Showing posts with label Texas secession. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Texas secession. Show all posts

Sunday, May 24, 2009

Memorial Day in Texas: secession wasn't Perry's point at all

By raising states' rights at a tea bag event, then backing away ASAP assuring everybody it’s just really, really just a discussion about federalism and the role of local vs national government, has Governor Rick Perry sent his signal to those who hear it another way? It didn't stay off the radar, but if the message was received does he care? Some of us still vividly recall George Wallace flanked by Alabama State Troopers, and an era when states' rights was just the PC way to say "segregation is our vision."

Try surveying Texans on Memorial Day, or the 4th of July, and I guarantee they won't be talking about seceding, they're proud to be Americans. If you ask them about Bush cutting taxes on the rich while shorting armor for Americans in Iraq they won't defend him much more than anybody else in the GOP, either.

You might think it was just a ploy for exposure by their current Governor - Perry's back-walking the rhetoric as hard and fast as he can, certainly. But was it really a mistake, just a gaffe, or a just ploy for exposure? At a tea-party? More likely a staged sequence by a savvy politico.

If Rick Perry or his speech team was that inept he wouldn't be the Governor in the first place. States' Rights remains a politically correct way to alert white racists that even if they're a minority they're not alone, and Perry's scripted performance has planted the seeds. The GOP's most visible folks are steadily abandoning the values of moderate Americans.

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Thursday, May 07, 2009

Closing tax loopholes is "robbing Peter to pay Paul"? Hardly!

If paying taxes to support our military, the interstate highway system, the FAA, satellites, and a Medicare system that insures senior citizens can afford health coverage, etc., offends your sense of fair play, you’re living in the wrong country. You want tax havens? Move to Somalia, my friend, while real patriots pay their fair share in the USA!

Closing loopholes that reward wealth instead of work is fine with me. I've had enough of special interests inserting ways to keep big business from paying taxes. Any tax incentives ought to discourage outsourcing, not promote it!

On the other hand, if you like the constitution, and want the government to "provide for the common defense" then a system that makes the rich and the mega corporations contribute their fair share is just basic old-fashioned patriotitism.

I guess that's parallel to what puzzles me about talk of Texas seceding. They wanted the benefits - so, if they go can we bill them for their interstates and the big ol' wall?

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