Update (6:08 p.m.): I just realized this post is very similar to the second half of Roger Clegg’s article, which I read only 10 minutes ago. I admit to reading only the first half before I published this post, so the similarities are coincidental, in a way. Since conservatives tend to see through special interest props and racial group entitlements like Section 203, we tend to hold the same opinions about them and express those opinions in a similar way.
Update II (7/1): I can’t wait to read this series. 
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I have a feeling the average person doesn’t really care about maintaining a cohesive nation. By that I mean borders, language, and culture, a refrain uttered often by Michael Savage, one of my favorite radio talk show hosts. (I was on his show a couple of years ago.)
Come election time, the average American will vote for the party that closely matches his beliefs and interests. The rest of the time he couldn’t care less that his country is becoming a balkanized, socialistic, and indebted mess, or that his fundamental rights as an American citizen are rapidly diminishing, as long as his TiVo is working.
He probably doesn’t care that some liberal columnist misrepresents the intent of the Voting Rights Act and compares its nonrenewal — because of a bilingual ballots provision— to southern Democrats making up requirements to keep blacks from voting.
It seems like only yesterday when I was agreeing with Earl Ofari Hutchinson, left-leaning journalist. His column about blacks holding themselves to higher standards reminded me of the old-school “working twice as hard” axiom that blacks in my generation and older heard growing up. Now he’s back on the usual liberal warpath, accusing Republicans of pandering to white voters by delaying a vote to renew the Voter Rights Act of 1965.
As Hutchinson very well knows, there’s a big difference between requiring literacy tests and poll taxes, as the South once did, to prevent illiterate and poorly educated and economically poor blacks from voting and requiring non-native English speakers in America to use English-language ballots to vote for American politicians. Maintaining one official language and requiring would-be Americans to speak that language is in the interest of all Americans, not a ploy to race-bait white people.
I’m surprised Hutchinson didn’t imply that blacks are in jeopardy of losing the right to vote, as some ignorant people believe, or that common sense ID requirements are as “racist” as literacy tests and poll taxes of the pre-Civil Rights era.
While taking a broad walk down memory lane, Hutchinson writes very little about the bilingual ballots provision. So I will. The Voting Rights Act isn’t and was never intended to be a mechanism for catering to the demands of special interest groups. The Act was put in place to prevent states from keeping blacks or any other race from the ballot box on account of race.
Non-English speaking immigrants who want to become American citizens usually learn the language, as required to become an American. Over the past two decades, however, an influx of illegal aliens jumping the southern border has changed the dynamic. These “immigrants” aren’t here to become citizens, don’t want to become citizens or accept the responsibilities being citizens entail. They want the freedom to remain in the U.S. and enjoy its benefits. Period. They seek residency, not citizenship. Foreigners who want to become Americans learn to speak the language of Americans.
Voting ballots are printed in Chinese, Japanese, Korean, Spanish, and a few languages, but why stop with those? Why not print ballots in all known languages? That’s ridiculous, right? In my opinion, it’s equally ridiculous that ballots for American elections are available in languages other than English.
The veil of doubletalk and deceit is lifted. In order to vote, you must be an American citizen. If you are a naturalized citizen, knowing English was a requirement for your citizenship. So who, exactly, is going to the polls to vote and can’t speak English? If you’re a rocket surgeon, good for you, but the least educated and honest among us can answer the question correctly.
Hispanic special interest groups, like most ethnicity-based interest groups, want as much power for their group as it can get. That’s instinctual, part of human nature. One way to obtain power is through voting. Hispanic “rights” groups are well aware that George Bush and his executive branch will not enforce immigration law and that millions of illegal aliens will not be deported. Looking out for they’re best interests, these groups want to register as many Spanish-speaking illegal aliens as possible.
Roger Clegg, president of the Center for Equal Opportunity, lays out four reasons why the foreign language provision of the Voting Rights Act is bad law. From National Review Online:
- The federal government should be encouraging assimilation, not discouraging it.
- The proliferation of foreign-language ballots facilitates voter fraud.
- Because few citizens need foreign-language ballots, the requirement that, nonetheless, such materials be printed is a waste of taxpayers’ money.
- Section 203 is unconstitutional.
