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Opinion
Reece Terry, publisher
Mark Boehler, editor
4 • Thursday, December 15, 2011
Corinth, Miss.
Guest Views
Is America a nation of two different tribes? It is being heard more and more that Americans are divided into two different camps. It is even mentioned they do not even communicate because they do not speak the same language. Indeed, the verbal combat Dr. Marty is escalating and intensifying. Wiseman Although such talk might have Stennis once been considered idle Institute conversation, each day and every philosophical debate that passes seems to add credence to the notion the United States is becoming a country of two increasingly divergent tribes. Conservative thinker and pundit George Will added conciseness to the debate recently when he suggested a simple answer to a simple question would be quite revealing. Referring to the current economic turmoil, he posed the question: “Keynes or Hayek?” The implication was that, whether one realizes it or not, a citizen of the United States today must be one or the other. John Maynard Keynes was the British economist who believed government intervention is appropriate and necessary to mitigate rough places such as recessions that occur over the course of economic cycles. Keynes was certainly an advocate of government stimulus of the type recently favored by the Obama administration to shore up the economy at those points where the pure free market approach faltered. On the other hand, Friedrich Hayek stood firm on his belief the free market economy in its purest form had a life all of its own with many moving parts, and it was preposterous to believe such an economy could be understood by individuals. Hence, government intervention into the natural workings of the free market is futile and dangerous. Perhaps these different views have been the undercurrents of dispute all along, and it is only during times of great economic stress we feel we must choose sides. One thing for sure is the debate, and the growing animosity among debaters, has spilled over the top of the economic boiler and into the social and political arenas. Furthermore, the belief in the respective philosophical positions has become so intense and so purified there is no apparent possibility of compromise. It is worthy to recall the hyper-government intervention of the Depression-era Franklin Roosevelt years were concluded by the greatest incident of government intervention of all, i.e. World War II. Until recently, reunions of those who were in the camps of the “make work” Civilian Conservation Corps were common. Then there was the “War on Poverty” of President Lyndon Johnson. Medicare and other social programs remain as relics of Johnson’s Great Society notion a wealthy nation such as the United States had the ability to place a “safety net” under everyone. This, however, is only half of the story. The other side holds United States greatness can only be attributed to the freedom of the individual to fight his or her way through adversity. Conservatives hold the individualshould be paramount in a free society. So these are the sides that have been chosen. They are not only in terms of economics, but politically and socially as well. The rhetoric of both sides tells the stories. One side has drawn a line between the one percent of the population that is most affluent and the remaining 99 percent. It is demanding government intervention to bring greater equality to the two sides. The language of income redistribution is creeping into the debate. On the other side one finds a vigorous defense of the individual. It maintains government harms the individual when it intervenes. Congressman Paul Ryan (R-WI) has made the philosophy of Ayn Rand required reading for his staff. Rand emphasized individual rights, including property rights. America is now poised to embark upon one of the most philosophically divisive national election seasons ever. Dr. W. Marty Wiseman is professor of political science and director of the John C. Stennis Institute of Government, Mississippi State University. His e-mail address is marty@sig.msstate.edu.
Prayer for today O Lord, help us to remember daily your great love for us and to proclaim it by our actions for all to see. Amen.
A verse to share And they came into the house and saw the young child with Mary his mother; and they fell down and worshipped him . . . — Matthew 2:11
Reece Terry publisher rterry@dailycorinthian.com
Rubio versus Paul on Georgia’s future In August 2008, as gians,” bawled Mcthe world’s leaders Cain. gathered in Beijing for Well, not exactly. the Olympic games, President Bush Georgian President called Putin’s reMikheil Saakashvili, sponse “disproporhot-headed and errattionate” and “brutal,” ic, made his gamble Patrick J. but did nothing. Buchanan for greatness. What made this It began with a war of interest to Columnist Americans, however, stunning artillery barrage on Tskhinwas that Bush had vali, capital of tiny South long sought to bring GeorOssetia, a province that had gia into NATO. broken free of Tbilisi when And had Georgia been a Tbilisi broke free of Russia. member of NATO when SaaAs Ossetians and Russian kashvili began his war, U.S. peacekeepers fell under the Marines and Special Forces Georgian guns, terrified Os- might have been on the way setians fled into Russia. to the Caucasus to confront Saakashvili’s blitzkrieg Russian troops in a part of appeared to have tri- the world where there is no umphed. vital U.S. interest. Until, that is, Russian arA U.S war with Russia mor, on Vladimir Putin’s or- would have been an act of ders, came thundering down national criminal insanity. the Roki Tunnel into OsDays later, there came ansetia, sending Saakashvili’s other startling discovery. army reeling. The Georgians McCain foreign policy adwere driven out of Ossetia viser Randy Scheunemann and expelled from a second had been paid $290,000 by province that had broken the Saakashvili regime, from free of Tbilisi: Abkhazia. January 2007 to March The Russians then pro- 2008, to get Georgia into ceeded to bomb Tbilisi, NATO, and thus acquire a capture Gori, birthplace of priceless U.S. war guarantee Joseph Stalin, and bomb to fight on Georgia’s side in Georgian airfields rumored any clash with Russia. to be the forward bases for What makes this history the Israelis in any pre-emp- relevant today? tive strike on Iran. Last week, Sen. Marco The humiliation of Saa- Rubio, rising star of the kashvili was total, and Republican right, on everybrought an enraged and one’s short list for VP, called frustrated John McCain to for a unanimous vote, withthe microphones. out debate, on a resolution “Today, we’re all Geor- directing President Obama
