Policy pablum
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The whole idea of the McCain-Clinton “gas-tax holiday” this summer, coupled with the Bush-Pelosi “free money” gambit that kicks off with checks in the mail this week, is just the sort of short-sighted political trickery that drags communities like ours down.
Come to think of it, these cynical policies sound a lot like the idea of permanently altering the quality of life in our neighborhoods in order to wedge-in commercial development (i.e. Costco in New Baltimore) “because we need sales tax dollars today.”
Much like the special tax refund the Republican president and Democratic speaker expect us to scurry over to Wal-Mart and joyously spend to “fix” our economy, here is another way to ignore developing a long-term energy strategy that could address our economic and energy woes.
Instead, it peddles political opium that only serves to artificially increase demand and our dependence on foreign oil, increases the transfer of America’s dwindling wealth to our good friends in the Middle East, and increases our staggering (approaching crippling) debt to the dictatorial (and anti-American) brutes in Beijing. (Remember the good old days where authoritarian communist henchmen were the bogeyman and not our mortgage bankers?)
Why is this relevant to the local readers of this newspaper?
For one, our economic and fiscal concerns locally are indeed very serious, and require some thoughtful, innovative (and, yes, courageous) policy if the quality of life we have gotten used to here is going to survive intact.
Yet our local policies mirror the flawed logic and cynicism of the big-wigs in Washington.
Not much in terms of innovation. Zero courage when the rubber meets the road.
Instead, we are back on track to permanently decrease the quality of life in New Baltimore so we can pave the way for Costco and its “China-made, cheap-goods” mentality that does nothing at all to improve the quality of jobs and enterprise in this area or the nation.
And what do we get for this permanent demise? A dribble of increased sales tax skimmings, a handful of hourly jobs that some of our fellow citizens may be forced to take but certainly won’t aspire to — and traffic Hades forever for everyone who lives around there.
Thanks for the help.
Yes, I am a hypocrite. I will cash the government check when I get it next week (though I will pay down credit; sorry Mr. President).
And I’ll gladly pay less on gas for three months and diligently count the coins I’ve temporarily saved. (O.K. It is also true that I would be happy to own Exxon stock right now.)
But still, I really do wish we had policymakers here and in Washington more doggedly looking at long-term community betterment through courage instead of short-term political expediency through desperation.
Evan Jones
Warrenton
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