Emphasis added. To get the facts, read Clegg’s column. (Also see this post on the diff. between black liberals/conservatives.) To learn how to appeal to the Civil Rights struggle in order to vilify Republicans who oppose voter ballots in languages other than English, read Hutchinson’s column. For what it’s worth, here’s a government-created FAQ on the Voting Rights Act and a report called Minority Language Citizens (PDF). Also see Star Parker’s Voting Rights Act is no panacea.
I know America’s founders couldn’t foresee and probably didn’t intend for my black self to vote or even be a citizen of this great country, but I am. A nation preaching freedom and individual rights had little moral or legal choice but to give black Americans their due. The same doesn’t apply to people who don’t speak the language of the country. The founders also never imagined that Americans, naturalized or native, would have the option — the right — to vote in languages other than English.
People who don’t give a rat’s behind about what’s going on in the country might be on to something, living life with little regard for politics and pedantic discussions about “liberty” “equality under the law,” “states rights,” and “common culture.” I wish I shared your apathy. Life would a lot easier.
Blogger Ed Morrissey wrote a great post about common culture.
Frequent commenter Shade writes:
I don’t think that it is so much that people don’t care. Many people simply don’t know what else to do. To most people, the vote is all they feel they have. Packing up and patrolling the border with a group of others is an extreme measure that most people won’t or simply can’t do. People all around the country express their feelings all over the net and participate in polls given by CNN and others. They write their congressmen. When all of these things meet deaf ears what else is there for the ordinary citizen to do? The average American citizen is accustomed to societal stability and is not very motivated to participate in civil unrest.
Commenter and blogger Glamchild writes:
I’ve finally figured it out. I get it. It took me awhile…What Michael Savage and Ann Coulter both do….is stir up passion.
Nobody is passionate about anything anymore. Nothing moves anybody, so we have Michael Savage and Ann Coulter to try to get your attention. And, whether they are getting positive, or negative attention really doesn’t matter…The point is, it’s nice to know Americans can be stirred, and moved by something.
I can’t speak for Savage or Coulter, but stirring up passions is one of the reasons I write. I’m passionate about certain ideas, and I want to reach readers who are just as passionate.
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And then you get this:
Black Leaders Resolve to Combat Christian Conservatives
If you cannot read the ballot, you should not be eligible to vote. And if you cannot prove who you are, you should not be allowed to vote either.
I’m glad I’m not the only one that listens to MS!!:)
MS does tend to get off in tangents, but for the most part he is Sqare On! He did let Chucky Shumer pull a fast one oh him!!
Gave Him more credit than that!!
I don’t think that it is so much that people don’t care. Many people simply don’t know what else to do. To most people, the vote is all they feel they have. Packing up and patrolling the border with a group of others is an extreme measure that most people won’t or simply can’t do. People all around the country express their feelings all over the net and participate in polls given by CNN and others. They write their congressmen. When all of these things meet deaf ears what else is there for the ordinary citizen to do? The average American citizen is accustomed to societal stability and is not very motivated to participate in civil unrest.
As long as Michael Savage doesn’t talk about the Bible, his show makes for pleasurable listening, even if he goes off. I appeared on his show a couple of years ago.
http://lashawnbarber.com/archives/2004/06/15/bri-was-on-the-savage-nation/
La Shawn, whether I agree with Michael Savage or not, I just can’t listen to the guy. He’s just so caustic and grating. One of my favorites is Micheal Medved who is willing and able to engage the opposition in reasonable and meaningful dialog. I like that. I e-mailed you once about the time I called Medved’s show and was able to spar with Christine Todd Whitman about her complaint that the religious right has hijacked the Republican party. You’d never be able to do that on Savage’s show. You either agree with him or he browbeats you off the air.
As to bi-lingual ballots, it’s certainly not surprising that libs would attempt to cast efforts to make English the official language as racially motivated. For a non-racial justification, though, just look to our neighbors to the north. A few years back — can’t remember exactly how long — the English-speaking part of Canada tried to make English the official language because of all the burden of trying to maintain a bi-lingual society. In response, Quebec threatened to secede from Canada.
Of course Quebec is home to a significant chunk of the manufacturing/industrial sector in Canada so the English speakers didn’t exactly want to call that particular bluff. But there’s clearly no racial component to predominately-white English speakers in the other provinces wanting to adopt English as the official language over the objection of predominately-white French speakers in Quebec.
