Jeff Bell : Takes on the Myth that the GOP is the Party of the Rich
NJ Senate Candidate Jeff Bell
Leonia, NJ
The Democrats are out-fundraising the Republicans dramatically, yet the GOP is seen as the party of the rich. It’s the worst of both worlds.
Why? The answer to the first part is simple. The Democratic Party has become the party of Big Money. It dominates in fundraising on Wall Street, from the legal profession, in Hollywood, and just about every other major sector of wealth in this country. This year it’s raised more money at every level, including for Democratic candidates for the House of Representatives even though the party acknowledges it has no chance of taking back Congress in 2014.
So why have Republicans gotten the reputation as the party of the rich? I believe it’s because the GOP’s policies coming out of Washington haven’t done enough to address the economic concerns of middle and lower income voters. I admire Mitt Romney for many reasons, but I can point to his 2012 convention speech that emphasized helping business owners rather than workers as a widely-watched Republican message that turned people off. Too frequently, the proposals offered by Republican candidates target help toward businesses (and they do need help under President Obama) and neglect to directly address the concerns of working Americans such as rising prices and falling pay.
So what would I do differently? I propose that we level the playing field of money. We can do this by making our dollar as good as gold. Under this monetary system, no one will have to worry about the value of their wages declining over time the way they have under the pure paper dollar; 85 percent since we went off the gold standard in 1971! A gold-backed dollar will let the American people rather than central bankers control the supply of money in the economy, so there will be no financial crashes caused by the Federal Reserve like we had in 2008.
In 1992 I published a book called Populist vs. Elitism. You can guess which path I recommended the Republican Party follow. I’ve been pushing since then for ideas besides the gold standard that put people first: immigration reform, a culture of life rather than abortion, and a tax system with one low flat rate. These are all part of my Senate campaign in 2014.
