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Friday, August 22, 2008
Same old class warfare in this race
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
The national referendum on class warfare and the debate whether “change” is anything more than yesterday’s failed ideas kicks off this weekend with the gathering of Democrats to anoint the country’s savior.
That, presumably, is Barack Obama, though the cautious observer does not discount the possibility that Bill and Hill will seize the show.
Leading up to it, Democrats were convinced they’d found the bumper sticker/sound bite that would cause the unwashed masses to recoil in horror at the notion that a rich man could be president of the United States.
The sound bite was an interview John McCain gave Politico.com in which he appeared to be uncertain how many houses he and wife Cindy own. “I think — I’ll have my staff get to you,” he said. “It’s condominiums where — I’ll have them get to you.”
It was the gotcha moment for desperate Democrats, sound-bite evidence that McCain is either befuddled or out of touch with ordinary Americans. The Obama campaign rushed to capitalize. “If you’re like me, and you’ve got one house, or you are like the millions of people who are struggling right now to keep up with their mortgage so they don’t lose their home, you might have a different perspective,” said Obama, who occupies a $1.65 million mansion in Chicago.
The wealth of the McCains is not in dispute. Cindy McCain is a highly regarded business executive who managed an inherited beer distributorship to a value estimated at $100 million. She, or they, own single-family homes or condos in Arizona, California and Virginia.
But, then, by the standards of those of us who draw paychecks, all the candidates offered for the presidency, Democrat and Republican, are rich — or live the lifestyles of the rich, with the possible exception of Mike Huckabee, the former governor of Arkansas. The Clintons, Bill and Hillary, have made more than $109 million since leaving the White House eight years ago.
The young, at least those who are convinced that in this year’s race they have found the post-partisan consensus-builder, should take note of what is happening.
In the generations before you, Democrats routinely won office by scaring the old folks into believing that Republicans intended to take or diminish their Social Security. They win office too by scaring minorities into believing Republicans intend to take or diminish their opportunities.
Their success is built on fright, on feeding the fear that somebody else — “the rich” — got or will take wealth, power or privilege that rightly belongs to somebody more deserving. You.
Obama, in that regard, is just another of a long line of class-warfare Democrats. Politics as usual.
Two trends are of concern, though.
A growing percentage of the country is beginning to walk away from any income tax obligation to pay for the bigger government they advocate. According to the Washington-based Tax Foundation, 41 percent of the U.S. population is totally outside the income tax system. Since 2000, the number of filers with zero tax obligation has grown from 29 million to 42 million. Only 90.6 million of the 132.6 million returns filed in 2005 paid taxes. The rest got back all they’d paid in, or more.
We don’t mind more government — if you’re paying, and especially if those who pay got “my share” of the nation’s wealth through $4 gas and high fees on subprime mortgages.
The other concern is that unmarrieds could be a majority of the population within 15 years, according to research done earlier this year by Greenberg Quinlan Rosner. Unmarried women favor Democrats by a 70-24 margin, they found.
And while the good news for McCain supporters is that Obama really does not wear well — doubts grow with prolonged exposure — the bad news is that to a large segment of the country, class warfare is a winner.
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Property taxes, environmental extremists, lighten up
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Not surprising that some state officials are willing to sacrifice the $428 million homeowners’ property tax break —- amounting to about $150 to $200 per year per homeowner —- to cover a revenue shortfall. Former Gov. Roy Barnes started it and state officials have never thought they got proper credit for it. Same with the sales tax exemption on food. Lots of money “spent” on tax relief —- to use the phrase of the more-government crowd —- without “buying” any gratitude. Still, House Speaker Pro Tem Mark Burkhalter (R-Johns Creek) vows that won’t happen. Taking the break away “is analogous to a tax increase, and we’re not going to do that,” said he.
Georgia needs a spending cap.
Environmental extremists oppose all efforts to add capacity —- oil, water or highway. Why? Managing shortages gives them the power to tell you where and how to live. It’s a life-control tool. When you see the word “alternatives” to more drilling, reservoirs or road capacity, it’s code for dig-in-the-heels opposition to solutions.
Obama thinks McCain had prior notice of the questions asked in their joint interview at Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, Calif. It can appear that way when the other guy’s prepared. The inexperienced Obama may not know what he believes, but he’s certain about this: He wouldn’t have nominated Clarence Thomas for the Supreme Court because he doesn’t think he was “a strong enough jurist or legal thinker at the time.” What arrogance. Obama was in the U.S. Senate for two years when he announced his presidential candidacy.
Best explanatory quote of the week: “People get away with things and they mushroom,” said lawyer Jimmy Berry in explaining why Georgia Tech employee Donna Renee Gamble stole $316,000 with a state credit card. “She did it a few times; there were no checks and balances at the school, and it took off from there.” He just explained crime in America.
Good or bad, we get the behaviors we pay for. Mortgage brokers who signed up borrowers for high-interest/high-fee “liar loan” mortgages —- those requiring no verification of job, income or assets —- could make $15,000 on a $300,000 loan. A traditional loan would net $2,000 to $4,000. No surprise. Half of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac losses of $3.1 billion between April and June were due to liar loans. Invite people to rip off any business or government program, or to immigrate illegally, and they will. See Jimmy Berry on “no checks and balances. …”
An Orlando newspaper reporter notes that McCain got a better reception among veterans attending a VFW convention than Obama. That information was conveyed thusly: “But McCain was the clear favorite among the predominantly older, white male crowd. …” Perhaps the louder applause was because McCain is a fellow veteran, was deemed to be the better leader on national security issues, or because he’s an older white male?
Liberals and conservatives are alarmed about the growing national deficit —- but with liberals it’s never when proposing new entitlements. The deficit to be feared is the one caused by military spending and the one that exists because of tax breaks granted to “the rich.” The act of supreme political courage for a liberal is to agonize publicly before agreeing that, darn it, taxes have to go up to support their favored programs. Sad thing is, there’s no constituency left, or not much of one, in either party for being fiscally responsible. And when there is, the “solution” is to raise taxes. Always. And promise restraint.
Take a deep breath. Count to 10 —- and then don’t say dumb things, like the response to a report that State School Superintendent Kathy Cox will appear on the game show “Are You Smarter Than a Fifth Grader?” The quote is from Tim Callahan of the Professional Association of Georgia Educators, which at one time did not act and sound like a union. Said Callahan: “The budget is in meltdown, the CRCT is a mess and you have a superintendent in Hollywood taping a game show. It gives new definition to the word ‘frivolous.’ ” Lighten up, bud.
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