The other point…which we’re not hearing frequently or loudly enough…is a real scandal: ‘the social welfare tax exemption is being used by existing 501(c)(4) organizations, including some very large ones, to promote partisan political interests—the very activity Congress has explicitly prohibited for a century.’ In other words, Karl Rove and Crossroads. This is a serious issue, one deserving of investigation. But Republicans could be biting off more than they can chew if it causes a bright light to be shone on how politically partisan organizations, like Rove’s, are exploiting the law.
…And this genuine scandal is tied to the non-scandal of Benghazi and the genuine debate about how far the DOJ should go in punishing leakers of classified information. Individually, only the IRS affair seems a genuine scandal…But drama is the stuff of pageviews. And the chattering classes can only take a no-drama president for so long.
more.
…Universal health care. No guns. Strong unions. A humane minimum wage. A humane immigration policy. High revenues from a fair tax structure. A massive public-works program. Legal gay marriage. A ban on carbon emissions. Electric cars. Stronger workplace protections. Extended family leave from work in case of pregnancy or illness. Longer unemployment benefits. In short, a society on a par with most of the rest of the industrialized world—a place whose politics have finally caught up with its social and economic realities.
…a sundering of the union would make the other half of America equally fulfilled. The red-state republic could…establish a theocracy in which the fundamentalist Christian church would legislate all the important aspects of civic life…It could, taking the lead from the pioneering Kansas legislature, abolish the income tax, raising revenue from, for example, a “pay to work” program. It could ban abortion in all instances, including rape and incest, and use the growing population of orphans to establish an impressive standing army.
more.
In conjunction with other conservative groups attacking the “liberal” judiciary and the press, they continued to shore up the movement’s populist credentials by identifying an elite to which conservatives could stand opposed — a task that grew in importance as populist elements within the Republican Party gained even more prominence. They continued to provide a vocabulary for conservative college students (and their parents) to express frustration with their higher education experiences. And they helped to call into question the credibility of academic knowledge, which made the growing number of conservative intellectuals in think tanks working on topics like taxes or energy policy or financial deregulation seem more reliable and trustworthy by comparison.
more, from an excerpt, here.
…Issues related to sexuality, drugs, religion, family life, and patriotism were particularly vexing, and many people over 40 can recall the names of battlefields such as Mapplethorpe, needle exchange, 2 Live Crew, and the flag-burning amendment. But the left won a smashing victory in the 2012 elections, including the first victories at the ballot box for gay marriage. These triumphs…give the left confidence that it will ultimately prevail on most issues in the Social Theater. The power base of the religious right is older, white, rural Protestants, a group that immigration, demography, and urban renewal have consigned to play an ever-shrinking role in American presidential elections. Both sides are now likely to shift several divisions and…task forces over to the Economic Theater of the culture war, where the single most important battle of 2012 was fought—the battle over marginal tax rates for the rich. The left won that battle on January 1, when the House of Representatives voted to raise tax rates for the rich, but victory in the overall war is far less certain. Economic issues such as taxation are moral issues—no less so than social issues like gay marriage—and neither side has full control of the key moral foundations that underlie economic morality: fairness and liberty.
more.
[Bobby] Jindal was re-elected to a second term [as Governor of Louisiana] with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll…voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials for a possible White House run than tending to local matters. As the Louisiana Legislature prepares to kick off its two-month session on Monday, Jindal’s signature proposal to eliminate the state income tax is facing resistance.
more.
I am an expatriate Kansan…Since moving away I have been asked to account for the assassination of Dr. George Tiller, the abolition of the Kansas Arts Commission, and the ongoing nastiness of Fred Phelps and the Westboro Baptist Church. The long struggle over the place of evolution in the state education curriculum followed me into my undergraduate years. Recently in the news we have witnessed the political success of the conservative faction of the state Republican Party: a first step toward eliminating the income tax; the privatization of Medicaid; and the introduction of a package of restrictive, even cruel anti-abortion legislation. Meanwhile, the most damaging conservative activity—the gradual dissolution of the state government—has garnered little national attention. The unmaking of the state has accelerated in the two years since Governor Sam Brownback took office, and during this legislative session is being pursued with redoubled fervor. Kansas wasn’t always this way.
and more.
“If you’re worried about inequality in this country, which is just galloping along, the main cause—even bigger than the skewed tax code—is the decline of unions.”
more.
Republican reformers are reluctant to admit the obstacle that Bush’s legacy poses to public confidence on foreign affairs. Although they acknowledge that the wars have been unpopular and expensive, they present these facts…as if the deaths of nearly 7,000 Americans were the result of weather or other uncontrollable forces…Who do they think they’re fooling? Then there’s the economy…long-term problems of unemployment, wage stagnation, and rising health-care and education costs…they are reluctant to acknowledge that the Bush administration did little to reverse these trends, and in some ways exacerbated them…the Bush administration regarded tax cuts as a signature achievement. Ordinary citizens have long…memories.
more.
…reveals the previously unknown story of Americans who fought to overthrow plutocracy in the early 20th century…proves that what these progressive Americans accomplished—namely the advent of unions, workers’ rights, and a 91-percent top federal tax rate on income exceeding $100,000 for over a decade—worked remarkably well for the U.S. economy and greatly improved the general welfare of the American people, contrary to the conservative mantra that harkens exactly the opposite.
more.
Tyra for Yves Saint Laurent, s/s 1995
![[Bobby] Jindal was re-elected to a second term [as Governor of Louisiana] with two-thirds of the vote in 2011. But his Louisiana approval rating was down to 38 percent in a recent poll…voters think he is spending more time traveling outside the state and burnishing his credentials for a possible White House run than tending to local matters. As the Louisiana Legislature prepares to kick off its two-month session on Monday, Jindal’s signature proposal to eliminate the state income tax is facing resistance.
more.](http://24.media.tumblr.com/1d5191c92650cdd5a92575d7de6aea21/tumblr_mkwiwflpjo1qcwnv4o1_500.jpg)
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