Friday, May 12, 2006
THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UGLY
The Militant Moderate has just this week observed the good, the bad, and the ugly in Oklahoma and American politics. Unfortunately, there is more bad and ugly than good about politics most of the time, and this past week has been no exception.
In Friday's edition of the Enid News, something good was quoted about Representative Mike Jackson. An official of the public employees association commended Jackson for answering mail and returning his phone calls about matters concerning state retirees. The Militant Moderate would like to add his own commendation, and that of retired educators and the Council of Retired College and University Presidents, to Jackson for the personal interest he has taken in retiree welfare and security.
Representative Jackson's attitude and his efforts have been one of the bright spots in state politics this session. Mark him down as GOOD. The House retirement laws committee chair, a member of the same political party, has been quoted as expressing no empathy for retirees, and saying that they knew what they were getting when they retired. Put Rep. Reynolds down as BAD.
While the nation drowns in deficits and accumulating debt, our congress was busily engaged in extending tax cuts for the rich on income derived from capital gains and stock dividends. How many of you own stocks outside your IRA or pension fund? How many of you buy and sell stocks and income property regularly? Only 5% of us have capital gains to report to IRS, and 14% declare dividend income. That $200 billion tax cut was just for the few. That's BAD.
Now, how about the UGLY? While racking up low ratings from the governed, falling down to 31% in one poll and 29% in another, Mr. Bush is busy pushing through the deficit budget bill with more tax cuts for the wealthy. In addition to his misdeeds at home and abroad, for five years he has done nothing to stop the increasing flow of illegal immigrants across our borders. He has refused to enforce existing laws, although he has sworn to do so. All of that is BAD, but for the really UGLY part -- news sources revealed this week that he has been illegally collecting a data bank on the phone calls of "tens of millions" of Americans. Most of us are in his data bank, and we don't even have Bin Laden's phone number. Now I wonder if that crank call the other night came from Al Quaida or the NSA?
Money has corrupted our politics. This is true in Oklahoma and nationally. More specifically, campaign money has corrupted our government. That is UGLY. Elected representatives are forced to raise money to run for office, and they become beholden to those who give. Businesses, professionals, the upper class, and corporations (indirectly) give big dollars to campaigns. Common people give little. This explains most of the tax cut proposals, doing away with the inheritance tax, and similar pecuniary efforts. Serving the source of campaign donations is not only UGLY, it is an EVIL in our political system.
Dr. Edwin E. Vineyard, AKA Militant Moderate