I’ve finally figured it out. I get it. It took me awhile.
What Michael Savage and Ann Coulter both do….is stir up passion.
Nobody is passionate about anything anymore. Nothing moves anybody, so we have Michael Savage and Ann Coulter to try to get your attention. And, whether they are getting positive, or negative attention really doesn’t matter.
The point is, it’s nice to know Americans can be stirred, and moved by something.
It’s a first step…to get your attention.
What happens from there….we’ll see.
I favor a national identity card and making English the legal national language. I favor returning to the immigration system of yore that admitted only those useful to our society. (Exceptions to be rare.)
The voting rights act(s) had a real purpose to correct real injustices. If we still need to address those needs, we should do so. However, if we have essentially eliminated the abuses, then we should move on.
I do not think that “everyone” should vote. I think voting should be available to those who make the effort. I do not oppose rides to the polls or registration campaigns, but voter fraud is an art that is alive and thriving. (Chicago, New Orleans, all of New Jersey, nursing homes, and grave yards from sea to shining sea.)
The founding fathers were not unaware of the danger of democracy in the hands of a mobocracy. That is why they created a republic. Voting is a right and a responsibility. I favor making sure the “right’ is free of interference. The responsibility is up to the individual. If he would rather be home watching Jerry Springer, that is just fine with me.
I’m VERY passionate, but the problem is when you’re passionate about your beliefs, you are
persecuted and sometimes punished, and most people don’t want to deal with that.
I’m getting to the point where I think it’s TIME someone was passionate and didn’t care about the consequences.
Dan, that would be EXACTLY what those of us that BLOG and put our real names and emails out there ARE doing…
I was reading Stan’s comments on the link concerning Savage doing a “schtickâ€. I’ve heard such comments about him before. There is some belief that his later in life transformation from a hippy liberal who supported legalizing marijuana and is alleged to have had homosexual contact (which he denies) is the result of opportunism; that he was always trying to think up new schemes to become rich and famous.
La Shawn, I share your concern that America is becoming an indebted mess. That indebted mess was caused by irresponsible Republican leadership from the Bush administration and Congress who endlessly promote off-budget wars and mindless tax cuts.
Every dollar that gets spent has to come from somewhere: either current taxpayers or future ones. By promoting record deficits, Republicans show that they want to tax our children rather than ourselves. This is “pro-family”?
The most painless way to raise revenue is from the estates of multimillionaires. Contrary to Republican rhetoric (lies), those estates consist mainly of unrealized capital gains that have never been taxed. Every dollar we don’t tax from the estate of a deceased multimillionaire has to come either from the incomes of living families struggling to raise their children, or from the next generation.
I plan to vote for Democrats for the House and Senate because Democrats have shown the courage to cut deficits while Republican practice Santa Claus government, wherein the government provides wars and other services without asking the citizens to pay for them. I’m voting for the grownups.
La Shawn, you ask too much. In California, English is the official language of the state, and according to the State Constitution, our state government is supposed to encourage everyone to master the language. And how does California do this? By making multilingual street signs and voting ballots in foreign languages.
Does our state legislature require a state ID in order to participate in a state wide election? Of course not.
Will they require that all election ballots and materials are printed in English only? Once again…they fail to do what seems so apparently obvious…Even when the State Constitution says that they should
So even in a state where English is the official language, we still kowtow to the special interested groups and enable voter fraud to occur right under our very noses. La Shawn, you’re expecting the Federal Government to do better and they are still unwilling to make English the “Official” language of the nation.
C’mon La Shawn…this is us you’re talking to.
Americans have to take back the electoral process just like we had to take control of our own borders. We need to stop waiting on our elected officials to do the right thing and we need to take action ourselves. Stand-ins, Sit-ins, State Propositions, and law suits are just the beginning. A viable third party needs to emerge and reclaim the America that our founding Fathers fought and died for. A Government…of, by, and for the people.
Mike DiBartolo
The Working Patriot
Stand-ins, Sit-ins, State Propositions, and law suits are just the beginning.
Many lost faith in propositions when California Proposition 187 was basically discarded after it was voted into law. I get the feeling that any proposition that does something concrete will be undermined. Fox bragged that he was the one who stopped Prop. 187. This is what was thrown in the faces of Californians.
