CROSSVILLE —
The outcome of the 2012 election was already foreshadowed in the two political conventions. The delegates who gathered on the floor of the Republican convention in Tampa were overwhelmingly white, and it was later estimated that 88 percent of the voters supporting Romney were white. The delegates on the floor of the Democratic convention in Charlotte, in contrast, came from a large variety of backgrounds, including African-American and Hispanic-American.
The surprise showed up on election evening. It brought to light a new American majority: not only rainbow-colored but also younger, more tolerant, and more sensitive to gender concerns. Voters were able to trump the appalling ignorance of a number of older white male candidates who wanted to continue colonizing women and controlling their uterus. They also passed several proposals on behalf of marriage equality. The election revealed in a number of interesting ways our nation's shifting political and social landscape.
The most important post-election problem confronting Democrats and Republicans now, however, is our broken economic system and our growing class divide. This will be the big challenge about whether the Democrats and Republicans can work together for our nation's common welfare. As columnist Bob Herbert has commented, "I think the Republican Party is defined, and I think accurately defined, as a party that looks out for the interests of the very wealthy. The Democratic Party less so, but I think they look out for the interests of the wealthy, too, before they look out for the interests of working Americans."
This issue will become especially important as Congress discusses the budget implications of the impending "fiscal cliff." According to Senator Bernie Sanders, last month the top eighty U.S. CEOs issued a statement to Congress pleading for a deficit reduction plan that would include cuts to Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid, and a decrease in taxes "for the top 2 percent." Many of these CEOs have evaded at least $34.5 billion in taxes through more than 600 subsidiaries in the Cayman Islands and other offshore tax havens since 2008. Roughly a dozen of their companies did not pay federal income taxes at all in recent years, and some even received an additional $6.4 billion in tax refunds from the IRS since 2008.
The question of taxes is one of the major justice issues before our nation today. The 16th Amendment to our Constitution that gives Congress the power to collect taxes on incomes was designed not only to raise revenue but to target excessively concentrated wealth. Theodore Roosevelt argued that American civilization must not be "the civilization of a mere plutocracy, a banking-house, Wall-Street-syndicate civilization." He attacked the "malefactors of great wealth" who imperiled the Republic through their huge economic and political influence.
One way to deal with this problem would be to reverse what a succession of Republican administrations has done to lower the marginal tax rate on the wealthiest Americans: from 90 percent under President Eisenhower to 70 percent under President Nixon, to 50 percent under President Reagan, to 35 percent under President George W. Bush. The Congressional Research Service, in a report issued in September, found that tax cuts for the rich spurred income inequality but not economic or job growth. The Republicans will be especially challenged in this area because most of them have taken the Grover Norquist pledge not to increase taxes for the rich.
Hopefully November will bring us another beneficial surprise.
Opinion
LION AND THE LAMB: The November surprise
- Opinion
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LION AND THE LAMB: More than meets the eye
It was a quiet Saturday afternoon, and my wife Sheral suggested I join her on a shopping trip. In Crossville Sheral went inside a store and I stayed outside looking at the bargain specials. My mind was in neutral, so I almost missed the little boy’s question. He was about seven or eight, evidently had just seen his first Amish family, and they had seemed very strange to him.
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WE THE PEOPLE: No time to govern
Bob Dole’s tribute to George McGovern at the time of his death last year was both beautiful and touching. Speaking of the friendship they shared and the work they did together during their time in the Senate and later in retirement, Dole said McGovern “was one of the finest public servants I ever had the privilege to know.” He went on to say that they knew what they had in common was far more important than their different political philosophies.
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TIDBITS: Be wary of home improvement shows
Sometimes I think home improvement stores need a screening tool of some sort, perhaps some kind of licensing or reference check. For example, before one can walk in and buy that handy dandy table saw, they need three people to vouch that they aren’t likely to cut off a bodily appendage.
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STUMPTALK: Obama’s Benghazi betrayal
“Betrayal” is an ugly word. “To fail or desert especially in a time of need.” Those who pay attention to the actions of Obama are justified in saying we have been betrayed. Think about the IRS and DOJ debacles. Clearly our ambassador and his staff at the Benghazi consulate were betrayed, deserted in their time of mortal need. Obama allowed them to be murdered.
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Lion and the Lamb: When schools go beyond the three Rs
The three Rs, reading, ‘riting and ‘rithmetic, have always been at the foundation of education in Cumberland County. Recently, however, a fourth R has been added — religion. In permission was granted representatives of The Gideons International to distribute Bibles to fifth-graders in the Brown Elementary School in Crossville, and this took place April 11.
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We the People: Your vote — use it or lose it
A powerful faction within the Republican Party is determined to downsize our federal government. They want to reshape programs that originated to protect common folks like us.
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Stumptalk: The elephant in the room
I recently saw video footage of the president surrounded by the heads of all the services; they had assembled to address the continuing and scandalous problem of sexual harassment in the armed forces. The elephant in the room, of course, was young women in the military serving in close quarters with young men.
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We the People: Reality check, anyone?
Harry Truman had a birthday anniversary in early May. Harry was proud of being from the “show me” state. Republicans who aspire to stop all progress and set the clock back should take a lesson from Truman. He did something besides complain and obstruct progress.
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The Lion and the Lamb: The devil and the IRS
National news these past several weeks has focused on a scandal in the Internal Revenue Service. IRS agents have been targeting Tea Party and other conservative groups for additional scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status. As this story developed over the past several weeks, however, it has become apparent that the IRS problem is much greater than the complaints raised by the Tea Party.
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Tidbits: What's in a name?
Being born in the time before routine ultrasounds, my parents thought I was going to be a boy. I'm not sure if mom was carrying high or low, or if the wedding ring on a string went one way or the other, or what other old wives tale was used to determine I would be a he rather than a she, but that's what they thought and that's how they prepared.
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