Gov. Makes a Pitch for tax measure
by Brian Leubitz
You won’t find a slew of biblical references on Calitics, but that will change for today. Gov. Brown pitched his revenue measure in a WWJD kind of way:
“For those who’ve been blessed the most, it’s only right, and I think the way to go to say, ‘Give some back temporarily, for the next seven years, until our economy finally gets back,’ ” Brown said at a news conference in Oakland, where he accepted a $1 million contribution to his tax campaign from the influential California Nurses Association.
Later, the Democratic governor invoked the New Testament explicitly.
“Those who we’re asking to pay more, I think they can,” he said. “And I think it says in the New Testament, ‘For those whom much is given, much will be asked,’ and that’s what we’re doing today.”(SacBee)
This is really one of the big Right-vs-Left fights in America right now. Those who claim to honor their religion, but then ignore the parts that are expensive or inconvenient, and those who see the morality of a more equal society. Religion needn’t be a big part of that, but there are parts of the Bible which specifically speak to these issues. It is hardly a new thing for them to be ignored, after all, hypocrisy abounded in the feudal era with respect to the Church.
And so, here we are again, looking to find a way to fund our long-term needs. I can’t imagine that calling into question the sense of charity of the Rich is the way to win this fight for the long haul. But it might score a point or two in this battle.
Sorry, I disagree.
As you point out, the rich have always ignored religious mandates when it suits them. Doesn’t even much matter what the religion is. They’re all pious if it gets them something, or if they’re afraid of something. Usually, they’re afraid of dying with all their misdeeds on their conscience.
But, to me, the larger point is that our government is explicit about not being founded on religious precepts. I know the right-wing dingbats disagree about that. But I majored in history in college and it’s true. There were men of faith involved in writing our constitution. But many remembered how their families fled countries that repressed their church of choice. They didn’t want to set up a form of government that could do that again. So they didn’t.
By invoking the scripture of any faith to support an argument, the governor is playing into their hands and validating their argument that faith is central to our way of governing. And it’s always their faith that should be the foundation. Exactly what our founding fathers didn’t want.
I know governor Brown is a believer. That’s fine with me. As long as he keeps it out of the public sphere. Otherwise he’s just giving ammunition to the wingnuts. And that’s not fine with me at all.
Besides, even though I don’t believe in it, I’ve read the Bible (and the Book of Mormon, and the Tao te Chung–though not yet the Koran). And that particular quote refers to charity. Not to funding the government.
Sorry, I disagree.
As you point out, the rich have always ignored religious mandates when it suits them. Doesn’t even much matter what the religion is. They’re all pious if it gets them something, or if they’re afraid of something. Usually, they’re afraid of dying with all their misdeeds on their conscience.
But, to me, the larger point is that our government is explicit about not being founded on religious precepts. I know the right-wing dingbats disagree about that. But I majored in history in college and it’s true. There were men of faith involved in writing our constitution. But many remembered how their families fled countries that repressed their church of choice. They didn’t want to set up a form of government that could do that again. So they didn’t.
By invoking the scripture of any faith to support an argument, the governor is playing into their hands and validates their argument that faith is central to our way of governing. And it’s always their faith that should be the foundation. Exactly what our founding fathers didn’t want.
I know governor Brown is a believer. That’s fine with me. As long as he keeps it out of the public sphere. Otherwise he’s just giving ammunition to the wingnuts. And that’s not fine with me at all.
Besides, even though I don’t believe in it, I’ve read the Bible (and the Book of Mormon, and the Tao te Chung–though not yet the Koran). And that particular quote refers to charity. Not to funding the government.
Jesus Christ:
‘It’s harder for a rich man to enter the Kingdom of Heaven than it is for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle’
used to be a commonplace (even cliched) eulogy to industriousness and civic virtue. A generation ago, everybody grumbled about taxes, but paying them was regarded as fundamental act of good citizenship.
What happened? How did we fall victim to the Anti-Tax Jihad and its “taxation is theft” mentality?
In the 1960’s the only people who didn’t pay taxes were Quakers and other anti-war protesters. By 1977 Howard Jarvis was filling the airwaves with bushlit about “big government” and “taxing Granny out of her home”.
Certainly there was economic distress during that decade, from the oil price shocks and inflation. But the big sea change in public opinion toward government resulted from desegregation. Government became “too big” when it started using “our” tax dollars to help “those people”.
RepubliCorp had been exploiting white racial resentment since the Voting Rights Act was signed by Lyndon Johnson. But it took decades for desegregation in jobs, housing and education to work its way through the federal courts to implementation.
It’s no coincidence that Prop-13 followed hard on the heels of a huge school busing fight in Los Angeles County.
So how do we restore the payment of taxes to a place of honor, an act to be admired? Religion and morality are OK, but the wealthy prefer private acts of charity because it gives them the opportunity to feel virtuous. It’s a visible, public act – you get your name on a plaque and your picture in the newspaper.
We need to make the virtue of tax payment just that visible. We need photo-ops where the Governor, the Congressman and the Mayor can be seen paying their taxes the same way we see them casting their ballots on election day. I want to see Bill Gates and Warren Buffet walking up the steps to IRS office on April 15th, checkbooks in hand, to the cheers of admiring crowds.
Tax payment resonates better with patriotic duty than with religion and morality. Our 1040’s should come with peel-off stickers we can wear to work that say: “I’m an American, And I Pay My Taxes”. Heck, let’s make April 15th a day-off-work national holiday… with parades honoring public employees (and fireworks, of course).
Here’s my next bumper sticker:
“Freedom Isn’t Free… That’s Why Patriots Pay Their Taxes”.
And during election years, we can shame the Jarvistas with this one:
“Republicans: People Who Love Their Money More Than They Love Their Country”.