The Taxman and Question 7

I've been thinking about this post for awhile, trying to boil it down to the essence, to shake off the unnecessary or confusing parts of the argument I want to make.  I'm using the suggestion of a friend - to write about Maryland's Question 7, which would increase the amount and type of legal gambling in Maryland - to springboard into a larger discussion.


I've spent a lot of time on tax policy, and tax policy is complex - needlessly so.  But there are underlying theories behind the tax decisions we make, and I've noticed that we almost never talk about them.  It may be due to the influence of guys like Grover Norquist, but the political discussion we have about taxes is almost entirely this:

Girly Questions

So I have this list of things that I've been thinking about using for post ideas.  But I mostly just want to share them and ask some girly questions.  So here goes:

• Here, we are arguing whether women get to have abortions or use birth control.  In China, they are arguing whether to continue forcing women to have abortions (even as late-term as 7-months) as they enforce their historically anti-girl one-child policy.  Either way, the mostly-male governments would really, really like to be able to tell women what to do.  The good news is that China has undermined its own progress by short-sightedly messing with its gender dynamics and age dynamics.  123 boys to 100 girls under age 4.  How's that going to work out for you in 20 years, guys?  One thing about democracy: you end up talking about things a whole lot before you do them.  But which argument is more anti-girl?  Why do governments spend so much time trying to control reproduction?  Is there a better way to have this conversation?

You Didn't Build That!

My two favorites of the memes...

So, the right-wing has gone into a frenzy over remarks by Obama that seemed to me at least, perfectly unremarkable.  He said, to wit:

Electricity

So my house went without power for a week.

This happened partially because there was a very bad storm in my area, and partially because the reigning utility (PEPCO) is way more invested in its shareholders' happiness than its customers' happiness. That's not really opinion.

Now, it may be that private utilities are more responsive, more efficient, or better for society in some way than public utilities are.

A Short History of Political Ads

A (hopefully) fun little history of political ads for your Friday.


The Scary:  The most famous of these is the 1964 LBJ Ad titled "Daisy" that ran one time.  It was basically a bald statement that electing Goldwater would lead to nuclear war.  But scary ads have proliferated, largely because they seem to be a very effective way of getting people to think about opponents.

1964: LBJ "Daisy" Ad (anti-Goldwater):

Rhetoric 101: "Die Pinko Scum!"

Background: Rep. Allen West (R-FL), has said that there are between 71 and 80 current U.S. Representatives who are members of the Communist Party.  They are all Democrats.  He has not named names.  Here's the Maddow Blog piece about this.

Here's the video of Rep. West:

...And The Conversation: 

[Ed. Note: Don't worry, you'll get used to this format.  This is going to be like sitting near Mandi and me (Emily) in the coffee shop, eavesdropping on our conversations.  One time we had a guy give up all pretense of actually using his computer because we are so fascinating.  But see here, no guilt!  We clearly WANT you to listen.]

Emily:  So, Mand, do you think the Republicans had Rep. West level this charge because he's black, or do you think he believes it?

Mandi:  Does Allen West believe that s***?  Republicans have been calling Democrats communists for a very long time.  Do they believe that s***?  My guess is, no, they do not believe that s***, and neither does he.  I'm not sure if being black gives you more cover for being publicly crazy, but apparently being a Republican gives you all kinds of cover for being publicly crazy.  It's like we hold Republicans to a lower standard of reasonableness than "normal" people.  Silly things like facts are of no object. "Some people believe that man went to the moon in 1969.  Other people believe that the moon is made of green cheese.  The truth is probably somewhere in the middle."  Well, no, it isn't, and it's time we stopped treating it like it is.

Emily:  Yeah, there is a definite callousness to the way Fox-Era Republicans treat the truth.  It's like they believe everything is relative, or at least malleable, if they need it to be.  Because I know that nobody who actually studied government could honestly conflate "communism" - which is about socialist ideas + totalitarianism - with even the most liberal of American Democrats (who at most liberal right now still believe in free trade and a whole bunch of capitalism - and no totalitarianism).  And it's even crazier to do that right now, when American Democrats have been chasing Republicans in their sprint to the right for about 30-or-so years.

So, this is a strategy.

I think being a black Republican gives West a bit of cover for saying things like this, because it's not just crazy, it's completely implausible and insulting to Democrats.  But I think white, male reporters are less likely to confront a black politician on that than a white one, for fear of seeming racist.  Like, do you think Michael Steele got called on his crazy all the time, or do you think he sometimes/to some extent got a pass?  Alan Keyes just gets ignored.