It is with much sadness that I note the passing of one of literature’s modern-era masters. Mr. Ray Bradbury passed away yesterday at the age of 91. He will be greatly missed.
Category Archives: Opinion Piece
Something Missed That Way Goes
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Filed under Author, Books, Opinion Piece
Lest We Forget—No, It’s Not National Barbecue Day
We seem as a society to forget what this weekend really commemorates. Memorial Day weekend does not mark the unofficial beginning of Summer, the end of the school year, or the weekend of the Indianapolis 500. It’s not about throwing Frisbees at the beach, flipping burgers, and downing a few cold ones.
And, no, we do not on this day thank a veteran. That is not what today is about, as we veterans should solemnly remind those who do thank us on Memorial Day. Today is a day of remembrance—remembering those who fell defending this nation and her allies during times of armed conflict. Thank a veteran on Veterans Day (formerly Armistice Day), but spend today remembering our fallen comrades in arms.
Those who followed my blogs on our most recent cruise foray will recall that we spent some time in the cool, damp drizzle at a cemetery in Normandy, France. That would be the Normandy American Cemetery and Memorial. It was a very moving experience, and I saw grown men reduced to quivering lips and teary eyes that day. If you’ve served in uniform then tears come easily while casting eyes upon this site. If you lost a friend or loved one who fell while in uniform, those tears come even easier.
This country has been at war now for the worst part of eleven years. We recently ended our direct military involvement in one war that did not serve our national interests, and we’re winding down another that did.
During this time, and for the first time in the history of this republic, we at home were not asked to make the sacrifices that other wartime generations have been called upon to make. Instead, we allowed politicians to tell us to take tax cuts, go shopping, and leave the fighting to an all-volunteer military force. We acquiesced to that relatively painless strategy, and left it to future generations to pick up the tab for our collective acts of irresponsibility. Meanwhile, we have allowed our political leaders to slash the benefits and much needed post-combat services of those who did volunteer, leaving them to cope on their own with injuries both physical and mental.
It is for those decisions that both history and future generations will condemn and curse us.
As you look over that sea of Crosses and Stars of David below, be grateful for those who sacrificed everything. But be wary of those who never wore a uniform, who declare themselves to be “Great Americans,” and yet who continue to advocate cuts in support to the families of the fallen and the services to veterans—all the while demanding that no sacrifices be asked of those who stayed at home. There is truly no greatness in such a stand.
And there never will be.
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So Much for the Grover Norquist No-Tax Pledge
I try to refrain from politics in this blog, but this is one observation I simply must make:
My dear, beloved Republican Party is so out of touch now that it’s simply falling off a cliff. This is the party that said allowing the “temporary” Bush-era tax cuts to expire amounted to a tax increase. Increases cannot be allowed because the vast majority of legislators in the GOP have signed the now infamous Grover Norquist tax pledge, a pledge so stringently applied that even if there were an agreement requiring $10 in spending cuts for every $1 in additional tax revenue, pledge signers are required to reject it. You’ll recall that the lion’s share of those Bush-era tax cuts went to those in the upper income levels of society. Indeed, the higher up the economic food chain the greater the cut, not only in actual amount, but also percentage-wise as well.
Yet, you’ll notice that allowing the one tax cut that most benefits the working class to expire—the Social Security payroll tax reduction—has been met with not so much as a wimper from Mr. Norquist and his Americans for Tax Reform.
What lesson is one to take from all this? It’s elementary, my dear Watson. The lesson is that only tax cuts geared mostly to the wealthy are sacrosanct, while tax cuts primarily benefiting the middle class (all income up to $100,100 is fully taxable; any income between $100,101 and $10,000,000,000 or more is exempt—do the math on that one) are willingly being sacrificed in a game of brinkmanship without any compunction whatsoever.
If you make $100,100 or less, you’re about to have your taxes on 100% of you income increased by 2%. If you’re a millionaire, the vast majority of your income (everything above the cap of $100,100) is exempted from that increase.
Now consider this: if all income were subject to the Social Security payroll tax with no income cap, we could all be paying a significantly lower percentage to generate the same amount of revenue for Social Security—far lower in fact than the current 2% reduction affords the middle class. If the cap were lifted and the percentage were not lowered, then the much anticipated doomsday shortfall in the Social Security fund would be eliminated. Entirely. Probably forever, but at least well into the distant future.
This is fair? This makes sense on any level? I think not.
So, when you hear Grover Norquist and the House Republican leadership tell you that they’re fighting tax increases, remember the above. What they really mean is that they’re against any tax increases affecting those earning more than $100,100, and in all likelihood that ain’t you. That also goes for the Republican Governor of Wisconsin and those in Washington, D.C., who want only one specific segment of the middle class to take any tax hits—the ever unpopular government employee. And, yes, no matter how you frame it, if you’re taking more money out of someone’s pocket (even if you call it something innocuous and couch it in populist terms such “an increased retirement contribution” or a “freeze” during a time of inflation), then you have in fact raised someone’s taxes. But, again, this is a tax aimed at a segment of the middle class, so these proposed increases just do not count in Grover Norquist’s world.
Personally, I’m no longer buying this load. Come November, are you?
Filed under Opinion Piece
Decisions — Murder in Paradise
The Globe — Murder in Luxury
R. Doug Wicker — Author 