The full implications of Arlen Specter’s move are a bit hard to work out, because over the years he’s been such a flip-floppety opportunist. He was against Robert Bork, but he led the charge in favor of Clarence Thomas. He was for EFCA when he needed unions to fend off a general election challenge in 2004, but against it when he needed wingnuts to fend off a primary challenge in 2010. At his press conference today he was pretty open about the nakedly opportunistic motives involved in his decision to switch parties. But the same opportunistic instincts mean he’s spent the past couple of months sprinting to the right.
Thus, there’s stuff like this from March 30:
Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) today introduced legislation that would scrap the 17,000 pages of current IRS code in favor of a 20 percent flat tax for all individuals and businesses. The revenue-neutral legislation would allow tax-payers to file returns on a postcard that could be completed in 15 minutes.
“My flat tax legislation would make filing a tax return a manageable chore, not a seemingly endless nightmare, for most taxpayers,” Senator Specter said. “This legislation will fundamentally revise the present tax code, with its myriad rates, deductions, and instructions.”
That’s 100-proof wingnuttery right there. Presumably Specter-the-Democrat isn’t going to be spending his time dishing out that kind of policy. But will he really back progressive tax policy? If the Democratic Party leadership promises to guard his left flank, as they seem to have, without extracting any clear concessions on policy specifics, does that mean he’ll drift to the right? It’s hard to predict.
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