More Advice for the Republicans: Growth Instead of Cuts

The more I read about this the more I think this issue will be what resurrects the GOP going forward.

But I don’t find this smattering of historical evidence persuasive enough to endorse sudden and severe budget cuts with interest rates at historical lows.(Even Rand Paul’s austere budget plan wouldn’t balance until 2018.) Given that the average US debt-to-GDP ratio was 37% from 1957 through 2007, a better policy goal would be to immediately shift — via entitlement reform and pro-growth polices rather than more discretionary spending cuts — the debt-to-GDP ratio onto a downward trajectory back toward that 37% level, if not lower, over the next two decades. That would be a far smarter and feasible agenda for Republicans and conservatives and libertarians of all types.

Lift all boats instead of trying to sink certain boats. I think if the Republican field talked more about raising GDP growth and less about what departments to get rid of Romney might have had a better chance. Instead of killing Big Bird he could have said he would let Public Broadcasting charge a licensing fee to Disney or whomever to aggressively market their characters. Don't kill whatever it is but find ways to make it grow.

A "pro-growth GOP" instead of a "makers vs. takers GOP" is just what America needs. A candidate saying "we want to help everyone, even Democrats" in a folksy way will go a long way to getting independents to vote GOP again.