TahitiNut
TahitiNut's JournalIt's like kicking the dog.
It is NEVER 'correct' to put the blame on the BOTTOM of the ladder. When we're "in service to our country," we effectively suspend our role as SOVEREIGNS (The People are sovereign in a democracy) and place ourselves in service to the Will of The People. To be in service to a Nation is to be in service to PEOPLE. A 'nation' isn't dirt, it isn't elected officials (politicians we once called "public servants"
, and it isn't some piece of colorful cloth. (Unlike corporations) it IS people! Possibly the most profound statement of faith in a democracy is to enter into National Service. When "the people" cynically abdicate their role as sovereigns, whining and whimpering about "they won't let me have my way," it's cowardly and childish.
The longer "We The People" cynically and dismissively put crooks into office and abdicate our responsibility to participate in a government "of the people, by the people, and for the people" the sooner we'll face again the need to spill blood in the streets to regain the sovereignty we willfully abdicated. Forget Mr. Goodwrench, when it's "pay me now or pay me later" it's never so true as when it's political self-determination.
There was MUCH about "the 60s" that I loved. The people who directed their ire at guys in uniform -- telling the FEW to bear the greatest cost by deserting or refusing to obey orders -- those people were idiots. Even worse were those who "protested" hypocritically ... NOT "the war" but THE DRAFT. God forbid THEIR rosy little asses be "skin in the game" that compelled them to actually participate ... belatedly.
When Jane "crossed the line" from PROTESTING "the war" to the point that she actually posed on an antiaircraft gun like she was on the NVA side in killing Americans, there wasn't an iota of 'pacifism' in her motive. Joan Baez I revered. She walked the talk. She offered aid to the "boat people" and worked to help veterans. Jane Fonda is a despicable self-indulged hypocrite who didn't lift a finger to help either.
Beating up on "the troops" went on for a LOOOONG time. Not only were some spat upon (I was), they were THEN CALLED LIARS for saying so (I was) because of Lembke's specious "scholarship" that totally failed to examine the context wherein, at its peak, more FIVE TIMES AS MANY GUYS WERE CLAIMING TO BE VIET NAM VETS than actually served in-country during the entire war! In the "chain of command" The People are supposed to be at the top -- sovereigns -- and us poor enlisted grunts were at the very bottom. Beating up on those at the bottom is despicable cowardice.
That profoundly misguided error was compounded when the Reich Wing hijacked the merit of respecting folks in Service to their Nation and, in the 80s onward, equated honoring servicemen to supporting misbegotten wars! Fucking appalling! But they COULD NOT HAVE HIJACKED the flag or the troops if it wasn't for MISGUIDED and HYPOCRITICAL "leftists" (who don't seem to have the foggiest notion of what it means to be 'liberal') who scapegoated guys in uniform and were far more against The Draft than any war. Just. Fucking. Obscene.
I find it disturbing that anyone would claim to "own" the country.
We ARE the country. This nation is people, as in "We The People." The over-emphasis on property (or dirt) is obscenely materialistic, imho. Yet the GOP cannot seem to think in any other way.
In fact, it seems to betray a sociopathic inclination. When a politician clearly focuses on the "health" of a fund or account, rather than on the health of human beings facilitated by such a fund, and overtly sacrifices the latter for the sake of the former, it's a clear lack of focus on the most fundamental reasons for such a fund in the first place. Yet this misplaced focus is common in the reich wing.
What about estate taxes?
Income one receives from one's own labor is taxed at the federal level up to 35%.
Income one receives from the labor of others is taxed at the federal level at less than 15%.
Income one receives from the death of another is usually taxed at the federal level at ZERO%.
Interestingly, much of the value of an estate is usually from unrealized (untaxed!) capital gains.
Why should the tax be less on income for which NO WORK was performed?
It seems backwards to me.
At the same time, I can see different "brackets" for each category. It seems to me that any income below the poverty level shouldn't be taxed, at either the federal, state, or local levels.
A "tax" is NOT a penalty! It should be a payment for the government system within which the benefits (security, titles, services, rights, economics, etc.) were received. Those benefiting the MOST should pay the MOST. Those barely surviving should pay the very least. (That obviously does not include Exxon.)
Since it's a payment into a system from which one benefits, shouldn't veterans (with combat experience?) receive a lifetime deduction from their federal taxes?? How much is the value of 2-3 years of one's LIFE? One's health?
The reich-wing is trapped in a "zero-sum" mentality.
For them to be successful, others must be unsuccessful. For them to have a job, others must be jobless. For them to have a home, others must be homeless. For them to have civil liberties, others must be denied civil liberties. For them 'win' a war, others must 'lose' a war. What they don't seem to comprehend is that there's only "win-win" or "lose-lose" in social dynamics. War is the most obvious. Nobody "wins" a war. Everyone loses in a war. Nonetheless, we're totally awash in the false meme of "win the war." The GOP has gone MAD ... Mutually Assured Destruction. Their failure to comprehend the underlying tenet of MAD during the Cold War (that war is "lose-lose" led the to adopt it as a "good idea" and declare wars on every social front -- reproduction, civil rights, economics, and even voting. (Yes, Voter ID is just one more example.)
Profile Information
Gender: MaleHometown: Body in Michigan - Heart in California
Home country: Born in USA ... Reborn in Tahiti
Current location: Right here, under my hat
Member since: 2002
Number of posts: 71,611
