Palin’s Kind of Patriotism: Americans who pay their fair share of taxes are not patriotic?

[DeepModem Mom]

NYT: Palin’s Kind of Patriotism
By THOMAS L. FRIEDMAN
Published: October 7, 2008

Criticizing Sarah Palin is truly shooting fish in a barrel. But given the huge attention she is getting, you can’t just ignore what she has to say. And there was one thing she said in the debate with Joe Biden that really sticks in my craw. It was when she turned to Biden and declared: “You said recently that higher taxes or asking for higher taxes or paying higher taxes is patriotic. In the middle class of America, which is where Todd and I have been all of our lives, that’s not patriotic.”

What an awful statement. 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? If it isn’t from tax revenues, there are only two ways to pay for those big projects — printing more money or borrowing more money. Do you think borrowing money from China is more patriotic than raising it in taxes from Americans?” That is not putting America first. That is selling America first.

Sorry, I grew up in a very middle-class family in a very middle-class suburb of Minneapolis, and my parents taught me that paying taxes, while certainly no fun, was how we paid for the police and the Army, our public universities and local schools, scientific research and Medicare for the elderly. No one said it better than Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: “I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization.”

I can understand someone saying that the government has no business bailing out the financial system, but I can’t understand someone arguing that we should do that but not pay for it with taxes. I can understand someone saying we have no business in Iraq, but I can’t understand someone who advocates staying in Iraq until “victory” declaring that paying taxes to fund that is not patriotic.

How in the world can conservative commentators write with a straight face that this woman should be vice president of the United States?...

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/08/opinion/08friedman.html?hp

[stray cat]

1. We need more straight talk like this about true patriotism being more than words/flag pins.

[begin_within]

2. And doing your taxes correctly is downright treasonous

[CrispyQ]

3. This is a great article that everyone should read.

The best line in it is the quote from Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes: "I like paying taxes. With them I buy civilization."

Republicans have successfully brainwashed Americans to hate & fear paying taxes. We need to use Holmes' quote as the basis to reframe the tax issue.

k&r

[Jackpine Radical]

4. Well, sheeeit, I wanna be as patriotic as the next guy,

so I guess I'm gonna have to start declaring the dog as a dependent, and maybe some of the rabbits he's always trying to catch out in the yard too, if I can sort them out & name them. They're living off the wife's veggie garden, after all. And I'm sure the IRS will appreciate what a patriotic American I am, too.

[MagickMuffin]

5. Sarah doesn't believe in paying taxes, she owes the government $25,000 in back taxes

Several tax experts said Sarah Palin “is required to pay federal taxes on $25,000 in reimbursements from the state of Alaska for her children’s travel expenses.” Palin “released her 2006 and 2007 tax returns on Friday, sparking a lively debate on tax blogs and among tax professionals over whether reimbursements and per-diem meal payments from the state should be subject to federal taxes.”


http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122334021713509963.html

She's hiding behind her hood.