By Annie Lowrey  Posted Friday, June 24, 2011, at 5:18 PM EThttp://www.slate.com/id/2297513?wpisrc=xs_wp_0001 Since even before Arthur Laffer drew his curve on a napkin, Republicans and Democrats have been having the same fight about taxes and growth. Republican politicians insist that tax cuts “pay for themselves,” increasing receipts by goosing economic growth. Democrats and virtually all economists say they’re wrong. Today, this very dispute animates the showdown between Republicans and Democrats over whether to include any tax increases in the long-term plan to reduce the deficit. But there are a few cases where tax cuts have arguably raised receipts. These cases are instructive, as they are so specific and so rare.  Let’s…

The Constitution’s framers were flawed like today’s politicians, so it’s high time we stop embalming them in infallibility. by Simon Schama June 26, 2011     http://www.newsweek.com/2011/06/26/the-founding-fathers-were-flawed.html   He may have written the Declaration of Independence, but were he around today Thomas Jefferson wouldn’t have a prayer of winning the Republican nomination, much less the presidency. It wouldn’t be his liaison with the teenage daughter of one of his slaves nor the love children she bore him that would be the stumbling block. Nor would it be Jefferson’s suspicious possession of an English translation of the Quran that might doom him to fail the Newt Gingrich loyalty test. No, it would…