----- Original Message ----- From: "David Brin" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Killer Bs Discussion" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Thursday, September 16, 2004 2:33 PM Subject: Re: Brin: some thoughts and quotes.
> > > But the inheritence tax flies in the face of one > > our most powerful genetic > > imperatives: to insure the success of our > > off-spring. > > > Precisely. This is exactly the imperative (inherited > from kings who took other mens' wives) that the > Enlightenment was created in order (at last) to > overcome. > > Everything we have is owed to a civilization that > found ways to encourage both cooperation and > competition while minimizing the inherent drive to > cheat. All four of the great accountability arenas > (http://www.davidbrin.com/disputationarticle1.html) > are based on this core desideratum. > > And yes it's hard. No other culture ever managed it. > > THAT is why I'm patriotic and support Pax Americana. > Not because of a flag, or buzzwords like "freedom" > that lose all meaning when mouthes as a tribal catch > phrase by W. > > I am patriotic for the complexity and power and > goodness of a civil society that's based on open and > honest and accountable competition. > > By the way, the repeal of the inheritance tax is NOT > popular among voters. Voters have also polled > repeatedly to prefer no tax cuts and paying off the > debt. > > In America, that is. Not in NASCAR country. Well, I'm certainly not a part of NASCAR country, but I've got friends and relatives who are. Like my brother-in-law and his wife who are raising her two kids in a small house in a small town in Wisconsin. They didn't go to college; they are not particularly well educated. But, they are both hard working at relatively low paying jobs. They are a Northern branch of NASCAR country, and are populist, and not as conservative as much of NASCAR country. A lot of it is in the south, a lot of them are good 'ol boys. And, a fraction of them are, indeed, unabashed bigots. But, even with all of that, I've made an interesting observation. I am privileged to have a bright, beautiful Zambian daughter. (We're her American family, she comes home to our house for the holidays and the summer). She's experienced racism here. She's even been stopped for DWB. But, she has no horror stories. Gautam does, one he related here. He was the subject of racist comments at the Boston Symphony because he dared to go their with a blond, female friend. The folks who shop mostly at Walmat and who are part of NASCAR nation are much of the lower middle class and lower class white population in the US...particularly the south. Some of them might indeed, be the proud owners of double wide trailers...because that's all the house they can afford. But, most are good and decent people, just not sophisticated and subtle. I just saw that David bowed out, so he won't see this as he asked. FWIW, I agree that politicians are somewhat fair game, but I don't think the lower middle class is. I have to agree with Gautam that I see snobbery in his comments. Going back to another post of his..I was raised pro-union. My hermit aunt was a union organizer before she joined the cloister. I fault Reagan for sending out the message that union busting was really a good idea. But, the idea that Wal-Mart is an evil giant who put out of business a number of wonderful small businesses that treated their beloved employees wonderfully is a bunch of nonsense. I was in New England when Wal-Mart put a number of stores out of business. It wasn't a question of union vs. non-union. It was a question of chains that put their money into expansion first, and Wal-Mart that invested in inventory control first. Small mom and pop stores are inefficient; there is a lot of waste. Around here, Walmart pays just fine compared to Foleys or other medium upscale stores. Retail doesn't pay well, period. Kroegers is unionized, and its pay scale is no better than Randall's which isn't. So, while I strongly believe a lot more needs to be done to stop the focus of wealth and income in the top tier; getting rid of Walmart won't help. It would hurt. Poor people need cheap clothing. They don't get it from those cute little boutiques that yuppies like. Better stop before I get into a rant about 16 year old yuppies going to spend hundreds on simple clothing that costs 5x what it should because of the right name on it in the BMW convertibles their daddies got them for their 16th birthday.....too much of that in the Woodlands.. Dan M. Dan M. Dan M. _______________________________________________ http://www.mccmedia.com/mailman/listinfo/brin-l
