A DISCUSSION ON TAXES

I'm not a big fan of the NY Time's Thomas L. Friedman. Especially after he served as Bush's cheerleader in the run-up to war in Iraq, and then gave him a never ending window to get things right with his "the-next-six-months-are-crucial" routine on the war (which has now been satirized as a "Friedman Unit").

However, he gets this one right ...

... Palin defended the government’s $700 billion rescue plan. She defended the surge in Iraq, where her own son is now serving. She defended sending more troops to Afghanistan. And yet, at the same time, she declared that Americans who pay their fair share of taxes to support all those government-led endeavors should not be considered patriotic.

I only wish she had been asked: “Governor Palin, if paying taxes is not considered patriotic in your neighborhood, who is going to pay for the body armor that will protect your son in Iraq? Who is going to pay for the bailout you endorsed? ... Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?”

This country needs to have a serious discussion on taxes. And, no, I don't like paying them either ... but someone has to become an adult and start paying the bills. If we don't, we will become even more exposed and vulnerable to other nations ... and there's nothing patriotic about that.

President Bush turned surpluses into deficits by giving tax cuts to the people who needed it least. He also killed any hope of paying down the national debt. In the process he initiated one of the greatest transfers of wealth in world history. Almost 30 years of giving tax breaks to the rich and hoping it jump-starts another economic revolution is a joke.

America needs this discussion.

- Mark