Look, I don’t support taxation as punishment for the wealthy and successful, or as a regime of forced “sharing.” Indeed, I think the income and inheritance taxes should be done away with altogether. So, Bernie Sanders and I are unlikely to ever see eye to eye. I will give him this, however: unlike the GOP leadership, the president, and most every pundit I’ve overheard the past few days, Bernie actually believes that the national debt matters and that there will be consequences to billions in fresh borrowing.
And there are some gems from today’s filibuster. Here Bernie is, for instance, discussing America’s Third World-level infrastructure, which results, among other things, in millions and millions of hours wasted in traffic, not to mention needless deaths. There is, of course, a racial and governmental element to this, which Bernie won’t mention: it’s practically impossible for families that can’t afford private school to live in the dangerous, dysfunctional, expensive, and tax-laden big cities. That said, Bernie should be applauded for bringing up the issue.
If the goody-two-shoes Republicans put half as much effort into defeating the DREAM Act—or even cutting spending—as they do into tax cuts for the wealthy and war-making then I might consider them a relative force for good.
Meanwhile, Obama seems to have lost all interest in being president.