State governments are not the biggest culprits. It’s the federal government and you cannot legally sue the federal government.
The Passion of conservative commentators is fine but meaningless unless the people are stirred en masse toward civil unrest and that could be devastating.
La Shawn,
You are one of the bloggers I love to read. You are insightful and on the money with your opinions. Keep up the good work.
So, what can the average person realistically do to make a change? I agree we need a viable third party, but have seen little movement toward forming one. I am not a great thinker, planner, or leader, but I know right from wrong and I know what I believe. I love my country and I am very concerned about the direction it is going. One of my main concerns is that the federal government, especially the political system, has become such a large entity that it would be almost impossible to change it. We know there are lots of problems, but are there ANY viable solutions?
Voting needs to be confined to those who are/were willing to fight for the rights, through either military service or civilian government service. People are so afraid of being unequal, we will make it completely equal, NOBODY can vote, white, black, liberal, conservative, without making their country a better place. If you don’t want to serve in the military, be a police officer, work in the post office. The nation needs to institute a 2 year work program for voting rights. Unless you’re willing to contribute, you have no right to ask. This requirement would increase military numbers, and if you fail to meet your required time, I’m sorry, no voting for you. Your life wouldn’t be over, you wouldn’t be kicked out of the US. You just can’t vote. This would give an equal ground for work for everyone. Many people who are unemployed, white and black, could serve in government jobs. A healthy young person who can’t find work isn’t looking hard enough, because all else fails, the army is looking for people. I came into the military when I left college with no degree and no money, and everything since then has been all but handed to me. I have a steady paycheck, I learn skills, and I have all the health benefits I can use. Two birds (even three in some respects) with one stone.
#16 Rhondayvoo suggests a third party and asks about viable solutions.
Our Constitution makes third parties nearly impossible because of the Electoral College (which I strongly support.) Third parties can split off enough major party votes to affect the election. Beyond that, they serve no effective purpose. This is because third parties are based on a personality or a single issue.
We have a professional political class and they are wily enough to co-opt any idea that is gathering strength.
The political history of slavery and the Jim Crow aftermath is one of politicians taking the safe, low road. Professional politicians rarely take risks if it involves their security. That is why social security will just crumble.
But one super important distinction about the United States must not be overlooked. We are, among all the governments in history and in the world today, the most liberal form of government that has ever survived. In fact, we are the longest, continuous constitutional government in the history of the world.
Our conservatives (I am proud to be one) are not to be compared with conservatives in any other government. We are conservatives within an extremely liberal government which puts us to the left of many liberals in other lands!
I can not begin to describe how powerful the internet is in changing the status quo in the United States. The whole focus on the border issue has been the result of the internet.
We have this powerful tool and we are using it. Ask Dan Rather. Bookmark the sites that bring clarity to the issues and then e-mail your Congressmen with your concerns.
The Congressmen may not pay attention to your specific words, but they sure do tally up the for and against e-mails. It has a profound effect on them as they see it as a bellwether for contributions and votes.
As the monkey said when he spit in the ocean: “every drop counts.”
LaShawn,
Nothing will change until enough people change their voter registration cards from “R” to “I”. Until then, we get the same as we’ve always gotten. I’m as conservative as they come, but the Republican party no longer offers me anything. I’d rather vote “I” for my country and loose an election, then win for the “Republicans” and loose my country.
We all need to contact our congressional representatives on this issue. Bilingual ballots are a slap in the face of the citizens of this country. This is America people. English is our language. We are citizens and we, and only we, have the right to vote.
Get mad. Tell all your friends about the hidden dangers in this Act. Spread the word. I firmly believe we made a difference on the Immigration Bill and we can make a difference here too. Indifference will destroy this country.
Thank God for Hastert for watching out for the citizens of this country and thank you LaShawn for bringing this post to our attention.
