There have been times in the past several years, what with the Newt and the Spitzer and Gary Condit and Bill (not to mention Sam Adams), that I have despaired of ever reading anything more distasteful and hypocritical than the ever-popular political sex scandal.
In the interest of being an adult (whatever that means), I have been working on not caring about the private lives of our elected leaders. Everybody’s doing it, apparently, anyway, so sexual propriety would seem to be an unfair standard.
Fine, let’s turn to other matters. Public matters. Monetary matters. Say, tax matters. It’s pretty embarrassing (at least I hope they have the decency to be ashamed) that three of Obama’s appointees were delinquent in their taxes.
Aren’t these the people who, as members of that great Democratic party, like to tell us to suck it up and happily pay our taxes for the greater good? Wait, let me see if I can find a real quote on that.
How about:
“Taxes are what you pay to be an American” — like “membership fees,” says Democratic language guru George Lakoff.
. . . Joe Biden insisted that paying your taxes is a patriotic duty. No, scratch that. He said that supporting a tax hike was the American thing to do. “It’s time to be patriotic,” he told America’s putative tax slackers. . . . [then] . . . . Forget patriotism, insisted Joe, paying higher taxes is a religious obligation.
“Make no mistake, tax cheaters cheat us all, and the IRS should enforce our laws to the letter.” That Democrat was then-Sen. Tom Daschle in 1998. (From the LATimes today)
I, like you, was moved on inauguration day. I, too, cried tears of relief and joy and hope when a black man became president of the United States of America.
And then I was sad three days later when he removed the ban on taxpayer money funding international abortions.
How could they use taxpayer money to fund something overseas that we do not allow here?
Maybe because they aren’t the ones paying the taxes.
Jane
p.s. Guess I won’t be needing Turbo Tax this year, after all. If the Secretary of the Treasury (and overseer of the IRS) cannot figure out his taxes, how on earth could a housewife in Utah be expected to understand them?
Tags: taxes
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So true, love the commentary on our democratic party and the hypocrisy there.
After being independently employed for several years and paying close to 50% of my income in taxes I am horrified by the situation. Nothing is more agonizing than working for yourself, you can’t get health insurance (because, Oh my, you had bronchitis 4 years ago and so nobody will insure you) AND the government is taking almost everything you make. Trust me, if I thought the IRS wouldn’t come after me I wouldn’t pay my taxes either – where can I get Daschle’s CPA?
I am so angry at these people I’m at the point of tears!!! No haiku today, just angry fingers pounding away on my keyboard! How could they do this to us… how dare they? Walk in my shoes, or yours, or any average American, THEN have the guts to blatantly do everything you can to get out of paying taxes. Fair is fair, and I’m sick to death of the middle class bearing the brunt of the tax burden in America! Take any high-income person out there… Bill Clinton for example… and compare his 2008 income vs. taxes paid to MY 2008 income vs. taxes paid. I’m positive it will be disproportionate! I’d bet my entire 2009 income on that!
Arrgggh so frustrated.
Amen!!!!
I just noticed your “stay on topic”. Sorry I didn’t notice that before. I am embarrassed to admit this but I have refused to watch the news since…oh, a couple days after November 7 or whatever(I didn’t even watch any of the inauguration). I know I should be more informed, and I used to be interested in finding out what was going on in politics. But I can’t handle it. I am openly admitting that I am one of those that is going on with life pretending that everything is fine with the world. If I don’t I get stressed and depressed and overwhelmed because so many things just, well, suck. So I did read this but now I’m going to forget about it because otherwise I might start to cry. Either that or start banging my head against the wall. That said, I agree with you completely.
Perfectly put. I couldn’t have said it better myself. . . really, that’s why I come here!
Okay, we’re democrats, and we want to chime in here if for nothing else than to mix things up and address a few of the comments. Three points:
1. It’s probably a hasty generalization to accuse democrats in general of not paying taxes when we’re talking about three of Obama’s nominees. We’re democrats. We pay taxes. Most democrats do.
2. It’s easy to get mad at the party in power, but it’s important to remember that republicans are no less hypocritical than the democrats. If we scoured the tax records of prominent republicans, would they all emerge squeaky clean? We doubt it, so is it really fair to condemn this issue as a problem of the democratic party’s? It’s convenient to claim that proportionally rich democrats pay less taxes than we middle-classers, but if that’s true, you can bet wealthy republicans are paying less than us too.
