Hello FairTax, Goodbye IRS

For a loud-mouth right-wing radio host who I would usually be eager to criticize, Neal Boortz is surprisingly right on the money with The FairTax Book (coauthored by Georgia congressman John Linder). In fact, I just read the entire book in one sitting completely enthralled by its brilliance. That is exactly what the proposed FairTax system is, brilliant, and the fact that only two ultra-conservative candidates support it (Huckabee and Paul) is baffling.

The truth is this; the current tax system in America is a joke. Its complexity is unnecessary to the point of absurdity and the loopholes it allows, especially to the wealthy, are completely against the morals this nation was founded on. Not to mention that the entire idea of an income tax is unconstitutional under Article 1, Section 9 which reads “No Capitation, or other direct, Tax shall be laid, unless in Proportion to the Census of Enumeration hereinbefore directed to be taken.” Billions of dollars in revenue are currently lost due to tax evasion, and no one seems to be doing anything about it.

That’s where the FairTax system comes in. To put into the simplest terms possible, a FairTax system is a proposal to abolish the Internal Revenue Service (IRS if you didn’t catch on) and replace all existing taxes, including the income tax, with a national sales tax placed on all retail items. Rather than taxing income, the government would be taxing consumption. Its important to note that this system does not raise or cut taxes; it simply generates the same amount of tax revenue in a transparent and logical way.

To account for the disproportion of income consumed by the wealthy in comparison to the poor, the system also has in its proposal a “prebate” that every household would get every month to cover the taxes on all necessities up to the poverty line. This would eliminate nearly all sales taxes on the poor, in addition to keeping every penny they make from their paychecks. And this is supposed to be a right-wing idea? You would think Ralph Nader would draw up such a proposal!

Another impressive economic phenomenon the FairTax takes advantage of is that of embedded taxes. Based on research done by Dr. Dale Jorgenson, chairman of the Harvard Economics Department, 22% of the price paid for a consumer product represents embedded taxes. These are costs that producers pass on to consumers in order to pay their required taxes. If the FairTax is put in place, these corporate taxes would be removed and ultimately, based on simple market competition, the prices of all consumer goods would drop dramatically. Once the 23% sales tax required by the FairTax system is added to the 22% drop in prices, Americans would be paying only slightly more for their products, while eliminating all other form of taxation.

At this point I though to myself, “There is no way this system could ever create the required revenue that the federal government requires.” This is where the genius of the plan really shows its face. Under the current tax system, billions of dollars in revenues are lost in two ways: underground economies (illicit drug market) and overseas in banks that the government can’t touch. Even though this money is spent in our economy, none of this money is taxed. That would all change under the FairTax system. Even though they don’t file income taxes, drug dealers and those who hide money in foreign banks still spend money which would now be taxed and generate new revenue for the government. Unless you refuse to spend money, tax evasion would be impossible.

After thoroughly learning the simplicity and effectiveness a FairTax system would have on our nation, it is hard to see why so few people know about it. Perhaps it is too radical an idea for a predominate candidate to support. Maybe its association with right-wing talk show hosts is too much for people to take seriously. Whatever the reason, it’s a shame. Because the FairTax system is the correct and revolutionary solution to the failed and abused tax system America is currently struggling with.

Rat Race

While I have always been one to be interested in political issues and develop personal opinions through research, I have never given much attention to actual politicians and their positions as thoroughly as I have over the past few months. This has of course been a result of the constant coverage of the 2008 Presidential Race in nearly every medium of media you come across. Perhaps it is just because of my age—a twenty year old college kid embracing a newly found thirst for political knowledge—but I feel that there has arisen a new interest in politics in America. No longer is it just my parents who will occasionally bring to my attention a well-written article on Giuliani or a shocking documentary on the War in Iraq, but my peers as well. For the first time I can ever remember, presidential debates are of interest to friends of mine who never gave a shit about the future of our nation previously. It is a rather interesting phenomenon, and one that I feel is long overdue in our nation.

To make the added attention and suspense even more fulfilling, it has turned into one hell of a race. Not even a month into the primaries, we have seen surprise wins for up and coming Barack Obama and Baptist bass-playing Mike Huckabee. On both sides of the race the nomination is very much up for grabs, and I feel that Americans are for once realizing that it truly going to be up to them to decide the future of this nation. The distance politics has held itself from the public for so long is slowly shrinking, and it couldn’t have come at a more important time.

The Elephants

As far at the candidates go, I guess I’ll start with the Republicans. The bottom line is that in order to win the party is going to have to centralize and adopt positions that the public at large agrees with. It no longer seems that the conservatives are going to have the ability to dictate their voter base, but rather quite the opposite. This inability to compromise and evolve to the views of the American public at large have allowed the Republican party to establish power many would argue they do not deserve, but it will also be their downfall in 2008. When 70% of the people voting are against a war and you refuse to acknowledge and learn from their criticism, there is no way you can win an election. The Republicans are the definition of bull-headed, and I think their might has finally drifted too far right of right.

With that said, they still have a shot. In order to be able to compete at all in a general election between the immense popularity of either Obama or Hillary, the Republican candidate will have to capture a majority of independent voters. It is quite simply their only hope, and the only hopeful that could possibly pull off such an uncharacteristic feat is John McCain. Sure he’s older than Stonehenge and thinks the surge was the greatest military feat since the Spartans battled the Persian’s, but he’s a moderate. He has the ability to appeal to voters who believe in evolution and think that simulated drowning qualifies as cruel and unusual.

