(How I learned to stop worrying and love the bomb)
So, we worry that our "Democratic" "leaders" will sign on, again, to modifications to FISA law which retroactively give immunity to our telecoms service providers for spying on us.
Chris Dodd has nobly promised a filibuster, and a few colleagues have gotten behind him even as "Democratic" Senate "Majority" "Leader" Harry Reid signaled his intention to ignore his fellow Democrat’s hold on the legislation. Dems fighting back, yay!
But as Democrats watching this congress, we know the fire drill: Sound the Alarm, Tough Talk, Capitulate.
What if this time, instead of belly-aching about yet another Democratic "leadership" cave to the Bush administration, we made lemonade out of the lemons we have in Washington? What if we learned to love retroactivity? Here are some possible applications"
Marginal Tax Rate increase retroactivity. You might not have known this, but back in those 1950’s that the GOP so cherishes for its fabled family values, moral clarity and US power, a time when there were no "welfare queens" or "Islamofascists" yet, marginal tax rates were well over 90%. Even after Kennedy and Nixon got it lowered, it was still 70% before the Reagan and friends show got to town.
What if marginal tax rates were pushed back up to, oh, say 75%, on taxable incomes of, I dunno, $500K or more. Oh, and capital gains and dividends? Income, not tax advantaged like they are now. Raising marginal rates like that would result in over $600 billion per year in additional revenues per year. That's a lot of housing for the homeless, college educations for the disadvantaged and healthcare for all, not to mention a pension annd job security for young and old, securing the blessings of shared prosperity for every American.
Sound great? Well, if it’s good for our future security, it’s gotta be good for our past security as well, as the pro-telcom immunity rhetoric would have us believe. So make it retro-active. Apply the new rates retro-actively, with interest, on all income since Dubya got his tax cuts for wealthy buddies passed. That’d cut the $9 trillion national debt down to size in no time, and the magical thing? It’d only hit the top 1% of tax filers in the US, the very 1% who can afford to pay for the war their President got us into but who refuse to pay for it. Make them pay retail for the market fundamentalism they’ve been pushing at wholesale prices. Hell, even Tom Friedman would approve.
Rome Statutes Ratification Retro-activity Another thing you might not have known is that the US is, along with People's Republic of China, Iraq, Israel, Libya, Qatar, and Yemen, not a signatory of the Rome Statutes establishing the International Criminal Court.
What if we were not only to sign it, but to apply it retro-actively? There’s a whole mess of politicians in Washington DC who have a lot of blood on their hands for an illegal war of aggression in Iraq. Hell, we wouldn’t even have to stop there – Kissinger’s still alive and kicking too.
I know there aren’t as many cells in the Hague as would be required for us to send off all the folks who really need a war crimes tribunal time-out (has Dubya even been to the Netherlands yet), but we could use some of the retro-active tax receipts to help the ICC build some more.
"Liberate Iraq" Bumpersticker/Lawnsign Excise Tax Retro-activity
Remember you obnoxious neighbor or coworker a few years’ back with his or her "Liberate Iraq" or "Support Our Troops" Lawn Sign or Bumpersticker, proudly proclaiming their patriotism and impugning yours? Yeah, it was a while back, and you don’t see too many of them around anymore. Funny that.
What if we were to apply a $10,000 per lawnsign and $5,000 per bumpersticker "war supporter" excise tax on all our fellow citizens whose poor judgment is causing us thousands in lost lives and $1 trillion in pissed away money?
It wouldn’t pay for the war, but it’d be a start, and it would make a point about paying retail for being a chickenhawk. Again, Tom Friedman would approve; hell, Tom Freidman should ante up himself for all his cheerleading. In light of this, perhaps we might also consider a retroactive war cheerleader tax on all columns in support of the Iraq war. Maybe $1,000 for columns appearing in newspapers with a circulation under 50,000 up to $50,000 per column for a national rag like the New York Times (no link, that would encourage them). Oh and, don’t forget the folks on radio and TV!
HMO and Health Insurance Reform Retro-activity
If we’re serious about equal access to health care for all, we’ve got to get serious about cutting the vultures out of the game. And if we’re going down that road, why not do so retro-actively. All debts owed to healthcare providers shall retroactively be forgiven. Who’s going to pay, you ask? Well, that’s simple, the shareholders who profit off of other’s illnesses in America, that’s who.
Well, you get the idea. We can continue to fight the inevitable, cross our fingers and hope against better judgment that our "representatives" in Washington DC will do the right thing, only to be disappointed, or for once, we can use the principle laid out by yet another cave to our advantage.
If you think about it, the possibilities are endless.