WE DON'T LIVE IN FAIRYTOPIA

Conservatives … Believers in Tinker Bell and Pixie Dust?

Contrary to what many conservatives might want to believe, there are no Infrastructure Fairies, no Public School Fairies, no Public Safety Fairies, no Research Fairies … well, you get the picture.

In our last program I discussed the role the modern state plays in our lives. I argued that many conservatives simply don’t get it. Somebody has to pay for the opportunities, lifestyle, and quality of life that we enjoy, which means paying taxes.

I don’t enjoy paying taxes. Then again, who does? But someone has to pay the piper. The Founding Fathers understood this too (which helps explain why we dropped the Articles of Confederation).

Conservatives, however, have gone on an irresponsible Tax Cut Jihad over the past 28 years. Instead of increasing revenue, with an economic program that George H.W. Bush presciently referred to as "voodoo economics" 28 years ago, successive republican administration policies have increased America’s national debt from about $973 billion in 1980 to well over $9.3 Trillion today.

But I will give the conservatives one thing: They know what sells politically.

They don’t know how to run a country. Nor do they seem capable of grasping what it is to be responsible – as they run the dollar into the ground, and leave successive generations to pay for 2 floundering wars and assorted tax breaks for the rich. Still, they know how to win national elections: A “No Tax” promise resonates with everyone.

This brings me to this presidential election. Is anyone else but me annoyed that the party that claims to be responsible and patriotic seems bent on ignoring real national problems, while drumming up phony issues tied to “elitism” and “race cards”? This, when we’re facing the greatest challenges our nation has faced since the 1970s, and perhaps even the 1940s?

My friends, at the end of the day, Tinker Bell and Pixie Dust won’t build our infrastructures. Nor will blind faith in a failed ideology create a Conservative Neverland where no one ever has to grow up, be responsible, and pay for what makes this country great. We don't live in Fairytopia ...

We’ll talk about this, and more, on Saturday.

- Mark