Just what was that all about last December? How is it that two years after Obama’s election he and the Legislature had to wrestle with Bush’s Evil and Foolish Tax Giveaways to the Rich (as once we knew them)? Memories long and deep recall that this Stimulus of Yesteryear could only be passed, even in a Republican majority, with a Sunset Clause.

It’s sometimes hard to keep up with all these corny euphemisms and that is a large part of their charm to our Legislators. All this means is that the subject law, unlike most, has an expiration date. For the Bush Era Tax Rates (their new handle) the date was set for last New Year’s Day. On that day, absent the extension so long and bitterly fought over, income taxes would have gone up for all payers some ten percent. The reasons for the time limit? These were variable. For the most part it was understood that cutting the tax rates were an emergency measure to avoid a deep recession after 911. That danger would certainly be passed in ten years, right? Right. And we couldn’t deprive the Treasury of those precious funds indefinitely. But much of the appeal at least for those Democrats enticed by the Clause was that it would limit the political positives accruing to the grinning cowboy from his triumph today and lay a mine field for Republicans tomorrow as they presumed, so hopefully, that over time the legislation would grow as unpopular with the country as it was with themselves. That didn’t quite go as planned, did it? No, as it happened even a Legislature where the Democrats were in firm control could not do what they had to do to rid us of these dangerous and foolish tax policies and all they had to do was sit on their hands.

This is not the only time the Democrats have self-detonated at sunset. The memory of the Assault Weapons Ban is a distant and faint one, not least because it actually DID quietly expire at sunset in 2004. This Clinton era relic sought to infringe the manufacture and possession of certain firearms and accessories, most notably high capacity magazines. When it was passed it was hailed as a great step forward in civilization. The ten year sunset was added to appeal to a few Republicans and give it that coveted bi-partisan gloss. And it did on that day. But as it aged, more popular the ban did not become. No no. When it slid unlamented into oblivion whatever law makers regretted it stayed silent.

Does it seem strange that these nearly inverse circumstances had an identical outcome? The public de-pantsing of a core Democratic program? It does, as it seems to break the perpetual pattern that WHATEVER Republicans do, it is wrong, destructive and doomed to failure. At least this is the smug assumption among those who earn mountains of cash for bumping their gums. These outcomes baffle them and the biggest baffler we have not yet addressed.

The Lame Duck extended the crippling tax rates of Chimpy von Haliburton (man, that takes me back!) but that was not all. How has the public memory failed to record that the Ducks also renewed the most loathesome, Unconstitutional and pointless legislation in all US history? This of course is the poorly named but meticulously crafted Patriot Act.

How long have I been asleep? It seems only yesterday that the civil, orderly brigades of the Left from the street to the Senate were denouncing Bush as Hitler (when not Mega-Hitler) for this package of jurisdictional revisions to warranting procedures. A certain Barack Obama, a young and energetic Senator from Illinois made great hay in the Primaries even against the Clinton Machine with his strong and principled opposition. I wonder whatever happened to that guy? At any rate, not only did the last Legislature confirm the Act easily, it was also supported, quite forcefully, by today’s Democratic President. Certainly such a turnaround couldn’t have occurred in the space of a year or two, could it? No. Actually the bitter denunciations of the Act, at least by those in power, always were as opportunistic and cynical as they were vapid. The Democrats of Yesteryear knew that no matter what they said or did they could count on Bush to protect them from their own worst instincts, and so he did. Now that he is not around even they have a sound reason to miss him. They used to avoid these sticky wickets.

Ah well, for the nation that is all to the good; for the Democrats all to the bad. Boy, that never happens, does it? Doesn’t it always seem that it is the Democrats with the two-headed coin? This is mostly attributable to the firm support they receive from the highest levels of the media pyramid which they still enjoy but come on, you have to give them something to work with. Absent a prominent scapegoat that cursed Reality has her way as the Democrats’ bag of tricks grows emptier and emptier. But if there is a lesson to learn they ain’t learned it yet as the Democrats propose to dig themselves out of the hole they have dug themselves in Wisconsin with a shovel that has clonged them in the head more often than it has dug them out of a spot.

Yes, the Fugitive Caucus of the Wisconsin Senate offers to return from the Tilted Kilt (a generic Hooters) even though their credit cards are not maxed out. And what do they demand? A Sunset Clause. The Wisconsin Dems offer a deal and quite a deal it is. They will stipulate to the modest payouts they have resisted to now. They will even sign on for the paring back of collective bargaining and changes (damaging to unions) in the certification and dues collection processes but only if Governor Walker and the Senate Majority goes along with a two year sunset clause on the latter.

The reasoning, as always, is that when the sun finally sets the political landscape will have completely altered. The Democrats and their unionist constituents believe that the destruction of their ancient rights, as they see it, will become grossly unpopular over time, as unpopular as it is amongst themselves. And their deal is an honest one, in that they offer to let events and the democratic process decide after a public experiment.

Governor Walker should take this deal, although not quickly. The Democrats should also be obliged to deliver at least half their votes toward this compromise, let them decide which, to make official their actual surrender, and the usual glad-handing including both parties must be competently done. But even if they make that deal and renege on it, as one would expect, the vote will have been taken, the fiscal changes made and the procedural easing will be a matter of law. When the sunset comes (and two years ain’t long) and the SEIU brigades seek to claw back their privileges the Democrats will find that just as with sunsets past, while yes, everything has changed, no, it will not be to their benefit.

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