Mrs. Republican Kicks Ass
Trail Blazer's Karen Brooks has been perusing the new and improved web sites of the national political parties. She's jealous that the Democrats feel free to name their blog "Kicking Ass." And she's irritated that in order to register on the Republican web site, you have to choose between "Mr." and "Mrs." when providing your name. No "Miss" or "Ms." allowed. It appears that the Republicans are escalating their defense of marriage to include a war on the unwed.
I find it fitting that the Democrats chose democrats.org for their domain name, while the Republicans chose gop.com. The .org domain is usually reserved for non-profit organizations, while .com domains are reserved for commercial enterprises. Fitting, don't you think?
Mark Davis Answers Some Election Questions
Mark Davis surprised me by providing a fair and balanced look at the upcoming Iowa caucuses and New Hampshire primary election. He handicaps the races, telling readers what to expect and what to look for. He doesn't try to persuade us who to vote for. For once, a Mark Davis column worth reading. Check it out.
Pick a Side: Taxpayers or Will Lutz
Will Lutz, in Dallas Blog, accuses supporters of higher taxes of using rhetorical tricks. Lutz then performs a few tricks himself. He asks elected officials, "Whose side are you on, the taxpayers' or the tax-and-spenders?"
Implicit in his question is the assumption that taxpayers receive no benefit from taxes. That taxpayers don't want Social Security, veterans' benefits, Medicare, national defense, environmental protection, agricultural subsidies, and all the other services that government provides. In fact, taxpayers do want these. Elected officials who work to ensure that government provides these services are on the side of taxpayers. It's people like Will Lutz who are not.
Lutz makes a big deal about inflation. He says businesses can't raise prices faster than inflation and neither should government. Lutz's rhetorical trick here is comparing apples to oranges. Taxes increase when the government provides additional services, not just because of inflation on existing services. Health care spending goes up because the government added a prescription drug benefit. Military spending is skyrocketing, not because of inflation, but because the government is waging a new war that it wasn't waging before. These programs are popular with the voters (well, maybe not the war so much anymore - maybe Lutz will campaign to bring the troops home).
It's true that free market forces don't work on government as well as private businesses to increase productivity and reduce prices. Taxpayers must be ever vigilant that government is providing value for money. Conservatives confuse that common sense approach to government with their own desire to eliminate all the services that taxpayers have demonstrated over and over again that they really do want. That drives people like Will Lutz to use rhetorical tricks.
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