More important than McCain’s electibility is the unelectibility of his Republican opponents. I think it is fair to say that America has finally seen the through the illusion and mass manipulation of the politics of fear, yet Giuliani continues to attempt to scare voters into supporting him. Romney is basically Bush reincarnate, not realizing the fact that the billionaire son of a politician platform isn’t exactly one Americans are fond of at the moment. Not only that, but he comes across to be possibly the most arrogant human being I have ever witnessed. While debating McCain on immigration, he didn’t listen to or show any interest in what McCain was saying. He just sat there with this know-it-all smirk on his face before erupting into another one of his condescending tirades. I don’t know what exactly this nation needs in a new president, but it surely is not another pompous prick who completely lacks the ability to this to listen to and unite others. Fred Thompson does a great job at appealing to those who think Ronald Reagan is comparable to George Washington, but not much else. Huckabee, as sweet and genuine as he his, won as surprisingly in Iowa as he’s going to lose unsurprisingly in every other state.

There is a dark-horse Republican candidate who I personally find very appealing yet still has no chance to win the nomination; I speak of Ron Paul. Ron Paul is a true conservative. A true believer in small government (not a Republican who is against welfare but for a record-setting military budget). A true believer in our individual rights. Ron Paul is a Republican who is against the War in Iraq, against the IRS (like Huckabee he proposes a national sales tax, which in my opinion is brilliant) and against the Patriot Act’s blatant attack on our first amendment rights. He stands for what The Republican Party claims to stand for, points out the hypocrisy in all his colleagues, yet makes no impression on a manipulated conservative base.

The bottom line: If you really hate Hillary, you better vote McCain in the primaries.

The Donkeys

The mountainous momentum established by the three leading Democratic nominees can be attributed to three things: change, change, and more change. Simply saying the word is enough to gain support in this day an age. In fact, here is a good drinking game for your next viewing of a presidential debate (politics can be fun!): chug every time a Republican says terrorism and every time a Democrat says change. Why is a change-oriented platform having such a powerful effect on America? Its rather simple, people are pissed. People are tired of yet another war based on lies. They are tired of the executive branch disregarding the Constitution. They are tired of a president who they know they can’t trust. The Bush administration has completely destroyed whatever advantage the Republican party somehow previously had, and has allowed the Democratic candidates to use criticism as well as progression as their primary means of campaigning.

Unlike the open field of the Republican side, the Democratic nomination race has been narrowed down to three potential candidates—all of whom scare the shit out of the Republicans. We’ll start with John Edwards. With his southern draw and a lifetime of saving children from the evils of corporations, what’s not to love? While his heart is in the right place, I can’t help but see a bit of irony in a well-to-do lawyer preaching almost religiously on his devotion to the middle-class. He has his talking points, but what his words have in sincerity they often lack in depth. In every debate I have seen he establishes himself as a likeable guy, but fails to distinguish his platform’s policies from those of his other two competitors—the main reason Edwards will remain a petty third-place finisher.

The real race for the nomination, as we all know, is between the charm of Barack Obama and the experience of Hillary Clinton. Honestly, I like Obama. He’s young. He’s brilliant. He’s impossible to hate. I have read both of his books and really admire the life he has lived. After quitting a high-paying job in New York City he moved to Chicago and took a significant pay-cut so he could help others in a more fulfilling job with a church-based group in the inner city. Can you imagine Mitt Romney doing something like that? In addition to his benevolent personality Obama has one other characteristic that I feel is more important than any for the future of our nation; the ability to unite. He is always listening closely to what others are saying, even when he disagrees with them, and has shown in the Senate his capability to find a common ground between different perspectives. At a time when polarization has separated America from common goals, I see Obama has the most probable candidate to get us back on track.

But it won’t be easy. Hillary is the real deal. She knows politics better than anyone and has a record of experience that Obama can’t touch. Hillary is scary, confident, and extremely intelligent. One observation I made the other day was that Hillary thinks so fast that she has troubled talking fast enough to keep up with what she’s thinking, while Obama is the opposite; he talks slowly as though he is thinking carefully about every word he utters. Hillary has a detailed answer for everything, and it is obvious she knows what it’s like being in the White House better than any of the other candidates. With this said, people either love her or hate her, and I feel that the polarization created with Hillary in the white house will continue to lead this country down an unproductive legislative road. However, if she can find a way to unite those opposed to her, she surely has the ability to get things done.

The keystone to this accomplishment once again lies in Barack Obama. No matter who wins the Democratic nomination, the smartest thing Barack or Hillary could do is run together as a united force of change. The first woman. The first African-American. If these two profound candidates join together in 08’ with all the support they each have already gathered individually, the election will be a landslide in the Democrats favor. The only question now is whether they will put their party above themselves.

Bottom Line: If the Democrats find a way to fuck this one up…it will be impressive.

How I Spent My Winter Break

http://www.purevolume.com/backyardthicket

Shoot Em Up, Two Dislocated Thumbs Up

I just rented and viewed Shoot 'Em Up in a last minute attempt to escape an entire day of boredom. What I got was quite the contrary. Micheal Davis has created an adrenaline-packed masterpiece that met my expectations in the first five minutes and continued to blow my brain out the rest of the film. I expected a Tarentinoesque ultra-graphic flick full of pointless dialogue, but the film could easily be described as tasteful and well-developed. The action was blatantly over-the-top and the one-liners were all cliche, but the movie more than just a Pulp Fiction parody: it was thoroughly entertaining. The soundtrack was driving and original (minus the always-angry Ace of Spades), the acting was stellar (Clive Owens once again nails his forte as a nice guy with a gun), and the direction was expectedly as fast-paced as they come. Never before have a seen a film in which the antagonist's weapon of choice is a carrot, and never before have I been so impressed with a shoot 'em up film as I was with Shoot Em Up.