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June 28, 2004
Taxes: It's not your money, it's the government's . . . .
James Lileks has a wonderful vignette of the disconnect between mainstream liberals and middle-of-the-road members of the Middle Class.
A minor political note, if you’re interested in such things. The other day a young girl came to the door to solicit my support for her presidential candidate. I asked her why I should vote for this man. She was very nice and earnest, but if you got her off the talking points she was utterly unprepared to argue anything, because she didn’t know what she was talking about. She had bullet points, and she believed that any reasonable person would see the importance of these issues and naturally fall in line. But she could not support any of her assertions. Her final selling point: Kerry would roll back the tax cuts.
Then came the Parable of the Stairs, of course. My tiresome, shopworn, oft-told tale, a piece of unsupportable meaningless anecdotal drivel about how I turned my tax cut into a nice staircase that replaced a crumbling eyesore, hired a few people and injected money far and wide - from the guys who demolished the old stairs, the guys who built the new one, the family firm that sold the stone, the other firm that rented the Bobcats, the entrepreneur who fabricated the railings in his garage, and the guy who did the landscaping. Also the company that sold him the plants. And the light fixtures. It’s called economic activity. What’s more, home improvements added to the value of this pile, which mean that my assessment would increase, bumping up my property taxes. To say nothing of the general beautification of the neighborhood. Next year, if my taxes didn’t shoot up, I had another project planned. Raise my taxes, and it won’t happen – I won’t hire anyone, and they won’t hire anyone, rent anything, buy anything. You see?
“Well, it’s a philosophical difference,” she sniffed. She had pegged me as a form of life last seen clilcking the leash off a dog at Abu Ghraib. “I think the money should have gone straight to those people instead of trickling down.” Those last two words were said with an edge.
“But then I wouldn’t have hired them,” I said. “I wouldn’t have new steps. And they wouldn’t have done anything to get the money.”
“Well, what did you do?” she snapped.
“What do you mean?”
“Why should the government have given you the money in the first place?”
“They didn’t give it to me. They just took less of my money.”
That was the last straw. Now she was angry. And the truth came out:
“Well, why is it your money? I think it should be their money.”
Then she left.
And walked down the stairs. I let her go without charging a toll. It’s the philanthropist in me.
Picking up where Lileks left off, my question for the Dems is, how much out of a dollar earned, should I (or any other taxpayer) be allowed to keep? 70 pennies? 60 pennies? 50? 40? How much is enough?
The truth is -- as that campaign worker finally admitted -- it's not my money to keep; it's the government's to give away.
Posted by Mike Lief at 06:44 AM | TrackBack
June 10, 2004
Priceless
Posted by Mike Lief at 09:03 AM | Comments (1) | TrackBack
June 06, 2004
Hard to believe he's gone
This is how I like to remember him, the greatest president of my lifetime. It's hard to overstate the impact he had on the U.S. -- and the world. I voted for Ronald Reagan while on active duty, and his popularity amongst my shipmates cannot be overstated, matched only by the contempt we shared for his predecessor.
When I first reported aboard my sub, the Navy was still suffering from the malaise of a combination of the Vietnam hangover and the Carter years.
Ronald Regan inspired us and led us to roll back 35 years of Soviet expansion.
I'm amazed by the continued disdain my friends and family have for the man. My mother, a Roosevelt Democrat, insists he was a dunce.
When I point out to her that the leaders of the former Soviet Union credit him with winning the Cold War, she dismisses their admissions as irrelevant.
His 1987 speech, in front of the Brandenburg Gate, when he called, "Mr. Gorbachev, tear down this wall!" was thrilling. Of course, I never thought I'd live to see the wall come down.
I was working at a newspaper three years later, when we crammed into the editor's office to see the live broadcast of ecstatic Germans destroying that hateful barrier.
We were stunned; it was truly history in the making, and would never have happened without the efforts of Pres. Reagan.
I'm proud to have voted for him, and sorry I never had the chance to meet him.
