The Week

Dear Mr. President: Try to think of Lithuania as a hostage.

Translations from the New York Times: The head-line “Some Progress Is Made on Budget Talks” set off alarm bells. Sure enough, “progress” means that President Bush is willing to consider new taxes. If so, he should pull back. The economic gains from cutting taxes (and the economic penalties of raising them) are established beyond reasonable doubt by Lawrence Lindsey in his new book (see editorial, p. 13). But there is an authority and an argument that the Bush White House, with its love of opinion polls, should find still more persuasive. Writing in the January Atlantic, AEI’s William Schneider, whose sympathies are Democratic but whose analysis is impartial, points out: “Ever since the Great Inflation and the tax revolt of the late 1970s, Republicans have used anti-tax sentiment to control the political agenda.” It has enabled them to win three presidential elections—and that ain’t broccoli. Mr. Bush is risking the main prop of his popularity. After Lithuania and the Mapplethorpe subsidies, how many more friends can he afford to lose?

Featured Tags

William F. Buckley Jr.

Dear Mr. President: Try to think of Lithuania as a hostage.

Translations from the New York Times: The head-line “Some Progress Is Made on Budget Talks” set off alarm bells. Sure enough, “progress” means that President Bush is willing to consider new taxes. If so, he should pull back. The economic gains from cutting taxes (and the economic penalties of raising them) are established beyond reasonable doubt by Lawrence Lindsey in his new book (see editorial, p. 13). But there is an authority and an argument that the Bush White House, with its love of opinion polls, should find still more persuasive. Writing in the January Atlantic, AEI’s William Schneider, whose sympathies are Democratic but whose analysis is impartial, points out: “Ever since the Great Inflation and the tax revolt of the late 1970s, Republicans have used anti-tax sentiment to control the political agenda.” It has enabled them to win three presidential elections—and that ain’t broccoli. Mr. Bush is risking the main prop of his popularity. After Lithuania and the Mapplethorpe subsidies, how many more friends can he afford to lose?