Prometheus 6   

This is a reprint

The Imaginary Candidate

Ladies and gentlemen, my opponent is correct when he says everyone would rather pay fewer taxes than more. Truthfully, I feel the same, but as a public servant it will be my duty to serve you correctly. That sometimes means telling you the truth when you may not want to hear it. I'm afraid this is one of those times.

You have to pay taxes.

Let's take a break from all the economic theory and look at the reality on the ground. Do you want highways? Do you want new drugs tested for safety or do you trust the pharmaceutical companies that charge more for an allergy remedy than you'd likely pay for illicit drugs to make sure you're safe? Should we have an army? Do you want airliners inspected thoroughly, you're sure the safety checks won't be reviewed in the next round of cost cutting? Do you want unemployment assistance after that same cost cutting round? Do you want protection from criminal? Do you want everything deregulated, so that there's an Enron in every vital service you rely on?

Then you want a government. Maybe a more responsive government is what you need.

There is a cost to running a government, and again my opponent is correct in saying that cost depends on what a government does and how it does it. He has expressed his ideas on how it works. But he doesn't seem to take reality into account. And he doesn't take your need and desires into account either.

Think of all the things you need your government to do, and the things you want it to do. You're a citizen and your desires are as valid as those of my opponent's supporters. Think of what a government is capable of (I assure you, my opponent has given it ample thought!), and ask yourself does this man's plan leave the government enough resources to help you? I am asking you to make it personal because you will be affected by your decision more than either of us. Will your unemployment, if (God forbid) you should need it, expire before you can find work? Will it be available at all? Will your family's health suffer because you can not afford a doctor or the medicine she prescribes? Will the money you've already paid into social security be there when you retire? Will you have to invest your nest egg on your own, competing with people that trade for a living … people as good at their job as you are at yours? Will you come up short because a nation you helped make the richest, most powerful that ever existed won't be able to afford to pay you back? This is the future his tax cut plan is devising for you.

Ladies and gentlemen … citizens … I want you to forget about John Kennedy for a moment. I want you to decide what you want your country to do for you. And tell me, so I can make it so. No matter what a bunch of people who already have all you want say, it can be so.

But you'll have to pay taxes.

And so will they.

posted by Prometheus 6 at 7/14/2003 05:12:07 PM |