"Consent of the governed?"

One of the lines in the Republicans' new agenda document that made my eyes roll was when it breathlessly claimed:

In a self-governing society, the only bulwark against the power of the state is the consent of the governed, and regarding the policies of the current government, the governed do not consent.

Now, ignoring for a moment the "War on Arithmetic" that the document engaged in, what exactly do the governed want when it comes to taxes? I mean, Teabagger Party Patriots talk a lot about reducing the deficit and so did this document, which means you have two options: cut spending or increase revenues. It turns out that a majority of Americans want the latter when it comes to taxing the rich. Here are six, count 'em, six, recent national polls:

• A recent CBS poll also found a sizable majority, 56 percent, think the tax cuts for the wealthy should expire.
• A CNN poll in late August found that a majority, 51 percent, favors ending the tax cuts for the rich, and another 18 percent favor ending them all.  It also found that among independents, 44 percent favor ending the tax cuts for the rich, while another 21 percent favor ending them all. Letting the tax cuts for the rich expire has majority support in all regions of the country except the south***.
• A new National Journal poll finds that 56 percent support ending either all the Bush tax cuts or just the ones for the wealthy, while barely more than a third want to keep them all.
• The new Gallup poll shows that 59 percent of Americans -- and a majority of independents -- supports either ending all the Bush tax cuts or just the ones for the wealthy.  Indeed, Gallup finds that Obama's proposal -- ending the tax cuts for the wealthy but not for everyone else -- has the support of 44 percent, more than any other solution.
• DemocracyCorps found that: "Over half – 55 percent – support increasing taxes by letting some or all of the Bush-era tax cuts expire. Specifically, 42 percent say the cuts should remain in place for the middle class, but expire for those making more than $250,000. Just 38 percent say all the tax cuts should remain in place. This is not a purely base issue – by a 17-point margin, independents favor raising taxes on the wealthy."
• National Journal Congressional Connection: "On tax cuts, respondents divided into roughly thirds on whether to extend all the tax cuts, repeal them, or repeal only cuts for the wealthy and extend the rest." (That means about 33% + 33% favor reapealing all or those on the wealthy, which means about 66% of Americans favor repealing at least those on the wealthy.)

So if our elected officials truly represent our interests, we should see Republicans' newfound concerns over the consent of the governed win out here and we should see the Bush tax cuts expire as scheduled. Right? ...

***I find that one of the unintentionally hilarious side item from this poll is that the poorest region in the country with the most problems wants to help millionaires and billionaires the most.