The most disturbing factoid that I learned on Tax Day was that the average American must now spend a full twenty-four hours filling out tax forms. That's three work days. Or, think of it this way: if you had to put in two hours per night after dinner to finish your taxes, that's two weeks (with Sundays off). I saw a talking head economics professor on some Philly TV channel pontificating about how Americans procrastinate. He was laughing. The IRS guy they interviewed actually said, "Tick, tick, tick." You have to wonder if Governor Ruth Ann Minner and her cohorts put in twenty-four hours pondering whether or not to give Kraft Foods $708,000 of our State taxes while demanding that school districts return $8-10 million each?
“A market economy is to economics what democracy is to government: a decent, if flawed, choice among many bad alternatives.” -- Charles Wheelan, "Naked Economics"
Comments
The D's and R's have amply demonstrated that they are neither. So should a true Libertarian or Green (or for that matter a hybrid such as myself) be swayed back into the old tired dysfunctional machine? I think not. I am willing to "risk" either of the corporate parties "winning" or throwing things one way or the other by actually intellectually standing my ground.
You see there are elements of both of these growing parties that I find very appealing. I strive to be a self-reliant independent person who suffers little government intrusion into my life. I am also a compassionate person who realizes that under our current system many good people get thrown under the bus, and through no fault of their own find themselves in untenable situations. I don't believe that there is any reason to raise taxes more than where they are right now, perhaps we can even lower them. The current, convoluted tax system is rigged and we all know it. Just because I don't think the government requires additional revenue. I also think it is spending that revenue on the wrong things. Better and more effective social safety nets, universal health care and a strict program for bringing our energy sector to the next level of technology are needed to be the role of our government. Could it be done privately? Perhaps but wouldn't that have gotten some traction in the last 30 years? No, the status quo lobbies against it and throws up road blocks. We need leadership in these new areas and government plays a role in that. Will there be failures, of course, but we must push ahead. We are wasting our limited investment resources by focusing them on war, subsidies to big business and bailouts to business sectors which should evolve or die. I also believe that we can do better when it comes to those elements of our lives that don't get factored into the true costs of their presence. Environmental regulation and remediation costs always find a way into our society whether we are actively cleaning things up or suffering the consequences through medical and environmental degradation. If anyone has been through cancer treatment with a friend or has experienced it them self, they know the suffering and actual monetary costs associated with the diseases that are the direct product of this exposure to environmental toxins. There is always a price to pay whether we act on an issue or not.
So, I guess that I am, as Donnie and Marie sing, A little bit country, and a little bit Rock n Roll. Does that make me a joke? To some, perhaps. But I'll live knowing that I stayed true to myself (pretty moderate as things turn out)and that those issues near and dear to me were represented by the people I voted for. Shifting gears back to the old paradigm won't work for me anymore. I've taken the red pill, my eyes are open and there's no going back. So I continue to advocate for the Green and Libertarian parties despite some of their apparent and real conflicts. Those I can live with. Going back to the absurdity of the old guard R's and D's? I would need a lobotomy to do that. Vote for the candidate and the party that represents you and how you see the world. Can't find one? There's always the Bacon party.
Some of us libertarians actually do love America.
Eric Dondero, Newark
Back in the William Weld days, Romney was billed as a "fiscally conservative/socially tolerant" GOPer.
The Republican Liberty Caucus enthusiastically backed him in his races in the 1990s.
He's not a Newbie to libertarians, as some of us around here seem to be.
keep trying and you'll get it right eventually.
perhaps the next step could be "some of his best friends are libertarians"