Two Visions Of America
by Bob Henderson
We now have heard from both sides of the debate we will be having for the next 18 months. President Barack Obama and the Democrats on one side, Republicans in Congress on the other. Their visions of America could hardly be more different.
Republicans have said tax increases are out of the question, but propose more tax cuts. President Obama has said he will not allow “the promises we have made each other” to be broken. The rhetorical storm is raging and, at its eye, is whether or not one believes we are all one connected family.
Republicans accuse the President of engaging in class warfare. But they must have been looking in a mirror when they said that. For their plan to further reduce taxes on the wealthiest Americans favors them at the cost of the rest of us, seniors, the uninsured, the middle class and the poor.
The President pointed out that Americans in the middle class actually are worse off today than they were 10 years ago, while millionaires and billionaires have gained an average of $250,000 a year. Do they really need more tax cuts?
In talks with conservative neighbors here in Oklahoma, I often hear something like “I believe in taking personal responsibility, for myself and my family.” So do I. But I don’t pretend that I, alone, was responsible for all the successes in my life.
When I joined Westinghouse, in 1969, the CEO made what I thought was a lot of money. Yet it was puny compared with what CEOs make today. CEOs then, as well as today, are not singularly responsible for the success of a company. Beneath the CEO, hundreds, thousands of motivated, intelligent, hard-working employees make tremendous contributions to any company. They deserve a greater share of its success, rather than the CEO making several hundred times more. Salaries and bonuses to some on Wall Street are nothing short of immoral.
The same is true of America. None of us can take total responsibility for our family, for we live in a great society. We are lifted toward our success, almost literally stand on the shoulders of all those who, of all that was, accomplished before we arrived.
If you didn’t hear President Obama’s speech last Wednesday, I urge you to do so. Just go to C-span and click on their video library at the top of the page.
Republicans sincerely believe tax cuts for the richest Americans will create jobs and prosperity for all of us. They continue to believe this in spite of the fact that $4 trillion in tax cuts, mostly to the wealthy, during the presidency of George W. Bush did not create either jobs or prosperity. In truth, the tax cuts just added $4 trillion to our national debt.
Under the Republican plan to reduce our debt, President Obama and his family would receive a $200,000 annual tax cut. It would be paid for, he said, by 33 senior citizens paying $6,000 more each year for their health insurance. He rejects that as un-American. Which do you admire more, President Obama’s sense of connection to all Americans, or Wall Street’s greed?
Neither side will win a total victory in this debate. Neither side expects that. But that won’t slow down the debate or moderate the hyperbole.
The best thing for all of us would be to allow the election of 2012 to decide which vision of America the country chooses. The danger is that Republicans will seek to score a decisive victory when the debt ceiling must be raised. Notice I said “must,” for not raising it would cause America to default, and that would be apocalyptic.
The nation will win only if members of our government, from both parties, work together. Let’s pray they do.
(Henderson is chairman of Kay County, OK, Democrats.)