I wouldn’t mind the “Tax and Spend” label on Democrats, if only the Democrats were capable of framing the apparent policy of Republicans:
They are the “Dine and Dash” party.
They come into office, most recently with a budget surplus. They cut taxes for those most able to pay, strip away regulations, and spend ridiculously. They finally get the boot, leaving huge debts. Then they castigate Democrats for proposing methods of cleaning up the mess, and complain that they failed before programs are even expected to show results.
So the next time you hear “Tax and Spend”, reply with, “As opposed to Dine and Dash?”
I think of modern Republicans as the Tribal party, always figuring out how to stir up distrust and hatred to further their impoverished and destructive schemes.
I also think of it as the Iago party, for the technique they use for stirring up distrust and hatred. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iago
"Dine and Dash" certainly sounds catchy, I doubt it would be effective in communicating true nature of the Republican party financial strategy to the masses.
The problem is that the vast majority of voters are in low-income households where dining out is a luxury they can seldom afford. The restaurants they most often can afford to patronize requires them to pay when they order the food and are unfamiliar with the concept skipping out on the bill.
When you're living from paycheck to paycheck, having to "rob Peter to pay Paul", and deciding whether to buy groceries, pay the rent, pay utilities or pay for medicine, any hint of something that might make life more expensive is scary.
Most in this income group are painfully aware the landlord will simply pass on tax increase to them by raising their rent, so to them, any tax increase will cost them in the form of higher prices for the necessities of life, like food, clothing, and shelter.
When you're living from day to day, with no hope of building up a little savings for a rainy day, anything that increases your cost of living is something to fear. Tax increases are to be feared.
Living from day to day gives little time for considering finances in the long term. This is where the political power of the term "TAX and spend" comes from. It implies that the Dems arbitrarily raise taxes, then expand spending while the Reps do the opposite.
We need an accurate catch phrase that the working class can identify with.