You like Michael Savage? Don’t you find him condemning and accusatory? He’s really harsh about people he disagrees with. Ann Coulter is a nun compared to Michael Savage. LOL
I must admit I haven’t enjoyed Michael Savage since I heard him go off on Ed Smart back at the height of the Elizabeth Smart abduction hysteria. Most conservative talk show hosts I listened to were convinced that Ed Smart was guilty, but Savage tried him publicly and called him no shortage of names. He was quite venomous. I lost a lot of respect for him that day. I can take him only in small doses now…
As for TiVo’s still working, you’re right about that. Congress happily signs away our fair use rights little by little while RIAA and MPAA lobbyists send funds to Washington D.C. Broadcast flags, DRM, etc. You name it. The general public is oblivious to the war being waged on fair use rights. They shouldn’t count on their TiVo working for long if they don’t get involved soon.
Douglas Cootey
The Splintered Mind
#12: Are Senators Kennedy and Kerry grownups that you would vote for? One was born into wealth, the other married the widow of a Senator who was born into wealth. If you don’t believe in inheritance, start with these Democrats!
Spanish News Agency Apologizes For Inflammatory Story
Story Claimed Candidate Wanted Immigrant ‘Concentration Camps’
http://www.wral.com/politics/9437697/detail.html
Why, yes, if I lived in Massachusetts, I would vote for Senators Kennedy and Kerry. (Of course, I would have to know who their opponents are, but I approve of their leadership overall.) These wealthy men favor preserving the estate tax, as do many other wealthy individuals in the United States, such as the two richest Americans, Bill Gates and Warren Buffet. Thank you for asking.
Ref #17
The tax dollars I send to Washington every day I believe should give me the right to vote whether or not I “Served my country”. Make it simple. If you don’t pay taxes, you don’t vote.
Now, off topic from a now-closed thread: Yes, Shade. I do believe race relations are far better in Houston than elsewhere I’ve seen. But, I note also that those relations have deteriorated significantly since the “Katrina evacuees” moved here and the crime rate has skyrocketed.
#12 Anomalocaris proclaims: “That indebted mess was caused by irresponsible Republican leadership from the Bush administration and Congress who endlessly promote off-budget wars and mindless tax cuts.”
And I suppose you have swallowed the whole bait about Clinton and the balanced budget.
Figures don’t lie, but liars can figure. The indebtedness in this country is due to social security and medicare. Congress rolled those dollars into the general budget years ago. Then Congress authorized “IOU’s” to cover the theft.
Naturally, other bonded indebtedness has a firm footing in the national deficit, but nothing compares to the amount future taxpayers owe to social security and medicare.
Since you are a person who admires Kennedy and Kerry, why not look into the idea of nabbing 100% of an inheritance. Without regard to the immediate economic disruption it would cause, you can not escape that taking it all it would only dent the deficit.
Gates and Buffet favor the inheritance tax. They have also nearly completely removed their money from being taxed. By shifting it to charitable status, Uncle Sam gets none. Their children can be paid good salaries to administer it and the funds can own jets, cars and grand homes/conference centers without any taxation. If you are looking at these people as examples, it is because you know very little about tax evasion.
Check out why Kennedy’s oil company is registered in Fiji.
So, let’s pile more goodies into the deficit basket. Healthcare is a pig at the trough that ought to balloon the deficit beyond comprehension. Go for it! Kennedy and Kerry will lead the way.
Anomalocaris, you are aware that Warren Buffet, Bill Gates, Ted Kennedy and John Kerry avoid such plebian things as paying inheritance taxes?
Warren Buffet’s plan to leave his money to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation takes that money out of the inheritance tax’ path.
Similar tactics allow these people to avoid all manner of taxation–while simultaneously advocating for higher taxes.
They can afford to pay to set up the various shelters and loopholes that keep them–perfectly legally–almost tax-free.
But people who don’t live at their rarified level of income can’t. So Teddy easily passes the Kennedy fortune to the assorted Kenedites that will succeed him with little or no damage from the taxman while the mildly sucessful farmer cannot pass on his farm to his children without incurring a massive tax bill.
The farmer can’t afford to set up ofshore trusts, his capital is largely land. Teddy can.
Because the very rich can afford to legally avoid taxes, the burden falls on less well paid taxpayers. The recent Minnesota ad suggests that people making as little as 45.000 be taxed more.
TexasFred,
Do it in public, on the town green, and I might believe you are.
Until people who are tired of it, speak out in the manner I state, not much will be done.
I personally think, that for me, it’s getting REALLY close to that time.
