Day: January 21, 2011

I want a Tax and Spend Government for The People

By Dr. John Gilmore

 

When Bill Meyer was about to retire he
gave an excellent speech on the idea of the Commonwealth. He said he
was born in a very poor neighborhood, but didn’t even really knew it
because we all shared in the commonwealth when he was growing up.
There were parks, free summer recreational programs, free after
school programs, free music programs in the schools and art programs.
Sometimes they even had free summer camps sponsored by the counties
or cities. Anyone could be involved in a sports program for just the
cost of a two dollar insurance policy each year and the school
provided buses that would take the children to the away games on the
weekend.

 

We don’t have many of these programs
because of the movement led by rich people to disassemble the
commonwealth and do away with taxes. As a result of this people end
up paying for all of these programs as if they are a privilege. Many
people spend hours of time driving miles to carry their children to
soccer games and other sports activities, thus spending the money
they thought they had saved in taxes on time and for gas. Now only
the ones who can afford it send their children to music programs and
to art classes. Just think of all of the great musicians from poor
families who started playing their instrument in school. This won’t
happen now in most school districts.

 

Now people who can afford it have to
pay for day care, pay to go to parks, pay to go to the beaches, and
the many other things that add to the quality of life for all
citizens, allowing us to share in the riches of the nation as a whole
group instead of as individuals working and struggling to buy what is
necessary to enjoy the fruit of American life.

 

As we cut taxes the savings are now
being funneled into overseas investments that put us out jobs and
foreign wars—especially to defense contractors. The states and
local governments are broke, so they need to raise state a local
taxes while cutting the services we so desperately need. In the long
run the average person ends up paying more for services than he paid
for taxes, while the rich person has an opportunity to invest in
China and send their children to the best schools, concerts, music
programs and so on so they can make us look like failures when we try
to compete against them. As a result of this the rich communities get
good resources while the average and poor ones decline until they
begin to look like the slums in most Latin American countries. We
end up with beautiful homes in one block and torn up ghettos right in
the next block, except for the most rich areas—all because we don’t
want to support each other by paying taxes.

 

The sad thing is that the amount of
taxes never go down, they only get transferred from the federal
government to state and local governments, utility fees, park fees,
higher car registration costs and licensing fees. We end up paying
the same amount of taxes for no service. That is why I like the idea
of a tax and spend government as long as the money is being spent on
the people who are being taxed instead of on foreign wars and foreign
investments. It is strange that anytime we hear the words tax and
spend government from the corporate media we are hearing it from a
person who’s income is highly invested in stocks in foreign countries
that are taking our jobs. They tell us we can’t depend on the
government to take care of us, but we can depend on private
corporations. That doesn’t even make sense, when you really think
about it. We can pressure the elected government to make changes in
its spending patterns; we cannot do anything to corporations.

Luksik Talk To Delco Patriots Not Stopped By Storm

Luksik Talk To Delco Patriots Not Stopped By Storm — An impending snowstorm and a four-hour drive back to Johnstown kept conservative favorite Peg Luksik from her traditional mingle with the crowd but she still entranced a banquet room of Delaware County Patriots with her hour-plus talk of tips on dealing with elected officials.

Tonight’s meeting was at the Knights of Columbus Hall in Newtown Square which was a bit of a break for Peg since it was a half-hour closer to the the Turnpike than the Kings Mills in Aston where the meetings had been held. She said getting home took a priority this night since she was to meet her son who was on leave from the Navy.

The room was near full. It was reported that the night brought 35 new participants. So much for claims that passion was falling.

Mrs. Luksik said that politicians were people with feelings and that being nice to them was much better than ranting at them.

“You catch more flies with honey, than vinegar,” she said.

She said that meeting them at the district office is almost always more effective than trying to meet them in Harrisburg since there is much less competition for their time. She cited as example her interactions with Republican leader Mike Turzai, who is now majority leader. She said she gets much more time with him in his home office, which is in the 28th District in Allegheny County, than she does in Harrisburg.

She was quite high in her praise for Turzai.

Mrs. Luksik emphasized the importance of researching and understanding the issues before any meeting with an elected official. She also emphasized the importance of  accuracy and honesty. She cited several legislative battles that she won because her opponent was caught in bald lies.

She discounted the use of petitions and rallies. She said one of the most effective things an activist can do is a short, polite handwritten letter. She said thank you notes following a positive vote can be remarkably beneficial as can polite notes expressing disappointment following an undesired vote.

She emphasized the importance of attending municipal and school board meetings, a point made clear after her talk when it was revealed that Springfield activists squashed an expected tax hike in that town.

Mrs. Luksik gave an example as to how attending the small meetings made one knowledgeable and confident when dealing with officials in bigger arenas.

She emphasized the importance of teamwork and that nobody should be too proud to feel a job is beneath them.

“Everybody has to clean the bathrooms,” she said.

She talked about the importance of building bridges to political opponents and described how she managed to convince a group of Democrats the wisdom of making English the official language by reasonably describing the liberating benefits being required to learn it would grant those who don’t know it.

She did emphasize, however, the importance of not compromising on principles, and learning from failures.  She cited as an example the success homosexual activists have had over the last two decades.

Not that she was saying there was anything right about it.

Mrs. Luksik ended her talk by noting that America is founded on a specific belief that it is not government that is the ultimate authority, but God. She said that is the soul of America and that it is that soul for which we must fight.

The Delco Patriots will be having candidate and campaign manger training, Feb. 5, at the Marple Public Library.

Pre-registration cost will be $35, with a $45 cost for walk-ins.

Details should soon be available on the website.

Luksik Talk To Delco Patriots Not Stopped By Storm