Fantasy Nation?"
Our Fantasy Nation? By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
Originally Published in the New York Times on June 4, 2011
NOTE: The original HTML version of this article, with full links, is
located at => http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05kristof.html
NOTE: This text version shown here has not been authorized by the
copyright owners, but it is being released independently, in the Public
Interest, with authorization provided under the "Fair Use" copyright
exceptions as shown at =>
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
NOTE: This message was posted by Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director of
http://www.loveallpeople.org .
- - - article begins below - - -
It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: fewer than 2
percent of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that
burdensome regulations never kill jobs.
This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative
sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, same-sex marriage isn.t
imaginable, and criminals are never coddled.
The budget priority is a strong military, the nation.s most respected
institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan,
politicians defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns
flags.
So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it.s Pakistan.
Now obviously Sarah Palin and John Boehner don.t intend to turn Washington
into Islamabad-on-the-Potomac. And they are right that long-term budget
issues do need to be addressed. But when many Republicans insist on
.starving the beast. of government, cutting taxes, regulations and social
services . slashing everything but the military . well, those are steps
toward Pakistan.
The United States is, of course, in no danger of actually becoming
Pakistan, any more than we.re going to become Sweden at the other extreme.
But as America has become more unequal, as we cut off government lifelines
to the neediest Americans, as half of states plan to cut spending on
higher education this year, let.s be clear about our direction . and about
the turnaround that a Republican budget victory would represent.
The long trajectory of history has been for governments to take on more
responsibilities, and for citizens to pay more taxes. Now we.re at a
turning point, with Republicans arguing that we need to reverse course.
I spend a fair amount of time reporting in developing countries, from
Congo to Colombia. They.re typically characterized by minimal taxes, high
levels of inequality, free-wheeling businesses and high military
expenditures. Any of that ring a bell?
In Latin American, African or Asian countries, I sometimes see shiny tanks
and fighter aircraft . but schools that have trouble paying teachers.
Sound familiar? And the upshot is societies that are quasi-feudal,
stratified by social class, held back by a limited sense of common
purpose.
Maybe that.s why the growing inequality in America pains me so. The
wealthiest 1 percent of Americans already have a greater net worth than
the bottom 90 percent, based on Federal Reserve data. Yet two-thirds of
the proposed Republican budget cuts would harm low- and moderate-income
families, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
For a country that prides itself on social mobility, where higher
education has been a traditional escalator to a better life, cutbacks in
access to college are a scandal. G. Jeremiah Ryan, the president of Bergen
Community College in New Jersey, tells me that when the college was set up
in 1965, two-thirds of the cost of running it was supposed to be covered
by state and local governments, and one-third by students. The reality
today, Dr. Ryan says, is that students bear 78 percent of the cost.
In fairness to Pakistan and Congo, wealthy people in such countries manage
to live surprisingly comfortably. Instead of financing education with
taxes, these feudal elites send their children to elite private schools.
Instead of financing a reliable police force, they hire bodyguards.
Instead of supporting a modern health care system for their nation, they
fly to hospitals in London.
You can tell the extreme cases by the hum of diesel generators at night.
Instead of paying taxes for a reliable electrical grid, each wealthy
family installs its own powerful generator to run the lights and
air-conditioning. It.s noisy and stinks, but at least you don.t have to
pay for the poor.
I.ve always made fun of these countries, but now I see echoes of that
pattern of privatization of public services in America. Police budgets are
being cut, but the wealthy take refuge in gated communities with private
security guards. Their children are spared the impact of budget cuts at
public schools and state universities because they attend private
institutions.
Mass transit is underfinanced; after all, Mercedes-Benzes and private jets
are much more practical, no? And maybe the most striking push for reversal
of historical trends is the Republican plan to dismantle Medicare as a
universal health care program for the elderly.
There.s even an echo of the electrical generator problem. More and more
affluent homes in the suburbs are buying electrical generators to use when
the power fails.
So in this season.s political debates, let.s remember that we.re arguing
not only over debt ceilings and budgets, but about larger questions of our
vision for our country. Do we really aspire to take a step in the
direction of a low-tax laissez-faire Eden ...like Pakistan?
I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, On the Ground. Please
also join me on Facebook, watch my YouTube videos and follow me on
Twitter.
A version of this op-ed appeared in print on June 5, 2011, on page WK9 of
the New York edition with the headline: Our Fantasy Nation?..
- - - article ends above - - -
NOTE: The original HTML version of this article, with full links, is
located at => http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/05/opinion/05kristof.html
NOTE: This text version shown here has not been authorized by the
copyright owners, but it is being released independently, in the Public
Interest, with authorization provided under the "Fair Use" copyright
exceptions as shown at =>
http://www.copyright.gov/title17/92chap1.html#107
NOTE: This message was posted by Rev. Bill McGinnis, Director of
http://www.loveallpeople.org .
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