Less Government, Lower Taxes

I often say, “My education began after I graduated from college.”

Many years ago I studied at Texas State College for Women (now Texas Woman’s University). To receive my degree with a major in journalism, I took courses in economics, government, sociology, etc. to make me aware of the world beyond Texas, as well as how to edit copy, write headlines, and work with printers. Just for fun I also studied the Bible and history of Art.

After graduation I continued to read and study. I know more history than my first husband, who had a master’s degree in history from Northwestern. I know more about economics than my Congressman, who has a business degree from Texas A&M. By keeping my eyes and ears open as I lived in various places and traveled to foreign countries, I learned a lot about the differences and similarities between people and governments. My brother says, “Never play trivial pursuit with her.”

The most important thing I learned in college was to read and think critically. I learned to always check sources. Why does a person make this statement? Whether it is in a book, a magazine article, a commentator on television, or in an e.mail, what is “the story behind the story”?

Gullible people accept as truth whatever they are told. They internalize thoughts and prejudices without ever questioning their beliefs. Yesterday I sat at a table with a new resident who told me, “I don’t like Obama.” When I asked why, she said, “I just don’t like him.”

I have an extremely intelligent friend in Houston. He has a master’s degree from M.I.T. He trained as an engineer and thinks in terms of “facts.” He is a Republican and never questions any of the far right propaganda he receives via e.mail. He refuses to understand that there is no editor on the w.w.w. Also, he bought the mistaken idea that “the media” has a liberal bias. He knows nothing about libel laws and dismisses anything published in magazines like TIME and Newsweek as “liberal propaganda.”

Friends, he has things backward. He considers Bob Schiefer as a liberal and won’t watch his program. On Sunday he didn’t see two senators present their views on the debt crisis. Bob gave twice as much time to the Republican senator than to the Democrat.

Tea Party members in Congress are letting our country face an economic disaster because they are tied to “Less Government, Lower Taxes.” That is a simplistic program that won’t work. Sure, there is waste in government, and the fat needs to be trimmed. But not by cutting Medicare and Medicaid. Not to mention lesser programs. Our national parks are decaying minute by minute.

Giving more tax breaks for the rich won’t create more jobs. The super rich will only build bigger mansions and buy fancier yachts. Manufacturing jobs are not coming back. The way to stimulate the economy is for more government spending on programs to hire more workers who will spend their money to buy more. That’s the way to get the economy moving again. We should raise taxes on the rich to pay for it.

That is not Socialism. That is practical economics.