3. To avoid political anger, maybe it’s important to see the good in American politics and not merely the corruption. Since taking office, Obama has signed executive orders to stop torture and close Guantanamo Bay — probably moral and good choices (though we know some folks disagree with us on this). He’s extended health insurance to 4 million children — also, a good thing since these children lack health insurance through no fault of their own. He’s limited executive pay of companies that accept government stimulus money (which makes sense – if you need taxpayer money to keep from going out of business, stop paying yourself millions. Maybe you could even do that before you ask for government money).
Sure, Obama’s not going to get everything right. We’re not thrilled about funding abortions, but it’s not all doom and gloom. The world probably won’t end because democrats are in power.
Are you sure? (about the world ending, I mean — JUST KIDDING; if the world ends, I’m sure we’ll all be responsible to some degree or another).
Yes, I am absolutely sure that you’re right that Republican hypocrisy matches Democrat. (Which was one reason I mentioned Newt and Spitzer — anything more hypocritical than those two *&^$% sleazebags is hard to imagine).
But Obama thinking it didn’t matter that his appointees (one of whom oversees the tax department) were negligent about their taxes (it seems he knew, after the extensive vetting, but he just didn’t think it was significant). That’s yucky too.
It’s kind of weird that the Republicans are the “family values” guys — when many Democrats put Republicans’ “family values” to shame. Just as it’s bizarre for the party that wants us to “do our duty” tax-wise flaunting non-compliance.
On Guantanamo — where’s it going to go? The prison and the detainees? Which state wants to have these suspected terrorists in their backyard? I’ll be really interested to see how that plays out.
And on the abortions, Obama said he wanted to move past the “stale and fruitless debate.” Dude, he doesn’t get to decide that since he is the one with the power that we should all the sudden stop debating the issue, and that debate itself is bad. That’s just a bit disingenuous. (Especially coming from a great debator).
(I appreciate you commenting! It’s good to hear another side).
Enh. I guess that should be “your commenting.” Kinda tricky responding to an English professor.
This is going to sound horrible and selfish. I’m just warning you. Plus I can barely watch the news or read anything political because it is just too disheartening so I’m probably pretty misinformed on most things.
I think the abortion funding was a ridiculous first move (I know it wasn’t the first of the first, but it was close enough). I don’t understand enough reasoning behind it, but it is VERY disappointing. Can’t we use federal funding for something useful in our own country and leave infanticide to someone else?
Gitmo? I just don’t know what this will do to improve the state of our country. I know many ppl are against it and I don’t know exactly where to stand, but like you said, where are these people going to go? These criminals? Once again, money that could go to something else.
No party is perfect on their taxes, but I don’t get any sense of “I’m more of an American because I pay my taxes”. Do I get anything extra out of it? A special “True American” bumper sticker? Not really. i get to pay even more for people out there who DON’T pay taxes. ARG. This is why I can’t deal with news right now.
P.S. I thought you weren’t a true American if you didn’t support the war. Weird how the definition of American changes based on the party/people in office.
I thought this was a great post so I feel compelled to comment even if I am late-coming. The point you make about the tax-evading nominees is important bc it is not to illustrate that Democrats are not paying taxes like Republicans, but only to express disappointment that such people would be nominated to important offices. There are plenty of tax-compliant Dems to choose from, so why choose those people?
As for Obama providing health care to kids who didn’t have it before, I have to ask: what about Medicaid? The people I know who don’t have medical insurance do so bc they would rather spend money on other things. Those who truly do not have the money are eligible for Medicaid or Medicare. The same fact dispute problem exists with the allegations of torture (I believe that even the NYT admits that there were only two instances of water boarding during the entire War on Terror) and Gitmo (and again, Obama has yet to say what will happen to the detainees). The newly authorized use of federal funds for foreign abortions is disgusting, but not at all surprising. I am waiting for this Agent of Compromise to strike again with the bill he promised to sign preventing states from creating any restrictions on abortion.
Thanks for commenting. (I read all the comments, no matter how “late”
).
Completely agree with you on the Medicaid issue. I know people in my parent’s neighborhood (rather fancy) who can’t “afford” insurance. This was when my husband and I first returned to the states and paid for COBRA for 6 months when his job paid 33 w/ no benefits. We really couldn’t “afford” $500 a month, but we chose to.
And the promised FOCA — just astoundingly awful.
This conversation may be over and perhaps no one will ever read this, but I’d like to address the responses to my initial comment (boy, it’s hard to be in the minority sometimes). We’ve branched pretty far from the original post, so I’ll likely jump all over the place, but each point I make will be in response to something someone else has said. This comment may be long, but I’m the only one on the “other side,” so let’s just pretend there are five people on the “other side,” and I’m posting for all of them.
