But when liberals call it a Value-Added Tax then it's ok? Hey, a VAT is so European! How could it not be good!?
I'm willing to listen if a VAT will replace the income tax entirely - including a repeal of the 16th amendment, but not if it's lumped on top. That's not reform, it's just double taxation.
Jim DeMint is really a great American, and he's taking steps to be a great leader of the Republican party. This is from his superb op-ed in Friday's Wall Street Journal:
To win back the trust of the American people, we must be a "big tent" party. But big tents need strong poles, and the strongest pole of our party - the organizing principle and the crucial alternative to the Democrats - must be freedom. The federal government is too big, takes too much of our money, and makes too many of our decisions. If Republicans can't agree on that, elections are the least of our problems.
Freedom will mean different things to different Republicans, but it can tether a diverse coalition to inalienable principles. Republicans can welcome a vigorous debate about legalized abortion or same-sex marriage; but we should be able to agree that social policies should be set through a democratic process, not by unelected judges. Our party benefits from national-security debates; but Republicans can start from the premise that the U.S. is an exceptional nation and force for good in history. We can argue about how to rein in the federal Leviathan; but we should agree that centralized government infringes on individual liberty and that problems are best solved by the people or the government closest to them
