Tax cuts are not what they seem

by Rich Miles

I try, God knows I try to help people think about things in new and different ways. Sometimes I succeed. Most times I don't so much.

But think about this: have you ever wondered why Republicans are so het up for tax cuts?

It's not because they think the average American is overtaxed.

It's not because they believe that government is too big, and too far up on the back of the average man.

And it's not because they think we deserve to have more of our money in our pockets instead of the government's.

No, it's none of these reasons, nor any of the other specious reasons they've tried to stuff down our throats, or shove up the other end of our alimentary canals.

It's quite simple, really: They believe that no electorate at large will ever vote out of office a politician who has reduced their taxes!

And so far, they've been mostly right. George W. Bush's first AND second terms were both the result of this belief structure. Especially the second one. For the first one, he had only promised, he hadn't actually done anything yet. And the stupid voters threw a monkey wrench into the works of Clinton's highly successful deficit reduction by falling for the ol' tax reduction two-step.

And they're going to keep on trying this ploy for as long as it works: No ungrateful wretches are ever going to vote out the people who just cut their taxes.

It's yet another way that Republicans are manipulating our electoral system. It's also yet another way that they're showing how stupid they think we are. They think they can run this okie-doke on 100 million voters over and over.

And like I said above, so far - they're right.

So enjoy your tax cuts, people - while the Repugs take away five times as much as you'll ever get from a tax cut, if you live to be 176.