Meghan McCain did a brave thing a few
weeks ago. She called Karl Rove a “Bond Villain.” And it is
true, especially for her family. It was his plan to smear Senator
McCain by a whispering campaign with leaflets that McCain fathered an
illegitimate black child, which was completely untrue. This tactic
along with others showed “the
battle between Bush and McCain for South Carolina has entered
American political lore as one of the nastiest, dirtiest, and most
brutal ever.” It is good for the country that his time is
over. For at least four years. In the world of James Bond there is
always another villain and there are those in reality and just like
the real villain Rove, is is Grover Norquist. Or if you like, the
Wizard of OZ, with nothing but a silver tongue and a flashy show that
sounds great to Republicans.
This is the guy who makes politicians
sign “suicide pacts” to NEVER EVER vote to raise taxes. Oh sure,
that makes total sense when we have a huge debt and deficit and let's
just cut the government spending and that will fix everything...NOT!
Not even close.
Lets take a look at the person who has
had the GOP by the short and curlies. He went to Harvard – and
got an MBA! Wow, according to Harvard, he is a master of business.
Does he have a degree in Economics or Political Science? Nope. Has
he ran for office? Nope. He is the head lobbyist and founder for
Americans for Tax Reform. That is it. Yet he has the whole GOP
doing anything and everything to not raise taxes on the top 2% of
earners in this country. And guess who is paying Grover's salary?
They
happen to be billionaires.
If ANYONE can afford a tax hike it is
the top 2%. They are the ultimate example of the American dream.
Shouldn't that dream, like our freedom have to come at a cost? The
cost of World War II got us fully out of the Great Depression and
boosted our economy to some of the best days for our country. Maybe
that is why people get nostalgic for the 1950's. It is not for the
oppression of women and minorities, but for the feeling of optimism
we had because our economy was kicking butt. What was the tax rate
for the top earners?
It was 91%, today it is 34.5%. Back then it was their PATRIOTIC
DUTY to pay taxes. President Eisenhower made them proud to pay for
their American dream. Now they seem to think the dream is free.
Especially people like Mitt Romney who only get income from dividends
and only pay about 15% in taxes. Back
in the 1950s it was between 34 and 55% depending upon how rich you
were.
I am not advocating returning to those
huge tax rates. Just to return to the Clinton Era tax rates. Which
would be 39% for the top earners, and an increase to say at least 20%
on dividends. It just makes sense.
You can listen to Mr. Norquist
pontificate all day long about how raising taxes ruined Gorge H.W.
Bush's chance at reelection, even though I think his move helped us
to have a wonderful 1990's. You can hear him blab on and on about
spending cuts, even when he will not say that those spending cuts
will put people out of work and increase our unemployment rate. That
will not help our economy.
This man is a hot air balloon of
reasons for rich people to feel better about not paying taxes. Mr.
Norquist and Karl Rove are the Bond villains to most Americans.
Heck, Mr. Norquist even sounds like a Bond villain when he says:
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