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Is This the Beginning
of a Bush Pattern?
March 15, 2001
by Bradford Shaw
It's the biggest payoff for the rich in a long time, and
it looks like Shrub's tax cut could be an annual thing. As
hard as it is to believe, the Republicans seem to be so full
of confidence after their narrow semi-partisan win in congress,
that they anticipate extending the President's plan on a yearly
basis.
As he tours the country in search of approval for his ghastly
tax program which appears to be tailored to his fat-cat friends,
we find ourselves in yet another quandrary. Could it be possible
that he hopes to pay off the old money that financed his campaign
every year of his tenure in office? Will the richest people
in this country benefit on an escalating upward scale for
at least the next four years?
History, current trends, and direct statements from leading
conservative leaders seem to lend credence to this concept.
On the March 8th edition of Crossfire on CNN, Pennsylvania
Senator Rick Santorum stated that "the way economic trends
are going, I wouldn't be surprised if we have another tax
cut next year."
His argument was that we needed to initiate Shrubs tax plan
immediately, even before we have a budget. As tempting as
this sounds to the richest 10 % of the country, the balance
of the citizenry wonder why the Republican leadership is so
completely behind this greedy plan. Could it be that it serves
as a double reward for the conservatives and Shrub?
First they get to keep the thing that they love the most,
more of their tax money. Second, their hand picked, yet totally
illegitimate President gets to claim a victory, and even worse,
some small margin of effectiveness as a civic leader. Most
responsible economists agree that measured tax cuts keyed
to surplus revenues would be the logical, intelligent and
most effective plan for our immediate fiscal future.
Unfortunately for Shrub, there are just way too many big
words in that whole concept for him to wrap his rather small
intellect around. If you had spent your important college
study time whooping in up with the locals, trying to forget
your uptight, closed off family, hiring surrogates to take
tests or copy notes instead of actually seeking out the education
that might help you with those big words in speeches someday,
you might have problems with multi-syllabic phrases too.
No, this tax plan that might get trotted out annually is
strictly a shallow attempt to foster admiration from the Wall
Street crowd, and perhaps secure funding for the 2004 race.
As our country's millionaires begin to realize the fabulous
windfall that Shrub has planned to fall in their laps, they
will no doubt want to consume more, thus ensuring that new,
more expensive, and perhaps useless consumer goods and technology
are also thrust down the throat of the average American family.
This will spur a small growth period in our economy, and
Shrub will look somewhat intelligent and forward thinking
to the day traders and on-line investors who will have more
money to play with. In addition, if you were a happy healthy
businessman, wouldn't you want to back the good old boy who
managed to lower your taxes, even if it were only temporary?
And if you were a businessman operating in this country in
the last thirty years, haven't you been brainwashed into thinking
that the Democrats were out to destroy you through excessive
regulation and tax burden?
Just remember to conveniently forget about the balanced budgets
and empowerment zones and economic reform that the Democrats
achieved in the last eight years.
Well if that is the case and you would like to have a nice
tax cut every year, give to Shrub's re-election campaign now!
Somewhere on this planet even as you read this article, someone
is manning a phone at a desk where you can call and pledge
as much money to the Campaign to Re-Elect Everybody's President,
or C.R.E.E.P. Brings back spooky memories for older Democrats
who remember the Nixon years, doesn't it?
Keep in mind that this is just our newly selected president's
way of changing the tone and restoring dignity to the White
House. To most folks who aren't suffering from Attention Deficit
Disorder, this isn't restoring dignity, it's restoring Shrub's
poppa's administration. An educated guess would be that when
George Jr. visited the Whitehouse during his daddy's term,
he thought everything was running just fine. Now that he seems
to be following in his fathers footsteps (one term - we hope),
he must have figured that using the family's old staff would
be reassuring to people worried that he was too simple or
greedy for the job. If the old staff and cabinet were there,
he would always have the help that a simple country boy needs
from time to time as issues and long words begin to perplex
his uncomplicated mind.
In addition to all of this built in, all be-it outdated and
out of touch help, The Texas Talk Twister has tried his best
to look the part of a leader. Shrub comports himself like
the perfect photo-op president that his party wants him to
be. He doesn't have time to answer all of your questions,
but he will take as long as he needs to stand around posing
with endless groups of photogenic people, just to look the
part of an involved politician. Just don't try to involve
him in conversation or debate, unless you enjoy the feel of
security staff manhandling you out of the room.
By participating in these photo-ops, putting comfortable
names in reassuring places, and passing an annual tax-cut
payoff for his rich investors, thus assuring funding in 2004,
Shrub will guarantee another term in the Oval Office for himself,
as well as rehabilitate the family name. With each passing
year and its associated tax cut, we will be witnessing the
outright purchase of a presidency.
But we may not notice it upon first glance. We may be too
busy with our normal lives to look between the lines for the
truth. The buying of our democracy and its associated cast
of ne'er-do-wells may be hard to discern. It may only look
like a well meaning, smirking, unintelligent, uninformed glad
hander in a tacky suit shaking hands with a pack of cub scouts
while signing a few orders and bills during a typical White
House ceremony.
Look closer; they are marketing your freedom. Your country.
And getting a nice tax cut every year to boot!
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