OF, BY and FOR THE PEOPLE

...for John McCain that the Republican Party has a problem. Those of us "former Republicans" who believe in fiscal responsibility are very alienated from the "moralist" who now control the party. A point of criticism to you however would be on your issue with Reagan. Sorry - I cannot and never will agree with your anti-Reagan stance. Did Reagan spend alot of money? Yes. Why? To beat the Communists. He did so brilliantly. Spending money with a purpose is no vice (to paraphrase Barry Goldwater). In the 80's you could ask any Arabic or Indian cab driver in New York - "What does Reagan stand for?" They would answer..."lower taxes, kill the commies". So why do rail on so about the past? Because you bring it into question and if you do, answers must be given. One question you raise is the Republican tendency to push for tax lowering legislation - and that this tends to favor the "rich". I don't have time here to write a white paper, so I'll cut to the quick. (1) If you lower taxes, you lower them on who pays them. (2) If you really want a progressive tax program - tax consumption/not investment. Well now, that's just unforgivable!!! So many people who just barely make it by on their meager wage!. Fine - there are ways to address that!. We give "deductions" for low income (earned income credit) and multiple family members for our current INCOME tax system. Why couldn't we do the same for a CONSUMPTION tax system?

Face it. We need the rich. They create jobs. Jobs are good. It's that simple. What we don't need is to punish success. Success is good. Let's try (for once) to encourage it.

I absolutely agree that the government spending money with a purpose is no vice. However, it's debatable weather the massive peace-time Reagan debt was needed to "defeat" communism. The CIA has reports from the time of Nixon that predicted the Soviet Unions self-collapse from it's own massive military spending and disregard for it's nations other needs.

All Reagan did was pave the way for us to follow in the tracks of the Soviet Union crushing our own economy with ill spent military dollars and ignoring the good advice of Dwight Eisenhower to be cautious of the growing corporate military industrial complex. To a matter of degree I concur that Reagan needed to increase spending but at some point if you are truly at war it must be paid for with taxes and not passed to the next generation.

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the militaryindustrial complex." DDE

We are now seeing the fruits of not being cautious... the current collapse of the dollar and of our economy with it.

I agree with you on the tax issues and a consumption tax with credits for low income families might work better.

I agree we need the rich. But we don't need the rich feeding at the public trough and undermining democracy to further enrich themselves at the expense of other tax payers and to the degree that the stability of our nation and its economy is threatened.

The illegitimate presumption is that all wealth comes from productivity or is not often ill-gotten.