system that still treats our earnings as the personal property of the Internal Revenue Service; radically change a system that still treats people’s earnings, similar incomes, much differently regarding the tax that they pay; and, yes, radically change a system that still causes some to invest their money, not to make a better mousetrap but simply to avoid a tax trap.

“Over the course of this century, our tax system has been modified dozens of times and in hundreds of ways, yet most of those changes didn’t improve the system. They made it more like Washington itself—complicated, unfair, cluttered with gobbledygook and loopholes designed for those with the power and influence to hire high-priced legal and tax advisers.”

There were two keys to getting tax reform passed then: an avalanche of letters and phone calls to Congress from people of all political stripes and Reagan’s pledge to work with Democrats on a reasonable bill that would give Democrats partial credit.

President Trump should follow Reagan’s strategy, which was more policy than personality.

Listen to Cal Thomas’ commentary on the March 28 edition of The World and Everything in It.