Knee-jerk conservatism, anyone? Coming right up:
Our legislators are playing us for fools
Our elitist Sen. Barack Obama has declared the folks who got tax relief as those who don’t need it. Our aspiring socialist Gov. Rod Blagojevich says those same folks, the $60,000 a year and less income set, are too poor and need socialized health care for their children. While that conflicting logic gets played in the media, Sen. Durbin wants a windfall profits tax on oil and gas producers.
Then in Wednesday’s business section it says the trucking industry has passed its increased operating costs onto consumers while airlines can’t seem to do that. Many airlines are nearly out of business.
Also in Wednesday’s paper, Mayor Tim Davlin attempts to justify keeping the elevated local sales tax in place because an unfixable $8 million hole will appear in the city’s budget otherwise. So much for fiscal restraint.
Industry passing its increased costs onto consumers is exactly what will happen if Sen. Durbin has his way. For sure Gov. Blagojevich will need funding for his socialized health care and that will only happen with more tax revenue. Sen. Obama must be a wealthy elitist to think that those who pay taxes are too rich for tax relief. I have already taken as much business as possible away from Davlin’s sales tax increase.
These legislators are playing us for fools and their justifications for ever-increasing taxes lack continuity.
Let’s vote these people out!
Anthony J. Jones, Springfield
Up is down. Black is white.
Senator Obama is an “elitist.” I put the label in quotes because I can’t quite follow the logic. Certainly, as an office-holder, the skinny, non-affluent kid from the south side of Chicago has acquired fame, power, influence, and other attributes (or pejoratives) associated with the definition. Yet what Obama advocates could make one wonder whether the characterization seems just a little odd.
That’s because Obama is also a “Socialist.” This description is based on his belief in asking richer citizens, who can afford it, to be more supportive of the poor. Hence Obama is a “Socialist Elitist” (or “Elitist Socialist”), which some might construe as an oxymoron.
But what do I know? Words and phrases such as “drink the Koolaide,” “take your Prozac,” and “closure” elude me as well, by virtue of having been overused into the realm of meaninglessness long ago. “What’s he been smoking” is thankfully all but obsolete. “Elite,” usually attached to someone in the form of an accusation, is eminently qualified to join their ranks. Or, it could be argued, what’s one person’s “elitism” is another’s “altruism.”
Now return to the first paragraph for the latest worn-out phrase worthy of retirement.