Rest in peace, Mr. President.
UPDATE
How is the Left commemorating the passing of the man who won the Cold War?
Well, lest I be accused of putting words in their mouths, here's what it says on the website of sf.indymedia.org, from yesterday's rally against the G-8:
"2:45PM: Hundreds of protesters are cheering upon hearing news that Ronald Reagan has died."
And here's how the moonbats at the Democratic Underground are marking his passing:
I've waited for this day for 24 long years, now i'm celebrating
Posted by mopaul on Sat Jun-05-04 05:36 PM
i don't care what killed him, alzhiemers or the black plague, i'm glad he's dead and i don't care how many times i'm scolded or chastised for it. the day he took office was the most depressing day of my life, and i swore, that on the day he died, i'd drink a toast of celebration and figuratively piss on his grave and have said so to several gingrich sucking reagan worshipping dickheads.fuck ronald reagan, and i hope in some small way my fuck you counteracts all the bullshit we are going to be hammered with for a fucking month after the fall of this 'greeeeeaaaaaat human being'.
fuck you ronnie, here's to ya pal. see ya in hell
There's no end to the hateful sentiments on that website. Too bad they can't muster that kind of outrage for tyrants and dictators.
Posted by Mike Lief at 02:39 PM | TrackBack
June 01, 2004
Every war with fascism is our business
There's an interview online with the last surviving military leader of the Warsaw uprising. Translated from Polish by Blogger Chrenkoff, it's fascinating how clear the "nuanced" modern-day world is to a man who witnessed first-hand the result of catering to evil, and how, ultimately, the only way for liberty to triumph is for those who believe in it to pick up a gun.
Surrounded by heavily armed SS and SD guards, SS Major General Jürgen Stroop (center), watches housing blocks burn during the suppression of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising. The original German caption reads: "The leader of the grand operation."
Photo credit: Poland National Archives
Interviewer: But there are people who say it's not our business.
Edelman: And whose business is it? Every war with fascism is our business. In 1939 there were also many people who said that the war in Poland was not their war, and what happened? Great nations fell because politicians listened to those who were saying that it's not worth dying for Gdansk [Danzig]. If only we'd intervened militarily after Hitler re-entered Rhineland we probably would not have had the war and the Holocaust.
. . .
Interviewer: Many people do understand that, but they don't understand why the Americans have to go to the other side of the world and fight over Iraq now.
Edelman: And why did they go to Europe then? Who defeated Hitler and saved Europe from fascism? The French? No, the Americans did. We thanked them then because they saved us. Today we criticise them because they're saving somebody else.
. . .Interviewer: But the Spanish withdrew their troops from Iraq after the terrorist attack in Madrid.
Edelman: Please don't tell me what the Spanish did. So what? Do you seriously think that it will save them from further attacks? No. The weak just get punched in the head. Pacifism lost a long time ago.
Powerful stuff. Read the whole thing.
Marek Edelman is the last surviving military leader of the heroic Jewish Uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto in 1943. He recently spoke to a Polish television channel TVN24, and the interview has been re-published in a Polish weekly "Przekroj". It's not available anywhere else in English (or for that matter electronically), so I take this opportunity to translate and publish extensive excerpts from the interview. Edelman experienced evil many times in his long and distinguished life; he has also faced it and fought it bravely. What he has to say bears listening to.
Interviewer: Not a day seems to go by in Iraq without a terrorist attack, and in the last few days two Polish soldiers and a Polish journalist have died.
Edelman: And do you know any war where nobody dies? I don't. Alas, it's in man's make-up; there's a fatal flow there that makes him kill, for pleasure or over some silly beliefs.
Interviewer: So this war is one over some silly beliefs?
Edelman: Now, now. Who started killing people? Americans didn't invade a wonderful democratic Iraq. There was a dictatorship there, torture, terror.
Interviewer: But there are people who say it's not our business.
