more election thoughts
Several people have posted links to this video (about 4 min.) by Ron Howard and friends, but this may be even cuter (and uses lots less bandwidth):
For those old fashioned folks who just like to read, I enjoyed this article about my second-favorite Republican president*:McCain's Hero: More Socialist than Obama, by Timothy Noah in Slate. Subhed: "McCain can call Obama a socialist or he can call Teddy Roosevelt a hero. He can't do both."
Noah notes that TR was often called a socialist by his opponents, and he himself said: Because of things I have done on behalf of justice to the workingman, I have often been called a Socialist. Usually I have not taken the trouble even to notice the epithet. … Moreover, I know that many American Socialists are high-minded and honorable citizens, who in reality are merely radical social reformers. They are opposed to the brutalities and industrial injustices which we see everywhere about us.
andMany of the men who call themselves socialists today are in reality merely radical social reformers, with whom on many points good citizens can and ought to work in hearty general agreement, and whom in many practical matters of government good citizens can well afford to follow.
Another quote from the article:When T.R. spoke of "swollen fortunes" and "malefactors of great wealth," socialism was a genuine force in American politics, perceived by many to pose a serious threat to the social order. When T.R. first called for a "graduated income tax" in his 1907 State of the Union, he was proposing a measure that the Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional. Indeed, the federal income tax struck down by the Court wasn't even "graduated," or progressive; it was a flat-rate tax. Today, McCain demagogically attacks Obama's purported "socialism" knowing that socialism is a dead letter in the United States. He feigns shock at progressive taxation ("confiscate wealth") nearly a century after the states ratified the 16th Amendment, enabling Congress to enact a progressive income tax, and nearly a decade after he himself scolded a town-hall questioner on MSNBC's Hardball who cried "socialism" about the rich having to pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes. "Here's what I really believe," McCain said. "When you are-reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."
*I think I may only have three. Some tall, skinny, inexperienced guy from Illinois -- named Abe -- is #1, of course, and Ike third. (Ike being the first president I remember *as* president.)
For those old fashioned folks who just like to read, I enjoyed this article about my second-favorite Republican president*:McCain's Hero: More Socialist than Obama, by Timothy Noah in Slate. Subhed: "McCain can call Obama a socialist or he can call Teddy Roosevelt a hero. He can't do both."
Noah notes that TR was often called a socialist by his opponents, and he himself said: Because of things I have done on behalf of justice to the workingman, I have often been called a Socialist. Usually I have not taken the trouble even to notice the epithet. … Moreover, I know that many American Socialists are high-minded and honorable citizens, who in reality are merely radical social reformers. They are opposed to the brutalities and industrial injustices which we see everywhere about us.
andMany of the men who call themselves socialists today are in reality merely radical social reformers, with whom on many points good citizens can and ought to work in hearty general agreement, and whom in many practical matters of government good citizens can well afford to follow.
Another quote from the article:When T.R. spoke of "swollen fortunes" and "malefactors of great wealth," socialism was a genuine force in American politics, perceived by many to pose a serious threat to the social order. When T.R. first called for a "graduated income tax" in his 1907 State of the Union, he was proposing a measure that the Supreme Court had ruled unconstitutional. Indeed, the federal income tax struck down by the Court wasn't even "graduated," or progressive; it was a flat-rate tax. Today, McCain demagogically attacks Obama's purported "socialism" knowing that socialism is a dead letter in the United States. He feigns shock at progressive taxation ("confiscate wealth") nearly a century after the states ratified the 16th Amendment, enabling Congress to enact a progressive income tax, and nearly a decade after he himself scolded a town-hall questioner on MSNBC's Hardball who cried "socialism" about the rich having to pay a greater percentage of their income in taxes. "Here's what I really believe," McCain said. "When you are-reach a certain level of comfort, there's nothing wrong with paying somewhat more."
*I think I may only have three. Some tall, skinny, inexperienced guy from Illinois -- named Abe -- is #1, of course, and Ike third. (Ike being the first president I remember *as* president.)