Dan
Chris, I realize you pay taxes, but what people recieve (not directly related to their voting rights) is more then worth what you pay in taxes, polices, military protection, hundreds of things that wouldn’t be there without the government. As for your taxes taking care of everything. When a child’s room is messy, does he take pride in a clean room by paying his little brother to clean the room for him? No, you make him clean it himself. You let him do it the first way and he won’t think twice about how messy it gets how quickly. You make him clean it, he will appreciate what it takes to get it clean and he will work to keep it that way.
John, I can empathize with your position. However, I get up every morning and go to work. My job isn’t glamorous, but it serves a valuable purpose to keep the country moving along. I raise my children to respect others and themselves. I teach my kids to love their country and appreciate what some have done to ensure freedom for all. I don’t now and have never received any handouts from our government. I respect the police and support the troops.
In short, I consider myself to be similar to the millions who really are the backbone of this nation. I am the taxpayer who foots the bill not only for the wars, bridges, roads and schools, but also for the social programs and handouts that bleed us dry. It rubs me the wrong way to hear that that isn’t good enough to be able to vote in someone’s eyes.
Also, considering the enormous number of citizens who regularly drink from the federal sow and put nothing back, I reject the notion that I get more than what I pay for.
Chris, you are giving me a lot to think about, but what I do say is this, how many people who enjoy these freedoms would readily fight to defend them? I recognize there are other ways that this country is great, but when it comes down to it, of N. Korea and China start dropping troops in Washington, how many people do you think would take up arms to keep it, and how many do you think would accept that other’s would fight and that when it was over they would have the right to vote because of the blood and sacrafice of these men and women. True enough that the soldiers in Iraq are not directly defending our freedom as much as making the world a safer place for our way of life, but I was raised on the prospect that you don’t deserve anything you won’t defend.
Heliotrope wrote “The indebtedness in this country is due to social security and medicare.” Wrong. Social Security is running a surplus year after year, and even under the projections of the Social Security Administration, which have always proven to be overly pessimistic in the past, Social Security will continue to run a surplus for at least 18 years, and probably more. Social Security is not the problem. The problem is a war in Iraq that is costing more than $2 billion dollars a week, paid for off-budget with “emergency” appropriations, coupled with unaffordable tax cuts.
America has been at war many times. We fought the British twice, first for independence and then in the War of 1812. We fought the war between the states. We fought World War I and World War II. We fought in Korea and Vietnam and Iraq, and Iraq again. Get this: wars cost money. And in all these wars, we never had an administration promoting tax cuts, or a Congress voting for tax cuts — until the Republican George W. Bush administration and the Republican Congress of now. That’s why it’s time to put the grownups in charge. Vote Democrat!
Heliotrope, you are vastly misinformed about the operation of foundations. Before you make wild statements, how many jets does the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation have? All right then, you shouldn’t have brought it up. Salaries of foundation administrators is measured in hundreds of thousands at most, in contrast to tens of billions (with a B) that Mr. and Mrs. Gates and Mr. Buffet have given and are giving to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. The Gateses set up The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to help fight disease and promote international development among the world’s poor. It was not set up to provide cushy jobs for their children.
The Democratic Party proposal, rejected by the Republicans, was to immediately raise the Estate Tax threshhold to $3.5 million per taxpayer, allowing couples to pass $7 million to their children free of estate taxes. If this had been adopted, then estates of persons dying in 2005 wold have been covered under this rule, but thanks to the Republicans, these estates paid taxes starting at just 1.5 million.
There are already special estate tax breaks for family farms and family businesses. Consequently, despite the endless bleating of the Republicans, there are no family farms that had to be sold in order to pay estate taxes. It’s a complete myth.
How is anyone going to understand everyone unless we have a national language? This does not require that people not speak other languages. English is also the language the world. Something has to be, or will be. It’s English, so what? If it was something else and I needed to operate world-wide, I’d learn that language. So what, again? Are Hispanics allegedly the only people in the world who are unable to learn another language? I don’t think so….But the Democrats do. Got their message?
#33,34,35 Anomalocaris: “Heliotrope, you are vastly misinformed about the operation of foundations.”
Sorry, but I sit on the board of two huge ones. If you need an idiot’s guide to foundation law, I can probably round one up.
