Far from reality

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January 31, 2012

Far from reality

Anonymous The Herald-Banner Tue Jan 31, 2012, 11:31 PM CST

To the editor:

It has always been a personal rule of mine to ignore incorrect andmistaken opinions, because those who have them are generally not interested in the facts. I have on several occasions tried to enlighten those Democratic stalwarts in the truth, but it has fallen on deaf ears. But Mr. Purcell’s recent letter to the editor regarding the Republican Presidential debates is so far from reality, that a bit of factual rebuttal is greatly needed.

The first point is the use of “unqualified” to characterize the Republican candidates. We have the list of qualifications necessary for President right there in the Constitution, Article 2 Section 1. AllRepublican candidates have met those qualifications. Fitness for office is an interesting angle, considering the current President had two years in the Senate prior to his election, and no other “experience.” Almost nothing was known of his positions on key matters like taxation and the Constitution.

Yet, we elected him. I suppose Mr. Purcell is satisfied with an unknown, if he is a Democrat.

The second point is regarding economic recovery. Mr. Purcell seems to believe that the government’s failure to “boost” the economy has everything to do with Republicans, but nothing to do with Democrats. Now, I am neither Republican nor Democrat, but I can see that the entire government, Obama included, is the reason we are in this mess. Bush wasn’t the start of the housing crisis, Clinton was, signing into law the very housing bill that started these fraudulent mortgages and over-extended loans from Freddie and Fannie Mae.

Why? Because Clinton said in 1999 that home ownership should be made available to “all economic strata” since it was the American Dream. It didn’t matter if you couldn’t afford it, because the government would give you a sweet loan that allowed you to buy something well beyond your means and when you defaulted, leaving the taxpayer holding the bag, the government would just claim more taxes were needed out of the “rich” and all would be fine. Democrats were for this, Republicans were not. No matter your political persuasion, the facts do not support Mr. Purcell’s assertions, no matter how folksy they were conveyed.

The third point is one that Mr. Purcell revels in calling “fact.”

Welfare recipients, according to Purcell, are mostly white. If we look at the facts, certainly more whites are on welfare than blacks. That is because their percentage of the US population is 72.4 percent, while blacks are 12.5 percent. A demographic that makes up only 12.5 percent of the population taking 33 percent of the government assistance is disproportionate. You can argue statistics until doomsday, but until you actually use the numbers correctly, rather than to prove a point that somehow Republicans are “racist,” you are doing nothing more than race-baiting. (How is that war on poverty going, Democrats?)

As far as taxes go, Mr. Purcell still persists in the illusion that the“rich” don’t pay their fair share. There are reams of data from the GAO and the IRS that show otherwise, and as I’ve said in many letters in the past, effective and marginal tax rates are entirely different. Mr. Purcell is buying into the class envy that makes this country tear itself apart. Punish success and reward sloth. There is no such thing as “fair share,” since there is no concrete definition of “fair.” And like they say, there is no such thing as a “just tax.”

Sincerely,

James F. Taylor Jr.

Greenville

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Far from reality

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