Every structure has a foundation which sustains it. With liberals, this foundation is class warfare. The recent cries to “tax the rich” to solve our economic problems are a case in point. Current tax rates are high enough so that raising them more stalls growth and produces less revenue. This is not an opinion, it is a proven fact. Yet they keep pounding the drum, pandering to one of the basest of human emotions: envy.
In the 17th century, they used to put leeches on their sick patients to suck out the “evil humors” in the blood. If the patient died, they bemoaned the fact and reasoned that they should have used even more leeches. Sadly, reasoning such as this still prevails when it comes to taxes.
Remember over two years ago, the Obama administration telling us unemployment would rocket above 8 percent if we did NOT pass the stimulus package? This is the same group that now wants to tax ourselves into prosperity. We do not need to see any more incompetence from this group to see that liberalism has been a colossal failure. Our problems are a result of excessive liberalism over the years promoted by Democrats and many establishment Republicans. It’s funny to see them call tea party advocates “extreme” while denying that a $15 trillion debt is extreme.
We need more conservatism, and the tea party is the only hope of getting it.
Steve Ball
Gilbert
Dale Whiting posted at 10:10 am on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
Steve, Steve, Steve,
May I infer from your letter that you think of yourself as being a conservative? You might not be one. I am a conservative. I have studied conservatism. Conseratism is founded upon certain principles, not issues. When those principles are applied to issues, the applicator is a conservative. Yet recognizing that results may vary from differences between applicators, the true conservative is not confused, but appreciative of those differences, is pleased with the spread of results and is more than willing to forge a compromise. And yes, Obama has conservative underpinnings in his thought processes.
From its inception, federal taxation policy has always taxed the "rich" at a rate higher than those who are not rich. We call this a "progressive" tax code. And since liberals are calling themselves progressives these days, I suppose you object to a "progressive tax code." So please tell us. What uniform tax rate would you desire, zero? Remember, a conservative and very wealthy invester, Warren Buffett, calls for higher taxes on the rich. As a percentabe of gross income, his secretary pays more taxes than does Warren, at least according to him!
Yes, "We need more conservatism," but the tea party is a far cry from conservatism.
dustbowl11 posted at 12:25 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
Warren Buffett also has a famous quote about class warfare." There's class warfare,all right, but its my class, the rich class, that's making war and we're winning."By the way, where are those jobs that the rich class are supposed to be creating? China?Indonesia? And just saying "uncertainty" over and over again doesn't let them off the hook.Certainty in business only occurs in Communist nations.
Accuracy posted at 5:38 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
Steve Ball wrote: “We need more conservatism, and the tea party is the only hope of getting it.”
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The Tea Party is a broad cross-section of freedom-loving Americans who care deeply about their country and who contribute their time, energy and resources to make a difference.
Whatever you may think of the Tea Party movement, you have to admit that they have made some pretty darned “Liberal” enemies. Its Conservative members in the U.S. House of Representatives have been brilliant at pushing through a deal that meets their ideological requirements.
The Tea Party conservatism movement continues to grow by leaps and bounds in spite of being despised by the “Liberals”.
gilbertgrandma posted at 7:12 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
Dale, Dale, Dale - Warren Buffet is not a conservative (he supported Obama), and neither are you...........
Slabside posted at 8:15 pm on Wed, Aug 10, 2011.
Steve, good letter and spot on.
@Captain Neo-Con "I am a conservative." BWA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA!!!!
wdgnas posted at 4:47 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
wasn't 40% of the stimulus package tax cuts, is that the part of the stimulus package that failed?
Dale Whiting posted at 7:30 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
gilbertgrandma,
One does not measure one's political phylosophy by a single vote or a single candidate sponsored. One measures one's political phylosophy by how they think, and in particular what fundamental principles they apply to the issues. Read up on Russell Kirk's 6 principles of conservative thought. You might not be a conservative, yourself. My article on Kirk was printed months ago in this paper.
Today, so called conservative thinkers focus not on principles but on issues. And in this issue focused way of thinking and judging, they become narrow minded, even tunnel vision obstructed. Those of us who value conservative principles, the principles which guided Barry Goldwater, William F. Buckley, Jr. and Russell Kirk, easily saw in the writings of one democratic candidate for President, his underlying conservative principles. Those narrow minded liberals who supported him are now agast at his action, as are those narrow minded neo-cons whose vision is tunnel obstructed.
How is the fog in Gilbert? Have you read even one of Obama's books? Thought not! We know Slabside does not read!
Rodini posted at 8:42 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
What a JOKE....how quickly they forget that almost the entire deficit we have currently was run up by Reagan, George and Daddy Bush.
And it was Clinton, a despicable, good for nothing, down right rotten to the core "Liberal" who raised taxes, balanced the budget and reduced the deficit.
THESE ARE FACTS FOLKS!!!
Do these people ever actually check the facts before they sit down in front of their computers and begin typing such nonsense??
Check out these words from Bruce Bartlett, former policy advisor to Daddy Bush and the great Reagan himself: "The Bush tax cuts REDUCED revenues by $2.9 trillion between 2001 and 2011 and if you add in the interest costs, those tax cuts actually cost us $3.2 trillion and that's 27% of the fiscal deterioration since 2001.
And he notes that economic growth averaged less than 2% throughout the Bush presidency compared to over 4% throughout the Clinton presidency, after the top tax rate was raised back up to 39.6%.