1. Regarding children and insurance, Alexandra points out, “The people I know who don’t have medical insurance do so bc they would rather spend money on other things.” Let’s suppose this is true of most people without insurance (which I don’t, but I’ll give this point away). Even if it is, should we allow children to go without healthcare because their parents made bad choices? I for one, am uncomfortable with this suggestion. I’m glad most parents make the choice to insure their children, but should the children who aren’t so fortunate really suffer the sins of their parents? The recently signed law can save children from the bad decisions of mom and dad, to which I say, “groovy.” (Clearly, I’m a hippie.)
2. Regarding Jane’s comment that Obama has decided “debate itself is bad,” I respectfully disagree. Obama doesn’t believe that debate is bad. He’s called the abortion debate “stale and fruitless,” and he’s right. Anyone who’s graded hundreds of freshman essays on abortion (which, sadly, I have) can tell you that the abortion debate is stale and fruitless. The involved parties are unwilling to listen or compromise because they both claim moral superiority. The arguments being made today in this arena are the same ones that were being made 30 years ago. Replaying these arguments will get us nowhere, and this is Obama’s point – not that we should stop debating, but that we should move the debate in a productive direction by focusing on areas where we have shared values – like on how to lower the number of unwanted pregnancies. Debate, Obama believes, is good. But the abortion debate isn’t a good debate because it’s not real debate – it’s just angry argument.
3. Jane, Alexandra, and Julia all question closing Guantanamo because determining where to send the detainees is a difficult question. True, but this is a small problem in comparison to the damage running Guantanamo has done to our country’s reputation (and realistically, most detainees will probably be sent to prisons throughout the US or in their home countries, and their situations will be examined on a case-by-case basis – this may not be as complex as we think). We can’t allow the continued deprivation of basic human right’s to any of America’s prisoners, and while there may have been only two instances of waterboarding at Gitmo, there have been many, many more instances of torture and deprivation of basic human rights than the two waterboarding cases Alexandra referenced – see this article and this article for proof. After all, waterboarding is not the only form of torture. Closing Gitmo is a strong, symbolic step toward repairing America’s image as the world leader in human rights.
Finally, I’d like to re-emphasize my original point that no one is 100% right or 100% wrong – Obama included. I bristle when I see people eager to defend every one of Obama’s actions, and I also bristle when I see people eager to criticize every one of them (and often the decisions to criticize/defend seem to have been made long before Obama even took office). Already, people seem eager to give Obama his final grade and make it either an A or an F. The reality is that Obama is less than three weeks into his four-year term, and there are a lot of grades in between A and F. Perhaps we should hold off on absolute defense/absolute condemnation for at least another week . . . or two.
Again, sorry for the long post, but remember — I’m writing for five people.
Thank you again, Josh. You make good points and I value your opinions.
1. Of course the kids of negligent or honestly-striving parents shouldn’t suffer, but this is why welfare programs are always problematic — because “government” is a poor judge of intent, aptitude, and ability, all of which are subjective measures. I once wrote a post called “On self-sufficiency, or, How I almost went on WIC.” It’s probably horribly self-righteous, but I have to tell you that I was appalled at how easy it was/would have been for me to get WIC benefits, easy in terms of the level of scrutiny and easy in terms of overly-generous qualification levels (we didn’t truly, honestly NEED it). I don’t know how to get around this. I think many churches and charities do a much better job of administering welfare. If only there were a way to implement these superior programs.
2. I think Obama authorizing overseas what is outlawed here, and the proposed FOCA legislation, does say he wants to stop debating abortion. Some people are willing to discuss abortion without the rhetoric. (But I don’t know how to bring that sort of discussion to the public arena.)
3. Gitmo. Meh. I say we bomb the place and get it over with. Or would that be a violation of the Geneva Conventions?
I heard a discussion about the “rules of war” on NPR a few weeks ago, and then was extremely frustrated when I couldn’t find it online. It was crazy — when you start talking in logistical terms about how much civilian collateral damage is acceptable, etc (this was in regards to the recent Gaza conflicts), it’s just insane. These are human beings we’re talking about. People who might be dead tomorrow because some general somewhere decides that the target they live near is worth it.
Anyway, I’m willing to give Obama a few more weeks. I feel bad for the guy. He’s starting to sound a little aggrieved stumping for the stimulus plan. I wonder if being president is harder than he thought, or if it’s exactly what he expected. I will say I don’t miss the Bush malapropisms (well, I do, but only for humor’s sake).
Jane,
As always, you’re comments are insightful, cogent, and funny. Thanks for the opportunity to speak my mind.