good observations...

[acroyear]

Ruth Marcus - The 'Socialist' Scare - washingtonpost.com:

There are two equally worrying aspects of the toxic fallout from the McCain campaign's closing argument. The first is how much harder it will be for the next president to unite a divided country in the way that both McCain and Obama say they want. Ominous talk about socialism and welfare, about pro- and anti-America, threatens to make that task harder, no matter who is elected.

The second is the long-term damage to the ability to move beyond the stale "no new taxes" debate and have an adult discussion about how to raise the revenue the country needs to make investments for the future, even as it provides for an aging population.

It's for this reason I am FURIOUS with Wolf's ads about Feder's "Tax Me Now" comment, taken utterly out of context.  Feder may have some crazy ideas (trust me, I did NOT vote for her in the primary).  But on this issue Feder is at least being honest about a particular economic truth: the rate of the interest on the national debt will always rise faster than the rate of inflation and wages.

Every dollar we don't spend of our own will cost our children much, much more.  The sooner we accept this responsibility, this reality, and actually start paying this debt off, the stronger we'll be.

Comments

[3fingeredsalute.livejournal.com]

Clearly non-conventional thinking, but what if we WERE to polarize the country? I mean, how bad could it be for red states and blue states to divide? It's a joke, of course... for the media to call us different countries, but what if you had to vote with your feet and move to "a country you approve of"? It's a fairly divided position between federal rights and state rights to govern. Those individuals who disagree with the country's "liberal agenda" will move to red zones, and those who disagree with "preventative war" and tax-breaks to Exxon Mobile will move to blue zones. Families will be split down the middle, and trade-agreements between the two countries will have to be taxed, regulated and negotiated as dealings with any other "terrorist country" (aka: people who think differently than blind submission to "truthiness").

With the fissure between the parties and all the completely divided rhetoric leading to more animosity and ill-will, the alternative to a separation might just be a true meaning of a civil war. The only thing keeping us from more absolutes and raising fists amongst ourselves is the fact that we still have quite a bit to live for. We still make enough to sustain basics like food, some travel, and a bit of play. How deep does the economy have to sink before we enter the desperate hatred of oppression where we blame everyone for the problems we and all whom we know suffer?

Of course, this revolutionary talk is just a notion at this point... however, those who don't remember history are doomed to repeat it. How dissimilar is this from the overthrow of the Russian Czars? The rise of Mao Zedong? The conservative, nationalist, authoritarian Third Reich? Thankfully, it's not TOO close to any of those instances, but our perilous path and current divisive "media-fed" accusation-frenzy has a lot more commonality with precedent than I feel comfortable denying.