These comments are from A CONSERVATIVE...one who's willing to tell Americans the TRUTH....for a change!
So please pay attention Republicans, and Please...check the facts before you make yourselves look like ......., ok?
Accuracy posted at 10:10 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
Dale Whiting posted: “Have you read even one of Obama's books?”
From “Dreams from My Father: A Story of Race and Inheritance”, the autobiographical narrative book by Barack Hussein Obama, published in 1995 – to politician Obama’s new book, “The Audacity of Hope” – Dale sure idealizes Obama and his life stories.
Dale Whiting posted at 11:06 am on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
Accuracy,
Not idealize! You make it sound as if I worship him and the very ground upon which he walks. No, I am quite dissapointed with how Obama is managing Iraq, Afghanistan and other related issues. But I do understand him, his approach to managing disputes, and his general outlook on life. He is a pragmatist. Hopefully he will step forward on some of the issues which threaten us today. Should he do so, he might just get re-elected.Can't say any of the Republican Candidates have anything more to offer.
Now are you going to get me your e-mail address so we can compare facts on the Pioneer Park Steam Locomotive? Just send an e-mail to Bob Romantic asking him to forward the e-mail over to me. I rear that once we have sorted all of this out there will be an interesting story for Bob to print.
Accuracy posted at 2:56 pm on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
Concerning Barack Obama’s books . . . Dale Whiting posted: “You make it sound as if I worship him and the very ground upon which he walks. No, I am quite dissapointed with how Obama is managing Iraq, Afghanistan and other related issues”.
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Disappointed??
Dale only say that to cover up the fact that he favors Obama over any living Conservative Republican, today . . . And especially all of those that he calls “Neo-Cons.”
Arizona Willie posted at 4:11 pm on Thu, Aug 11, 2011.
All the rabid anti-government anti-tax people should be given first class tickets ( in exchange for waving their American citizenship ) to Zimbabwe or the Sudan. Places where there is no effective government and they can't collect taxes because there is nothing but anarchy.
That is exactly the future they propose for the U.S. so they should have no objection to being ex-patriated to countries with no government or tax collectors.
VofReason posted at 12:53 pm on Fri, Aug 12, 2011.
If it walks like a duck and quakes like a looney Liberal, it is a looney liberal. See we, evidently different then our Looney duck friend ,"conservatives" don't really see how anything this one term Liberal King has done to improve anything. In fact, we think that the more money the government takes in taxes, it just takes more money out of our pocket and perpetuates the titans of profitable industry like the Post office and Amtrack.
Rodini posted at 10:50 am on Sat, Aug 13, 2011.
Read this please:
In a measured tone, the NYT article effectively makes clear that when it comes to economic policy, Republicans plainly have no idea what they’re talking about.
The boasts of Congressional Republicans about their cost-cutting victories are ringing hollow to some well-known economists, financial analysts and corporate leaders, including some Republicans, who are expressing increasing alarm over Washington’s new austerity and antitax orthodoxy.
Their critiques have grown sharper since last week, when President Obama signed his deficit reduction deal with Republicans and, a few days later, when Standard & Poor’s downgraded the credit rating of the United States.
But even before that, macroeconomists and private sector forecasters were warning that the direction in which the new House Republican majority had pushed the White House and Congress this year — for immediate spending cuts, no further stimulus measures and no tax increases, ever — was wrong for addressing the nation’s two main ills, a weak economy now and projections of unsustainably high federal debt in coming years.
Instead, these critics say, Washington should be focusing on stimulating the economy in the near term to induce people to spend money and create jobs, while settling on a long-term plan for spending cuts and tax increases to take effect only after the economy recovers.
Republicans respond to all of this by … not caring at all. Some may want a weaker economy on purpose, some are too blinded by ideology to consider objective information, some aren’t terribly bright, and some, as David Brooks recently noted, simply “do not accept the legitimacy of scholars and intellectual authorities.”
But the bottom line remains the same: nearly everyone who understands economic policy at any level is convinced Republicans — in Congress and on the presidential campaign trail — are spewing gibberish. And in this case, “nearly everyone” includes veterans of the Reagan and Bush administrations, making opposition to right-wing Tea Party nonsense bipartisan.
Also note the scope of the concerns. Current GOP officials aren’t just wrong about stimulus, the timing of budget cuts, taxes, debt reduction, or monetary policy — they’re wrong about all of them at the same time.
In fairness, the article does note one economist — Stanford’s John Taylor — who’s willing to defend the Republican line (as he always does, regardless of merit). But to appreciate the credibility of the GOP’s go-to economist, swing by Krugman’s blog and type Taylor’s name into the search engine.
Regardless, it’s an important article about the nation’s most pressing crisis. Take the time to read it, save it, and send it around.
By Steve Benen
Dale Whiting posted at 5:44 pm on Sat, Aug 13, 2011.
Result of Iowa Straw Poll - Our need for more conservatives!
Coming in first - Michelle Bachmann - in second - Ron Paul. For those who know me personally [and that is no one on this site] I have been a Ron Paul supporter for years. He may appear to be a kook at times, but he is a consistently conservative kook, one who applies true conservative principles to all of the issues he addresses.
Bachmann applies conservatism like most people apply mayonaise to a sandwich, some times thinly, some times thickly, most of the time without much forethought.
Let's see what Bachmann and Perry generate. Should be interesting.