Las Cruces Sun News, June 2, 2012
Their
View: America's first principle is equality
by Michael L. Hays
Michael L. Hays (Ph.D., English) is a retired consultant in defense,
energy and environment; former high school and college teacher; and
continuing civic activist.
... The Republicans may or may not be playing dumb politics, but they are
playing out the remorseless logic of their prejudices and principles. ...
Republicans wanted to defeat a black man because he is black. They also
wanted to thwart the existential threat represented by a president with a
black face.
... Republicans give lip service to equality (of opportunity only) but
legislate inequality, with opportunity-killing cuts for the many and
benefits for the few. They resist equality because it would redistribute
economic, political, and social power, to enable a decent life, liberty from
want and fear, and a chance at happiness for all. Their code word for this
equality is "socialism."
2-4-8 Response: Race, Politics and Taxes
There are few things as liberating as retirement and
the ability to reexamine inhabitations based on political correctness,
manners and decency as expressed in the stereotypical comments such as:
“Republicans wanted to defeat a black man because he is
black. Black, “…was the face of an emerging demographic of these
Democratic-leaning groups — those upon whom Republicans are waging ‘war’". …
“Whiteness mattered more than wealth [in the Civil War], as it does now†…
“Republicans wish to … undo franchise-enlarging amendments and laws giving
the vote to blacks, women, and Indians.†… “Republicans use deficits as an
excuse to cut government programs for jobs and job training, unemployment
benefits, Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid, food stamps, and other
programs especially serving women, minorities, seniors, and children and
youths.†… “Republicans want women liable to bearing unintended children
because they burden or hinder their educational and vocational options.â€
I have never been a Republican or a prude but I am
offended by the over-the-top language quoted above. Don’t get me wrong. The
quotes would be fine for a drunken bar discussion with close friends, who
are interested in your “feelings†and passions. Nevertheless, it is always
good to reread the article one writes when one sobers up and before it is
published.
I am sympathetic to your comments about taxes because I
believe the tax code has redistributed both income and wealth to the top for
over 20 years. I believe that the economy has not recovered because the
working class no longer have sufficient funds to pay for a home and raise
children comfortably. The solution lies in real tax reform but Mr. Obama and
the rest of the Democrats in Congress cannot agree on an intelligent
alternative to the status quo. Mr. Obama’s failure in the tax reform
department is not a matter of his race – it is simply his personal failure
and that of his advisors. Independents and Republicans open to change cannot
trust our economic future, and that of our children, to the “Buffet Ruleâ€.
In the interest of space I will end with a tax reform
plan that can be described in one sentence simply to prove that a little
effort by the Democrats could produce dynamic reform:
Tax individual and corporate income at a flat 8% rate
(with no deductions, credits or loopholes), tax individual net wealth at 2%
(excluding $15,000 cash and retirement funds) and impose a 4% Value Added
Sales Tax (VAT) on business.
The 2-4-8 Tax Blend has the lowest rates and will
produce about $500 billion more than current federal revenue with no need
for payroll, estate, and capital gains taxes or deferral of foreign income.
Eugene Patrick Devany, JD, MPA
www.TaxNetWealth.com
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