Day: October 3, 2011

Forget The “Buffett Rule”! Call It The “Reagan Rule”!

Ronald Leave a comment

Recently, there has been much controversy about the concept of the “Buffett Rule”, named after billionaire Warren Buffett, who has said that he and all wealthy people should pay more taxes than his secretary!

Barack Obama has been promoting that, and the Republicans claim it is promoting “class warfare”! Instead, they would rather promote greed and selfishness, and starve the budget, preventing job growth and promoting further economic dislocation!

But now, it has been uncovered that President Ronald Reagan, the “darling” of the conservatives, called for the same thing when he was President in the 1980s, make wealthy people pay more than the average American taxpayer!

Obama’s language is almost exactly the same as Reagan’s, and it is amazing that many Republicans worship someone who actually agrees with Obama! That shows their ignorance, or their ability to lie, and either is disgraceful! And every poll shows more than 70 percent of the people agree with both Obama AND Reagan!

It is also not well known that Ronald Reagan signed ELEVEN different tax increases while in office, and understood that if the budget or economic conditions required it, a rise in taxes was necessary, including on the wealthy!

It is time for tax action to avert a worst economic situation than the one we are now in!

The “Learned” Presidents: Men Of Great Intellect!

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In today’s America, we see glorification of presidential candidates who comes across as lacking in knowledge and insights, people who represent ignorance of history and science, who are seen as the “average American”, as if that is what we need in the White House! What else explains Sarah Palin, Michele Bachmann, Rick Perry, Rick Santorum and others who are constantly displaying their lack of intellect?

In the past, we had our share of ignorant Presidents, but we also had a great number of “learned” Presidents, one out of three, who made the office proud with their intellect and insights. It did not, of course, guarantee success in all of their activities as President, but we could feel satisfied that we had brilliant men who represented a model of what America should strive for: intellectual curiosity and inquiry and desire for learning, something looked down upon today, a very regrettable development.

So who are the “learned” Presidents?

John Adams
Thomas Jefferson
James Madison
John Quincy Adams
James Garfield (more potentially, because of assassination within months of taking the oath of office)
Theodore Roosevelt
William Howard Taft
Woodrow Wilson
Herbert Hoover
Richard Nixon
Jimmy Carter
Bill Clinton
Barack Obama

The debate about the connection between intellect and success will go on, as it is well known that there is considerable debate about the effectiveness and success of Madison, Taft, Hoover, Nixon, and Carter, at the least. And many would debate Wilson and Clinton as well.

But this list demonstrates, if nothing else, that we have some “scholars” in the White House, and that we should want the “best and the brightest” in the Oval Office, to set a model for the nation and its future!

Rick Perry Family Hunting Camp Racial Slurs Disqualify Him To Be President!

Ronald Leave a comment

Texas Governor Rick Perry is now in the midst of a controversy regarding his family’s hunting camp, which had a racial slur on a rock at the entrance for many years, the most despicable slur possible–the N word–, and it has caused Herman Cain, the only African American candidate in the Republican race, to denounce him as insensitive on the race issue. That is a mild reaction, to say the least, but still telling!

In 2012, despite the reality that there are Americans who are racist and promote the race issue, particularly on President Obama, it is NOT acceptable to have such a candidate represent a major political party in a national campaign!

All it does is promote the “Old South” mentality that must be rooted out completely from national politics, as that is not the road to progress in the future, particularly in a nation becoming rapidly more racially diverse, and by 2040-2050 will see the white population as a minority in America!

It will be interesting to see if other Republican candidates, other than Herman Cain, will speak up and criticize Rick Perry on this. If they do not, then they lose all credibility as legitimate candidates for the Presidency of the United States!

This nation cannot afford to go backward on racial progress, and Rick Perry would be a reflection of the past on racial matters, and in many ways, the present in Texas for minorities who have faced discrimination despite their growing numbers.