to accept Georgia’s plan for membership in NATO. Rubio was pushing to have the U.S. Senate pressure Obama into fast-tracking Georgia into NATO, making Tbilisi an ally the United States would be obligated to go to war to defend. Now it is impossible to believe a senator, not a year in office, dreamed this up himself. Some foreign agent of Scheunemann’s ilk had to have had a role in it. And for whose benefit is Rubio pushing to have his own countrymen committed to fight for a Georgia that, three years ago, started an unprovoked war with Russia? The answer is unknown. What is known is the name of the senator who blocked it — Rand Paul, son of Ron Paul, who alone stepped in and objected, defeating Rubio’s effort. The resolution was pulled. But these people will be back. They are indefatigable when it comes to finding ways to commit the blood of U.S. soldiers to their client regimes and ideological bedfellows. Back in 2008, however, as Bush was confining himself to protesting the excesses of Russia’s response, his exU.N. ambassador was full of righteous rage and ready for military action. In the London Telegraph, Aug. 15, 2008, John Bolton declared that Russia had conducted an “invasion”
and that Georgia had been a “victim of aggression.” As for the European Union, in bringing about a ceasefire, it had achieved results “approaching Neville Chamberlain’s moment in the spotlight at Munich.” But did not Georgia launch the attack that started the war? “This confrontation is not about who violated the Marquis of Queensbury’s rule in South Ossetia,” scoffed Bolton. Restoring America’s credibility, said Bolton, now requires “drawing a clear line for Russia” in the Caucasus and elsewhere. And who is John Bolton? Newt Gingrich told two groups Wednesday he intends to name Bolton secretary of state. With Newt appointing as America’s first diplomat an uber-hawk who makes Dick Cheney look like Gandhi, and Mitt Romney’s foreign policy team crawling with neocons primed for war with Iran, a vote for the GOP in 2012 looks more and more like a vote for war. Like the Bourbons of old, the Republican Party seems to have learned nothing and forgotten nothing. Patrick J. Buchanan is the author of “Suicide of a Superpower: Will America Survive to 2025?” He is also an American conservative political commentator, syndicated columnist and broadcaster.
The rich are raking in profit like it’s 1929 No wonder the There was a reason American people are they were scheduled confused — about the to go away after 10 economy, the nation, years. Any longer the Middle East, the than that would onrushing election, break the budget, it and everything else. said when they Donald was People keep feeding were enacted. Kaul them bad information. But when the deFor example, how Other Words cade was up Republicans went back on many times have you the deal, refusing to heard a commentator say that the mess in Wash- countenance “a job-killing ington is the fault of both tax hike,” and that’s where parties because neither we’ve been ever since. Never mind President party will compromise? I’m Barack Obama’s deficit plan guessing … many. It’s not true, not even a limited the restoration of little bit. Democrats have taxes only to higher incomes, stood ready to compromise and balanced that with cuts on pretty much every issue in social welfare programs that’s come before them dear to Democrats’ hearts. in the past two years. Tax (In other words, a comprocuts, social security, mili- mise.) Higher taxes of any tary spending, immigration, kind were and are a no-no school lunches — you name for Republicans. Democrats it — Democrats have been will compromise, Republicans won’t. willing to take half a loaf. Does that mean that all It’s Republicans who have been unwilling to give our troubles are the fault of an inch on taxing people the Republican Party? Yes. we call, for want of a better name, rich. The only reason OK, maybe not all of our anything at all has gotten troubles. Democrats get big done over the past year is money from the same peothat Democrats have caved ple who fund the Republican in to Republican demands, Party, but Republicans are like extending the now-fa- the main impediment to getmous Bush tax cuts. ting out of the hole we’re in. Ah yes, the Bush tax cuts. And compromise isn’t
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the only subject the public is getting bad information about. There are taxes, for example. Supposedly we have the highest corporate taxes in the industrialized world and they are crushing our economy. Nonsense. During the past quarter, corporations paid out 21 percent of their profits in taxes (as opposed to the theoretical 35 percent conservatives are always woofing about). In the past 50 years, through good times and bad, that rate has amounted to just under 34 percent. So our corporations are being taxed at about twothirds of what they have been taxed at historically. Not so high. But what about personal taxes? Surely they’re high. They’re not. For the recent quarter, personal taxes were estimated at 14.1 percent of income. The 50-year average is 15.5 percent, 10 percent higher. In addition, the latest figures show that aftertax profits of corporations make up 10.3 percent of the economy — the highest they’ve ever been. The next highest was the 8.98 percent achieved in 1929, a year you don’t want
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to be compared to. So what does this all mean? It means we’re being sold a bill of goods, people. We are being systematically lied to so the upper tenth of one percent of the population, which funds our elections and pays off our politicians, can get ever richer. Our environment, our school systems, our social safety net, our public works, and our middle-class prosperity are all being sacrificed to make the richest richer. This isn’t a new phenomenon. In 1896, a great American put the case before the Democratic National Convention: “There are those who believe that if you will only legislate to make the wellto-do prosperous, that their prosperity will leak through to those below. “The Democratic idea has been that if you make the masses prosperous, their prosperity will find its way up and through every class that rests upon it.” Where is William Jennings Bryan when you need him? OtherWords columnist Donald Kaul lives in Ann Arbor, Mich. http://otherwords.org
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