Let’s talk Bill Gates. $30Billion foundation before Buffet. Funds invested with Buffet direction that yield nearly $10Billion per year. Operation overhead permits a safe $1Billion per year for operating overhead. Daddy Gates, Bill and Melinda are board members. They can add their three minor children under tax law.
I suspect they can manage just fine on that type of income from a tax exempt source. If you have an income of (just) $1Million (a huge drop from $1Billion) a year and if you work 50 hour weeks for 52 weeks a year, your hourly income is $385. And you think that Bill and Melinda Gates go to the airport and scrounge for seats on Southwest? Their need for bodyguards and efficiency alone preclude it.
I was alive and attending to business during the Johnson administration when old Lyndon promised “guns and butter” (read: no war tax) and a “great society” (read: increased welfare/entitlements) simultaneously. It was Nixon who followed Teddy Kennedy’s advice for price controls, froze salary increases and introduced medicare which threw the country into a spiral of inflation that Carter was able to fuel into interest rates above 20%.
Reagan’s supply side tax cuts crushed the inflation and led to the longest period of sustained economic growth and prosperity in the history of the nation. George Bush (1) raised taxes to try to get along with the Democratic Congress and …poof!…the growth stopped and Clinton and friends turned him out of the White House. Republicans reversed the 40 year control of Congress two years later and put the “Contract With America” into effect. No new big tax program was enacted. Welfare was cut and signed by Clinton. The budget started to come into “balance.” Then the dot.com bubble burst and NASDAQ and the stock markets went south. The fall out was first felt in the summer of 2000, just in time for G.W. Bush to preside over the downturn. It was neither caused by Clinton or Bush and neither Clinton nor Bush could have done much to prevent it.
Wars cost money. I agree. I have a thesis for you to read on the subject that is still well regarded, even after 40 years.
Name one instance in the history of any country anywhere in the world at any time in history that taxed itself into prosperity.
I certainly don’t mind being called a fool. I have had some high powered folks toss the epithet at me. But I have never lost an argument of economics based on the facts of mathematics. I don’t make the rules, I just do the numbers. (And unlike the professional politicians, I don’t depend the mystic predictions of Madam Rosy Scenario.)
For years, Social Security was a separate fund that was “off-budget.” When it was reworked in the early 1980’s, it was accumulating huge surpluses that were to be placed “in trust” for the time when payouts would exceed income. (At the time, that was thought to be about 2025.) Congress mandated that the funds be “invested” in government bonds. Therefore, by slight of hand, the surplus became part of the national debt through bonded indebtedness. In the late 1980’s, Congress decided to skip the “bonded indebtedness” step and moved the social security fund to the general income fund and used the surplus to fund current costs of government. It was a windfall of cash that the porkers in Congress tossed around like the proverbial drunken sailor.
I could go on, but why? Your fealty to socialism and the Democrat politburo is secure and you are not about to be confused by the facts. I can certainly absorb the pelting of your confused charges, but it is not particularly informing.
Have a good day.
Heliotrope, you make a lot of statements, and I could rebut all of them if I wante to, but I’ll limit myself to just this: Conservatives love to cite President Reagan’s tax cuts as ushering in a period of economic growth. What they conveniently forget is that after Reagan’s initial tax cuts were a series of nine tax increases under the Reagan administration that were made necessary by the Reagan deficts. (Back then, the Republican party was stil a grownup party that recognized the importance of keeping deficits small.) And we had even more economic growth under President Clinton, without tax cuts.
La shawn, because people might visit Savage from your mention here, as a public service let me point out that he has the beheading videos/pictures right on his front page. That is too much for me. Any one who finds such images upsetting might want to steer clear and just listen to the radio show instead.
Michael Savage is right as usual. It comes down to language, culture and borders. That is the fundamental building blocks of any country not just the United States. In the liberal’s eye however, it’s a different story. If you support securing the borders, your labeled a RACIST. If you support English has the officially language, liberals label you a RACIST. If you defend the culture, liberals label you a RACIST. The bottom line is this. How can liberals say they support America, when they hate the core values for which it stand for?
Just so we’re clearly understanding this, Anomalocaris supports confiscating money from those to whom it belongs and giving it to those who have done nothing to earn it. On the street, that would be called a mugging.
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