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Rep. Tim Ryan (D-OH): Dems can't be 'hostile to business', can't just be the party of 'redistribution of wealth'

By Robert Laurie ——--August 24, 2017

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Democrat Representative Tim Ryan has a problem: He's not completely crazy. In fact, he has a tendency to make a fair bit of sense. He's not right about everything, but being even occasionally correct - especially when it comes to financial matters - is enough to put him at odds with his party's socialist base. This morning, he appeared on MSNBC's 'Morning Joe' show, where guest host Willie Geist asked him if Democrats had learned the lesson of their 2016 loss. Ryan tries to put a nice spin on it, but if you read between the lines, his answer is "not yet."
"I feel like we're taking steps in the right direction" is as close to positive as Ryan gets. From there he offers a set of suggestions that are absolutely anathema to the modern Democrat Party: We have to say, look, we're the party to be able to handle the economy in the 21st century. We have the convergence of so many different elements happening right now - globalization, automation, artificial intelligence, all of these different other opportunities within the economy. And right now, I don't think either political party has quite gotten their hands around it. And what I want the Democratic Party to be is to be a party that can set an agenda to try to deal with those issues that will drive up wages, help people be able to afford college and health care and all the rest. But let me be clear. I don't think we can be hostile to business. I think, you know, while we can be for a progressive tax code, we can be for an increase in dividends and other kinds of corporate taxes, I think we need to simplify the tax code, I think we need to lower the corporate tax rate. We can't just be the party of redistribution of wealth. We've got to be the party of creation of wealth."
The problem, of course, is that Ryan's advice runs counter to virtually everything for which most modern Democrats stand. Telling the Democrat base that they can't "be the party of redistribution of wealth" is like telling water not to be wet. Everything the Dems want, believe, and stand for is based on their redistributive ideology. How many times have we heard about 'corporate greed,' or the rich 'not paying their fair share,' or the evils of capitalism? It's the backbone of their entire "movement." While it's nice to see a Democrat admit that they currently ARE just the party of wealth redistribution, he'd have to be insane to think that his prescription will gain much support. Pro-growth, pro-capitalism, Dems are simply not going to connect with the left-wing "occupy" mentality - something the party spent 50 years cultivating. Lose the base, lose the election.

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Robert Laurie——

Robert Laurie’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain.com

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