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I became acquainted with the writings of Bruce Bartlett (@BruceBartlett) a few years ago when I began reading more about tax policy. His 2012 book, The Benefit and the Burden: Tax Reform- Why We Need It and What It Will Take, introduced me to a self-professed fiscal conservative who was re-examining some of his previous ideas. In these days of ascendency of ideological purity on the Right, it was refreshing to hear from a conservative who was willing to take a pragmatic approach to policy. Bartlett is certainly no squishy thinker: He’d worked for the Reagan and the Bush Forty-One administrations as well as Congressmen Ron Paul and Jack Kemp. He was a staunch advocate of supply-side economics, having authored one book on the subject (Reaganomics: Supply-side economics in action) and co-authored another (The Supply Side Solution, with Timothy Roth).

George W. Bush’s Presidency provided the impetus for Bartlett’s reevaluation of his views on fiscal policy. He disagreed with the Bush tax cuts and with the unfunded Medicare Part D prescription drug expansion. The off-budget expenditures for the Iraq and Afghanistan wars were indefensible to him. These differences were fully discussed in Bartlett’s 2006 book, Impostor: How George W. Bush Bankrupted America and Betrayed the Reagan Legacy. The financial crisis of 2008 accelerated his re-assessment and resulted in 2009’s The New American Economy: The Failure of Reaganomics and a New Way Forward. It wasn’t that Bartlett moved away from conservatism: He was contemplating a Republican party that was being coerced into absurd policy positions by unsophisticated and uncompromising idealogues. He did not restrain himself from ridiculing the Tea Party populists and using Twitter to keep tabs of those vying for the title of “Stupidest Person in Congress”. He ultimately settled on referring to present-day Republicans as “wankers.”  

For their part, the hard-core Righties see Bartlett as a Rino. Though he is an academic, Bartlett’s resume is replete with real-world policy experience. His impatience with the current group of self-styled “conservative” Republicans again manifested itself this past weekend, with CPAC2014 (Conservative Political Action Conference) taking place in Washington. Bartlett’s Tweets included these gems:

“Even back when I was a conservative I thought CPAC was filled with creepos & sickos; Comic-Con for fascists. Much much worse now.”

“There's no left in the US today. Proof is that I am the most left-wing person I know and I'm a classical conservative” http://www.salon.com/2014/03/09/we_are_all_right_wingers_now_how_fox_news_ineffective_liberals_corporate_dems_and_gop_money_captured_everything/

“CPAC claims it's purged its kooks. Me--um, no.” http://www.motherjones.com/politics/2014/03/when-did-cpac-get-so-normal

“I like my term for CPAC as "Comic-Con for fascists." Can I trademark?”

Bruce Bartlett has an appeal that goes beyond his sarcastic intellectual style. For me, it is not about agreement with his ideas, and it is not about his personality (in the television appearances in which I have seen him, he comes across as a man who does not suffer fools graciously).  What it is about is his willingness to question- to question policies and ideas, even his own. Our politics would be much improved if more of our policy makers possessed that trait.