Reading time – 3:05 . . .
AOC is pilloried for pretty much anything and everything she’s said or not said, done or not done, including having or not having money and dancing while in college. That last is pretty much a deal killer for the dedicated socially inept who live under a bridge. Of course trolls don’t like dancing. It sometimes leads to bringing people together.
Last Sunday Ross Douthat ran a drooling, snark filled slam of everything lefty, especially AOC, calling her “future dictator-for-life” and much more. He essentially suggested that the world as we know it will come to an end should these stupid, evil, unpatriotic and hateful people on the left get their way. The thing is, though, that I don’t remember this self-proclaimed conservative rendering similar judgment when tea party wackos showed up with their hateful righty ideas, or when Dubya cut taxes twice as he waged his two unnecessary wars that he lied us into. I don’t remember Douthat attacking the stupidity of Trump’s tax gift to the wealthy (86% went to corporations and the already rich). Where was his criticism of so-called conservatives who largely made the mess we’re in today?
I want to go after Democrats with equal passion, but they just don’t give me as many opportunities. No, I don’t think we should or will go forward with every far lefty proposal, but they might just nudge us in a direction that would be helpful to we the unimportant 99% and strengthen our country at the same time.
For example, the Green New Deal may be just too much for most Americans, but I believe we need a crash program – metaphorically, a Manhattan Project – that simply must be done to stop contributing to global warming and we’re way late for the hard conversations and action. This, at least, is a starting point.
Dealing with global warming is non-negotiable if my grandchildren are to survive to old age. And they want to live, which is part of why AOC is so popular with Gen Y and Gen Z Americans. That doesn’t have to mean government funding and killer taxes; it does mean we have to get off our rich, complacent asses and take action to stop loading the fossil fuel guns that will kill us. Sorry you don’t like the idea, Ross Douthat. Perhaps you don’t have grandchildren.
Which makes me wonder what it is about human nature that most of the time most of us are simply unable to understand suffering unless we’re suffering ourselves. Too bad, because we’re all going to be suffering unless those of us who aren’t yet affected figure out pretty fast that we’re going to be affected and it will be really bad unless we take action now.
Conservatives, get this: This isn’t a center-right country. People want affordable education and healthcare. People want air they can breathe, water they can drink and a fair chance for their kids and grand kids to avoid environmental catastrophe. And they don’t want to visit Monument Valley and see drilling rigs.
People want fairness and an end to old white guys clawing to keep power by keeping others down. People want our state legislatures to honor the will of the people (that’s for you, Utah and Idaho). And here’s the bitterest pill: people don’t think everything is always best for all when the market drives everything, because when it does, a lot of people get hurt. That’s why we sometimes have regulations. Yes, I know you hate the R-word, conservatives. Deal with it.
If you’re a conservative, try conserving what should be conserved and stop the brainless criticism of everything that isn’t familiar to you. Your grand kids are counting on you.
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3 Responses to Conservatives and Grandchildren
John Calia February 12, 2019
AOC deserves to be slammed. The Green New Deal will destroy our economy. To say otherwise is like claiming the moon is made of green cheese while literally sitting on the moon. Obama’s plan (developed by Energy Sec. Ernest Moniz) took the right approach because it made progress on replacing fossil fuel on an economically sustainable schedule — one which would be less likely to be disrupted by consumer disaffection. On other matters, I would point out that it’s not up to the government to provide every service that “people want.”
Joni Lindgren February 12, 2019
In terms of the Liberals and Progressives having a huge want list…..free tuition, Medicare for All, Social Security, fair taxation and not giving corporations all the “goodies” while the rest of society gets absolutely nothing, and everything you heard Bernie campaign on……IF Bernie had not thrown those ideas out, none of Bernie’s ideas would have been on so many ballots around the country AND polls never would have show a high percentage of people WANTING what Bernie talked about! It has to be ideas thrown out there to the public to know just what people want……and they want it! The other thing I see, read, and hear about is this question that is ALWAYS thrown out by the Republicans, ‘How are we going to pay for Medicare for ALL? If you consider that 1/3 of all corporations pay NO taxes and that our government gives those same corporations millions upon millions of our tax money (subsidize), you can easily see how we can afford health care for everyone, the Green New Deal AND infrastructure! Stop giving the corporations all our money and make them pay their fair share, instead of GIVING it all to the corporations…so they can continue their stranglehold on us, so they can use the money to hoard off- shore or to give to the CEOs and so they can continue to cannabalize our economy and rigging the system! This is just the biggest tax heist by the vulture capitalists of our time!!
John Calia February 12, 2019
Here’s what liberal economist Robert Reich (Sec. of Labor under Clinton) said about corporate income taxes in his 2009 book:In reality, the corporate income tax is paid—indirectly—by the company’s consumers, shareholders, and employees. Studies have attempted to determine exactly how the tax is allocated among these three groups, but the distribution remains unclear. What is clear is the corporate income tax is inefficient and inequitable.
“It’s inefficient because interest payments made by corporations on their debt are deductible from their corporate income tax while dividend payments are not. This creates an incentive for companies to over rely on debt financing relative to shareholder equity, and to retain earnings rather than distribute them as dividends. The result, in recent years, has been for many corporations to accumulate large amounts of money that the company then uses to purchase other companies or to buy back its shares of stock. Capital markets would be more efficient if these accumulated profits were redistributed to shareholders as dividends. “Decisions by millions of shareholders about how and when to reinvest these funds are likely to be, as a whole, wiser than decisions made by a relatively small number of corporate executives. Abolishing the corporate income tax would thus help capital markets work better.
“The corporate income tax is inequitable in that retained earnings representing the portion held by lower-income investors are taxed at a corporate rate that’s often higher than the rate they pay on their other income, while earnings representing the holdings of higher income shareholders are taxed at a corporate rate often lower than they pay on the rest of their income. As we have seen, under Supercapitalism, investors have far more power than they did decades ago. Their decisions about where to put their money to maximize their returns are similar to any other decisions they make about how to increase their earnings. Logically, there is no reason why their ‘corporate’ earnings should be taxed differently than their other earnings. Abolishing the corporate income tax and treating all corporate income as the personal income of shareholders would rectify this anomaly.”