BIDEN-McCONNELL COMPROMISE OF 2013

The “fiscal cliff” vote in the House of Representatives went pretty much as expected. A majority of Republicans voted against the Biden-McConnell compromise, while a majority of members voted for the bill. Still, the burden of “wanting to vote” to increase taxes on middle class Americans, rests on the shoulders of those Republicans.  That is not the big news; the man bites dog story. The big news is that the long history of focus group wisdom that if you fight against rising taxes you will win elections as been damaged; unfortunately, it is not broken, it is only slightly damaged. Believe me, you will hear a lot more about not raising taxes.

The American voter has to learn to be a good citizen you have to be responsible for your votes, which means you have to vote for responsible representatives. Your representatives cannot live in a fantasyland where it is OK to spend taxpayer’s dollars like a crazy person even if they spend the money on what you want. Where the conflict arises is that one group, the altruists, wants to spend as much money as possible on the less fortunate people, while the selfish group wants to put (keep) as much money as possible in their own pockets, which includes not paying taxes. The “first hog at the trough gets the most” philosophy of modern America has failed. So called “sophisticated politicians” not only ignore the common ground such as infrastructure from which we all benefit, but distort the picture until casual voters can no longer recognize right from wrong; they are reduced to “bumper sticker” politics. In this situation, the majority does not win; the “hogs” win. In our society, the 1% usually wins. That is why this victory in raising the taxes on the wealthy is so sweet but it is only a very small victory. The problem in our society goes much deeper.

Education is only one of many examples of this. Infrastructure, such as K through PhD public education, with the goal that all young people have an equal chance of upward mobility—the American Dream. What do we have; the churches and racial groups are fighting to get control of young minds; destroy the department of Education, their bumper stickers say, and let them run the show. In the area of higher education, let industries control the administration of public universities, and society will boom, new jobs, new industries, new small businesses, etc is what their “bumper stickers” say. Look at what we have?  Million dollar salaries for University presidents, more staff and professors than students, higher and higher tuition, fewer and fewer qualified graduates. In North Carolina, a teacher supporting McCrory for governor declared that her goal was to have students reading by the fourth grade—to her it may have been a lofty goal but to most parents it was an insult. Revel in your victory but treat it as a beginning, a very small beginning in voter education.