What the GOP REALLY, really wants —- part 3

ACCUMULATION OF WEALTH AND INHERITANCE TAXES

Of course we all want our children to have it better than we did…we would like to be able to pass on some of the wealth we have accumulated…Where would our society be without cumulative wealth where you have to start from scratch with each new generation.

To be frank here, the reality of this is that cumulative wealth has a tendency to get out of hand. We have seen it happen throughout history where other great nations have had to face the same problem and it ended up destroying them…they brought about their own demise by not spreading the wealth around.

In order to prevent this from happening and at the very least slow down the process of decadence we have “Inheritance Taxes” which is a way of leveling the playing field somewhat. The concept is that meritocracy should play a more important role in the accumulation of wealth. We have all seen the offspring of obscenely wealthy people behave like boors and spoiled brats; that is one thing that a lot of money can provide the very rich: to have incorrigible, selfish and obnoxious brats. These grow up to be the inheritors of daddy’s big fortunes and just as they behaved as when they were children they will continue to do so when they are adults.

I think that a good example of this is the Koch brothers whose father was an ultra right wing conservative…a John Birch Society sympathizer even and left these two guys a sizeable fortune. They continued to be those spoiled brats and even had political ambition to go along with their great egos. One of them even tried to run as Vice Presidential candidate and went to the extent of minting gold coins with his likeness on them. His political ambitions were cut short but not his intent and so the Koch brothers went on to work behind the scenes, lurking in the shadows of anonymity to form “think tanks” and fund ultra-right wing conservative organizations that would eventually fulfill their agenda of a privileged oligarchy.

If you have noticed one of the more important initiatives coming from Republicans is the elimination of inheritance taxes or “DEATH TAXES” as they call it. They also want to do away with CAPITAL GAINS TAXES which is so absurd because you and I pay taxes on our gains, on our hard earned salaries and if we sold a property and be so lucky as to exact a profit we have to pay taxes on those gains…but the rich think they don’t have to do that.

The last of the article.

LESS GOVERNMENT AND CHEAP LABOR

“Less Government” is the central defining right-wing slogan. And yes, it’s all about “cheap labor”.

Included within the slogan “less government” is the whole conservative set of assumptions about the nature of the “free market” and government’s role in that market... In fact, the whole “public sector/private sector” distinction is an invention of the cheap-labor conservatives. They say that the “private sector” exists outside and independently of the “public sector”. The public sector, according to cheap-labor ideology, can only “interfere” with the “private sector”, and that such “interference” is “inefficient” and “unprincipled”

Using this ideology, the cheap-labor ideologue paints himself as a defender of “freedom” against “big government tyranny”. In fact, the whole idea that the “private sector” is independent of the public sector is totally bogus. In fact, “the market” is created by public laws, public institutions and public infrastructure.

But the cheap-labor conservative isn’t really interested in “freedom”. What the he wants is the “privatized tyranny” of industrial serfdom, the main characteristic of which is – you guessed it – “cheap labor”.

For proof, you need only look at exactly what constitutes “big government tyranny” and what doesn’t. It turns out that cheap-labor conservatives are BIG supporters of the most oppressive and heavy handed actions the government takes.

· Cheap-labor conservatives are consistent supporters of the generous use of capital punishment. They say that “government can’t do anything right” – except apparently, kill people. Indeed, they exhibit classic conservative unconcern for the very possibility that the government might make a mistake and execute the wrong man.

· Cheap-labor conservatives complain about the “Warren Court” “handcuffing the police” and giving “rights to criminals”. It never occurs to them, that our criminal justice system is set up to protect innocent citizens from abuses or just plain mistakes by government officials – you know, the ones who can’t do anything right.

· Cheap-labor conservatives support the “get tough” and “lock ‘em up” approach to virtually every social problem in the spectrum. In fact, it’s the only approach they support. As for the 2,000,000 people we have in jail today – a higher percentage of our population than any other nation on earth – they say our justice system is “too lenient”.

· Cheap-labor conservative – you know, the ones who believe in “freedom” – say our crime problem is because – get this – we’re too “permissive”. How exactly do you set up a “free” society that isn’t “permissive”?

· Cheap-labor conservatives want all the military force we can stand to pay for and never saw a weapons system they didn’t like.

· Cheap-labor conservatives support every right-wing authoritarian hoodlum in the third world.

· Cheap-labor conservatives support foreign assassinations, covert intervention in foreign countries, and every other “black bag” operation the CIA can dream up, even against constitutional governments, elected by the people of those countries.

· Cheap-labor conservatives support “domestic surveillance” against “subversives” – where “subversive” means “everybody but them”.

· Cheap-labor believers in “freedom” think it’s the government’s business if you smoke a joint or sleep with somebody of your own gender.

· Cheap-labor conservatives support our new concentration camp down at Guantanamo Bay. They also support these “secret tribunals” with “secret evidence” and virtually no judicial review of the trials and sentences. Then they say that liberals are “Stalinists”.

· And let’s not forget this perennial item on the agenda. Cheap-labor conservatives want to “protect our national symbol” from “desecration”. They also support legislation to make the Pledge of Allegiance required by law. Of course, it is they who desecrate the flag every time they wave it to support their cheap-labor agenda. [Ouch! That was one of those “hits” you can hear up in the “nosebleed” seats.]

Sounds to me like the cheap-labor conservatives have a peculiar definition of “freedom”. I mean, just what do these guys consider to be “tyranny”.

That’s easy. Take a look.

· “Social spending” otherwise known as “redistribution”. While they don’t mind tax dollars being used for killing people, using their taxes to feed people is “stealing”.

· Minimum wage laws.

· Every piece of legislation ever proposed to improve working conditions, including the eight hour day, OSHA regulations, and even Child Labor laws.

· Labor unions, which “extort” employers by collectively bargaining.

· Environmental regulations and the EPA.

· Federal support and federal standards for public education.

· Civil rights legislation. There are still cheap-labor conservatives today, who were staunch defenders of “Jim Crow” – including conspicuously Buckley’s “National Review”. Apparently, federal laws ending segregation were “tyranny”, but segregation itself was not.

· Public broadcasting – which is virtually the only source for classical music, opera, traditional theatre, traditional American music, oh yes, and Buckley’s “Firing Line”. This from the people constantly braying about the decay of “the culture”. The average cost of Public Television for each American is a whopping one dollar a year. “Its tyranny I tell you. Enough’s enough!”

See the pattern? Cheap-labor conservatives support every coercive and oppressive function of government, but call it “tyranny” if government does something for you – using their money, for Christ’s sake. Even here, cheap-labor conservatives are complete hypocrites. Consider the following expenditures:

· 150 billion dollars a year for corporate subsidies.

· 300 billion dollars a year for interest payments on the national debt – payments that are a direct transfer to wealthy bond holders, and buy us absolutely nothing.

· Who knows how many billions will be paid to American companies to rebuild Iraq – which didn’t need rebuilding ten years ago.

· That’s all in addition to the Defense budget – large chunks of which go to corporate defense contractors.

Is the pattern becoming clearer? These cheap-labor Republicans have no problem at all opening the public purse for corporate interests. It’s “social spending” on people who actually need assistance that they just “can’t tolerate”.

And now you know why. Destitute people work cheaper, while a harsh police state keeps them suitably terrorized.

And with this new Citizen’s United Supreme Court ruling they have unlimited campaign contributions coming from who knows where donated by who knows who and the general public has to sit through the television commercials paid for by special interests…some of which may even be foreign corporations and even foreign governments who want to buy their way into American politics.