90% AIG Bonus Tax Is Wrong—Taxes Are Not A Punishment

The 90% tax on AIG bonuses passed by the U.S. House of Representatives yesterday is  wrong.

Taxes are not a punishment. It is an honor to pay taxes in a free society.

If government can retroactively tax one group of people it does not like at a 90% rate, it will be able to do the same to some other group down the line. 

Progressive taxation, where the wealthy pay more because they can afford more, is fair and just. It is how we pay the expenses required to maintain society.

Taxes as a punishment are an injustice. Such taxes are step towards repressive government.

Shamefully, 85 of 172 Republicans in the House voted for this measure. They talk a lot about oppressive taxes and intrusive government. Yet on one of the few times these often-paranoid notions have merit, they run like cowards.         

If a criminal act has occurred with these bonuses, then prosecute.

If the bonuses are wrong, as they are, take steps to stop them from happening again.

But don’t punish people who engaged in legal acts with a measure that could lead to attacks on political dissenters or some other controversial or unpopular group at some later time.

I Thought Republicans Were For Rallying Around Our President In Time Of Crisis

I thought Republicans believed that in a time of crisis all Americans should rally around our President. I can recall Republicans who said we had to get behind George W. Bush and all his wars so we could avenge the attacks of September 11, 2001. I might even be able to recall suggestions—subtle and otherwise—that people who did not support George W. Bush were not fully loyal.  

Well—This does not seem to be the case for Republicans anymore as President Barack H. Obama works to fight our economic crisis. Where is the Republican message of “country first” that John McCain kept pushing at us for all those months?

I guess supporting our President in these hard times for our nation is not as important as the Republican religion of tax cuts as the cure to every ill, and the Republican fear that a government that helps people will show a path outside of ceaseless brutal competition with each other.

Patriotism is sitautional with Republicans in Congress. That is if loyalty to the nation is what motivated them in the first place after September 11. Maybe what they saw was Karl Rove’s vision of a permanent Republican majority in a nation always afraid of another terrorist attack.

Barack Obama should not get everything he wants just because he says so. The Democratic majorities in Congress must be independent in a way that the previous Republican majorities were not. Just don’t expect much constructive input from Republicans. Whatever it is that truly moves them, the good of the nation is not so high on the list.

If Rick Warren Wants To Offer Prayers As We Nationalize The Economy—Then All The Better!

Some on my side of the ideological aisle are not pleased that right wing mega-preacher Rick Warren (above)  will be giving an invocation at Barack Obama’s inauguration.

All I can say is this—

If three or four years ago you had told me that Rick Warren would be offering up a few words at the Presidential Inauguration of Barack Hussein Obama, while at the same time we might soon be considering an 850 billion dollar government stimulus package, and, in effect, partially nationalizing a fair portion of the American economy——

Well, I would have told you that would be one damned good day that I didn’t imagine I’d ever really live to see.  

Right on Pastor Rick! I’m happy to have you offering blessings for the liberal dream of an economically interventionist government beyond our wildest hopes of recent years.