Edelman: And whose business is it? Every war with fascism is our business. In 1939 there were also many people who said that the war in Poland was not their war, and what happened? Great nations fell because politicians listened to those who were saying that it's not worth dying for Gdansk [Danzig]. If only we'd intervened militarily after Hitler re-entered Rhineland we probably would not have had the war and the Holocaust.
Interviewer: Many people do understand that, but they don't understand why the Americans have to go to the other side of the world and fight over Iraq now.
Edelman: And why did they go to Europe then? Who defeated Hitler and saved Europe from fascism? The French? No, the Americans did. We thanked them then because they saved us. Today we criticise them because they're saving somebody else.
Interviewer: Returning to the question about having Polish soldier on the ground in Iraq. Many Poles don't want them there.
Edelman: If they don't want them there, let's just keep waiting and then let's see from which direction the rockets and the bombs will come from - will we in the end be lorded over by Saddam's viceroys or Bin Laden's, just as we were once lorded over by Hitler's viceroys.
Interviewer: Do you really believe in such a scenario?
Edelman: It's possible. If we will keep closing our eyes to evil, then that evil will defeat us tomorrow. Unfortunately there's more hatred in men than love. Those who murder understand only force and nothing else. And the only force that is able to stand against them is the American democracy.
Interviewer: But the Americans aren't going too well with introducing democracy in Iraq.
Edelman: That's true, but it's a difficult war. The Second World War went for five years. Democracy tends to be structurally weak. Dictatorship is strong. Hitler was able to mobilise several million people and chase another few million into gas chambers or slave labour. But only democracy saves the humanity and saves millions of lives. The more I see people getting murdered the more I believe that we need to put a stop to that. The murderers understand only deeds.
Interviewer: What about the photos from Abu Ghraib - don't they cause you to start question that American democracy?
Edelman: Well, it happened. Among several hundred thousand American soldiers there were a few perverts...
Interviewer: But the incident nevertheless seriously damaged America's standing. What to say to Polish people after the death of several more of our soldiers?
Edelman: But they died fighting for their freedom. How many thousands of people died in the Warsaw Uprising [in 1944]?
Interviewer: But those people then were fighting for their country.
Edelman: They were fighting for their world. Free and democratic. Just like those who died during the martial law [in Poland in 1981-3]. Did they die only for Poland? No. They died for the freedom of the whole Europe, for the freedom of all those enslaved behind the Iron Curtain.
Interviewer: But the Spanish withdrew their troops from Iraq after the terrorist attack in Madrid.
Edelman: Please don't tell me what the Spanish did. So what? Do you seriously think that it will save them from further attacks? No. The weak just get punched in the head. Pacifism lost a long time ago.
Interviewer: There are more and more voices saying that Poland shouldn't work so close with the Americans and that instead we should get closer to France and Germany.
Edelman: France used to be a great power, culturally and intellectually. And what happened to them? They didn't want to fight for their own democracy, they thought it wasn't really their war [in 1939]. And they lost everything, because when you bend over and take it - even once - then you're finished. And what's that whole talk about the difference between American politics and European politics? There is no other politics but international democratic politics. If we withdraw from Iraq now, what do we have left? Cosying up to Iran and Saudi Arabia? ...
Interviewer: Is it possible to introduce democracy by force?
Edelman: Yugoslavia showed that it's possible...
Interviewer: You used your own personal history and your moral authority to appeal for the intervention then.
Edelman: Yes... Those who say that you don't have to fight for freedom, don't understand what fascism is. I do.
Edelman is no stranger to talking strong and principled stances. Having survived the Warsaw Ghetto uprising in 1943, he came back to Warsaw the following year to fight in the Warsaw Uprising. In the 1980s he was an anti-communist activist in the "Solidarity" movement, and in the late 1990s he wrote an open letter to President Clinton urging him to take action to stop the slaughter in Kosovo. Last year, at the start of the Iraqi war, he already spoke out in support of the Coalition action.
Marek Edelman is a man of great courage and moral conviction. His voice needs to be heard.