I lived in a great country once. We put men on the moon; we built thousands of miles of interstate highways that are still the backbone of the infrastructure serving us today, without which our economy couldn't function. We fought wars, but we paid for them.
If we hadn't built those thousands of miles of interstate highways would you be building them now? How? We did all that, and more. And it was funded by higher, more progressive tax rates. Our generation did that. We did all that, and more. And it was funded by higher, more progressive tax rates. Our generation did that.
Todays generation will watch it all fall apart so they can have a few more dollars in their wallets. Greatness will elude today's generation. Continue the endless refrain. "Cut Spending! Cut Spending!" Cut the spending. Again: If our generation had refused to up the tax rates to pay for our wars, and hadn't built our infrastructure, including the thousands of miles of interstate highways essential to all of us, would yours be building them now?
You want to live in a great country again? Decide what its worth to you! Consider this age-old saying: you get what you pay for. I'm willing to pay more taxes and I'm not rich! The tax base is too small, the tax rates are too low, and pundits on the right have no new message. They just think they have to find more persuasive language. The message is never going to change. However eloquently stated, it's always the same: the ongoing search for the right words that will resonate with more people, trying to paint a superior moral justification for selfishness in a light that will make it more appealing to a larger number of people.
Meanwhile, too many people are just plain spoiled. Lower income people can spend hundreds of dollars a year on beer and cigarettes can't pay a couple hundred in taxes? I'm not just picking on rich people here. Reject the worldview and the ideology of people like McConnell and Boehner and Cantor and all the other tea party extremists who pledge to never raise taxes for any reason. This economy thrived with higher taxes for decades....not just on the rich, either! Every day when you drive to work, you're driving on roads and highways that those taxes put there. Don't tell me no jobs were created!
