Hard Questions About Patriotism and Taxes

Thomas L. Friedman asks a tough question in his 10/8/08 column for the NY Times. Essentially, his question is: Can you love your country but be unwilling to pay the taxes that run it? ... or to put it another way, is it better to borrow money from China to buy the things you want ... or is it better to admit up front that government actions, whether its war-making or road-making takes money ... and money comes (usually) from taxes.

You could call this a conundrum or maybe a Catch 22, but overall, one just has to wonder how anyone running for a major office -- in this case Governor Sarah Palin -- can so lightly throw away all the good things that are paid for by taxes in this country. Here's the way Friedman framed his question:

"Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can't just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: 'You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that's not patriotic.'"

And wisely, Friedman answered her comment/his question, saying, "Sorry, I grew up in a very middle-class family in a very middle-class suburb of Minneapolis, and my parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization." Read more here.

So ... we're in the middle of an economic mess and Palin thinks it's better to borrow money from China than for us all to actually pay for what we want our government to do. Well, that lines up with how she and McCain would rather drill for oil -- note here that the U.S. only has five percent of the world's oil -- than invest in technology that over time will put the U.S. on the road to energy independence. More detail is available in "Palin's Kind of Patriotism" by Friedman.

Does Being Able to Dress a Moose Mean You're a Populist? Hightower Says NO!

Jim Hightower, former Texas Rail Commissioner, prolific author and consistent radio commentator writes,

"Living in a small town and being able to field dress a moose does not make Palin a populist, no matter how much pundits want to pretend it does."

Read more of Hightower's wisdom on Alternet at "Sarah Palin's Faux Populism."

It's a fact that faux populism is certainly Sarah's signature identity. What also a fact is how Sarah's been talking down to those of us who live, treasure or work for rural America. It's also outrageous -- What's turned out to be her assumption that we'll just all sit back and believe her no matter what she says. Does she think rural Americans can't read? or just that we're really, really gullible?

Over time, we'll share more examples of her less than factual nonsense, but for today, we're limiting ourselves to just one example, i.e., she started bragging in St.Paul and has not quit that she was "against that bridge to nowhere" when the reality is she was for the "bridge to nowhere" before she was against it.

"AG Leaders Pan GOP Ethanol Stance"

Months ago in Iowa, it was John McCain who said NO to the Farm Bill, adding his voice to Bush's Farm Bill VETO. Their's was a big NO to the hope that our country could become energy independent.

Now the Republican Platform has confirmed McCain's big NO to ethanol. This platform rejection is a really BIG NO since once again it confirms McCain's opposition to our country's hopes of becoming energy independent.

Then, to add insult to injury, McCain anointed Sarah Palin, new Governor of Alaska, as his VP choice, and Sarah immediately proclaimed herself expert on energy policy, but this self-proclaimed expertise can only be considered true if "energy" is defined as "oil and gas" ... and even then, there's little evidence that her expertise is actually backed by legitimate science. Forget ethanol. Forget solar. Forget wind. Forget polar bears. Forget global warming. Just plain forget, since essentially everything we know must be forgotten except for VP Dick Cheney's early-in-the-Bush-Administration secret meeting with the oil industry. I'm not sure we know yet the names of all the oil and gas industry folks who planned and plotted, but we certainly know the results, i.e., oil industry profits were the name of the game, with the result that every time we fill up our car's gas tank or get the bill for home heating, we pay more ... and more ... and more.

Of course, Sarah has proclaimed herself a budget expert, too ... since Alaska is about the only state whose budget has gotten stronger in these days of escalating energy prices.

Jerry Hagstrom, DTN's political correspondent has written a very thoughtful piece about how even the most dedicated farm leaders who have been traditionally Republican are taking the news that once again, the conservative back door has slammed shut on the hopes of Americans who previously were still loyal to the conservatives. See Hagstrom's story at "Leaders Weigh Changes in Republican Ethanol Platform".