The UK Lefts Political Martyrdom: Welcome to the Church of State

Progressives are a Faithful lot. They live and die by a Creed. Welcome to the Church of State. We saw the religiosity at work again recently in the United Kingdom.  We saw Martyrdom. When the voters toss out a Left-wing political party (two actually) for having moved too far left as just happened in the United Kingdom the Left interprets it as a call to greater purity to appease the vox Dei … by moving even further left. That the Kool-Aid®-drinking MSNBCs ratings are in free fall while Foxs continue to rise does not seem to be registering inside NBC Universal which apparently is willing to take a lot of pain to evangelize the True Faith. Faith-based politics. Progressives are fundamentalists who metaphorically speaking burn heretics at the stake.   Welcome to the new auto-da-f by other means. Just ask those Christian cake bakers who demurred from baking a cake for a gay wedding. Ask Mozillas purged CEO Brendan Eich. Al Gore at SXSW one of this Faiths mass festivals demanded that those who dissent from the Climate Change narrative be punished." Check out the deference shown by the FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler who kneels and kisses the Papal ferula the rod of the incumbent Secular Pope switching positions and imposing 300 pages of terrifyingly ambiguous Net Neutrality" regulations. Does this alienate voters? No matter. Progressives gamely embrace Martyrdom for their Faith. The leftish Labour Party more or less the UKs version of the Democratic Party just was (as were our Democrats) liquidated by the voters together with the Liberal Democratic Party (whose name speaks for itself). The lesson learned? According to party chairman David Milibrand in his honorable resignation speech as reported by The Washington Post:

The issue of our unequal country will not go away" he said as campaign workers some sobbing tried to absorb the turn of the events. This is the challenge of our time. The fight goes on." Some of Milibands high-profile political allies were among the political wreckage. Ed Balls Labors shadow Chancellor or finance minister lost his House of Commons a sign that Britons were not confident of the partys ability to run the British economy a big campaign issue.

The challenge of our time? In the United States the Democratic Party lurched relentlessly left.  It was punished by the voters in the last Congressional election with an historic thumping. The Republicans gained a solid majority in the U.S. Senate and the largest majority in the U.S. House of Representatives since Harry Truman. (Since then however the GOPs agenda has been lackluster.) The formidable Hillary Rodham Clinton the presumptive (yet by no means secure being vulnerable from yes her left) nominee of the Democratic Party already had taken up the income inequality" theme just over a year ago. As reported by the ever-dwindling MSNBC.com:

And where is it all going?" Clinton asked. Economists have documented how the share of income and wealth going to those at the very top not just the top 1 percent but the top 0.1 percent the 0.01 percent of the population has risen sharply over the last generation" she said. Some are calling it a throwback to the Gilded Age of the robber barons." Clintons rhetoric on economic policy has been under the microscope all year as the Democratic base increasingly rallies behind politicians like Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren who emphasize inequality and corporate malfeasance in stark terms. Todays speech suggested Clinton is working on offering her own variation on the theme one that mixes her work representing the country abroad into a tough critique of the economy at home. As Secretary of State I saw the way extreme inequality has corrupted other societies hobbled growth and left entire generations alienated and unmoored" she said.

Mrs. Clinton of course is being attacked from her left by her newly fledged rival for the nomination Sen. Bernie Sanders pushing the income inequality theme.  The lesson the national Democratic Party drew from its electoral drubbing last November (as did Labour at least as posited by Milibrand)? Move harder Left. Cest magnifique mais ce nest pas la guerre: cest de la folie. Feels like religious fervor. The Washington Posts Catherine Rampell a consistently astute and refreshingly honest hardheaded liberal rather decisively disposed of this line of reasoning in a column just over a year ago: Income inequality isnt about the rich its about the rest of us:

Yes anti-inequality rhetoric has grown in recent years. But its not the growing wealth of the wealthy that Americans are angry about at least not in isolation. Its the growing wealth of the wealthy set against the stagnation or deterioration of living standards for everyone else. Polls show that Americans pretty much always want income to be distributed more equitably than it currently is but theyre more willing to tolerate inequality if they are still plugging ahead. That is they care less about Lloyd Blankfeins gigantic bonus if they got even a tiny raise this year. … When growth doesnt lift everyone the rich are not seen as deserving and income inequality can symbolize unfairness" explains McCall who wrote The Undeserving Rich: American Beliefs About Inequality Opportunity and Redistribution." As long as the rising tide is actually lifting all boats people care less if some boats enjoy a bigger lift than others.

The Democrats are mislabeling and mishandling the cause of voter concern.  As the Washington Posts Aaron Blake points out:

The NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll asked Americans which concerned them more:

1. The income gap between the wealthiest Americans and the rest of the country
2. Middle and working class Americans not being able to get ahead financially

In total 28 percent chose No. 1 the income inequality argument while 65 percent chose No. 2.

The Democrats myopia however will not hand the GOP the White House on a silver platter. As the New York Times wrote on May 3 G.O.P Hopefuls Now Aiming to Woo The Middle Class:

And a Pew poll from February showed that people still believe Republicans are indifferent to working Americans: 54 percent said the Republican Party does not care about the middle class. … Republicans emphasis on poorer and working-class Americans now represents a shift from the partys longstanding focus on business owners and job creators" as the drivers of economic opportunity. This is intentional Republican operatives said. … If Republican candidates are just repeating the same tired policies Im not sure that smiling while saying it is going to be enough" said Guy Cecil a Democratic strategist who is joining a super PAC" working on behalf of Hillary Rodham Clinton.

The new Republican thematic focus on equitable prosperity is welcome. That said it is as important to do the thing right as to do the right thing. So far most of the GOP presidential candidates have been  proposing rather anemic policies for reigniting job creation and economic mobility. None yet have tackled the really Big Issue.  The Kemp/Reagan American Economic Miracle explicitly was founded along with cutting marginal tax rates on good monetary policy. That was in fact delivered by the Fed under Chairman Volcker with Reagans support and for eight years by Chairman Greenspan under Clinton. The Good Money mix then fell apart and with it the climate of equitable prosperity. Then money factor central to job creation and economic growth has been orphaned by the Grand Old Party. The smartest safest way to rescue this crucial policy element from its orphanage is the national monetary commission called for in a plank in the 2012 GOP platform and the legislation sponsored by Rep. Kevin Brady and Sen. John Cornyn in the 113^th Congress. The presidential candidates would do well to take this matter seriously. Unless the Republicans wake up and follow the money the siren song of the Progressives Church of State retains a certain allure. Meanwhile welcome to the Church of State.