Challenging EW for the "Most Batshit Letter-Writer" Award

A letter in today's DH, reprinted in its entirety:

It’s a communist plot

I find it hard to believe that several people who believe in communism have been elected to high state government offices. Beliefs so firmly entrenched that they are trying to have communistic doctrine made state law.

Two such people are Phil Keisling and Norma Paulus. Fidel Castro would be proud of their efforts to reduce Oregon to a one-party system. I’m not sure what Hasso’s stand is, but I think from his editorials that he too favors the one-party system.

The worrisome part in all of this is the loudmouths pushing for the open primary. They are weak-kneed people that haven’t a backbone to stand up for anything. They complain about being locked out of their constitutional rights. Not true. They choose to join small factions that stand for nothing and therefore have no power.

Wake up and join the world; and if our world doesn’t fit, go someplace else!

M. Paul Lindsey, Lebanon

I..... yeah. There are good arguments against open primaries - the right of a party to choose its own nominee, for example - but this letter does not make use of such arguments.

A second argument, for the record, is that open primaries are a solution that does not fit the problem, which is the presence of a two-party system.

Somehow, I don't think Phil Keisling is a communist. I'd have seen him at the monthly mixer and board game session by now.

Jeebus.

Summary: Hering Still Unable to Tell the Truth

Two recent editorials in the DH remind me that Hering is still struggling with honesty.

Hering on the EPA/California dustup:

Then last Wednesday, the federal Environmental Protection Agency denied the California waiver request, provoking cries of outrage from California officials and others including Oregon Governor Kulongoski.

But the EPA made the right decision. Automobiles are an international business, and the United States is better off with a uniform national standard on how car engines have to be built. It’s the federal government that should be in charge of setting standards that apply equally in all the states.

He sure does love him some law and order - especially when he can hide behind that as justification to ignore the needs of the environment. This doesn't pass the laugh test.

Or, as commenter Publicus put it: "Isn't it curious how conservatives are all for states' rights until a state does something they don't like?"

Hering advocates for the "Fair Tax" - a 23% national sales tax:

Such a proposal exists. It’s called the Fair Tax, fittingly enough. It boils down to a national sales tax collected at the point of final sale. Instead of exemptions for basics, it includes a plan to send every American a check once a year to compensate for taxing those items.

Beyond that, we all would pay at the same rate whenever we bought anything. The backers say a rate of 23 percent of sales would equal what the government gets from the income and payroll tax.

The Fair Tax proposal has been destroyed so many times I'm not going to bother (but see here for one example). It's snake oil: It sounds good at first glance (or so I am told - I thought it was poppycock from day one) but is incredibly regressive and would almost certainly cause immense economic misery. Is it any wonder that Hering and a bunch of rich white guys advocate for it?

Grover Norquist advocates for the Fair Tax. That should tell you all you need to know. He was, for the record, the guy who said he wants to shrink government "down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub."

Note: I am aware that I probably give Hering a (very small) boost in web traffic since I tend to link to his editorials often. This does not bother me.

Defining a Generation - Or, At Least, Making a Snarky Comment on Same

From a recent email conversation with my friend bz (reprinted with permission) regarding the website Jezebel and the people behind it:

They're between the working poor and lower middle class, a lot of them (Chase and I began describing ourselves as such like a year ago), but it varies. It's like new money, but instead of folks who came into monetary wealth without effort, it's college degrees. I mean, think about the glut of folks who went through their four years and learned shit, right? They didn't really try too hard, because seriously, what the hell is college practically mandatory for anyway. But like, everyone did the same thing, and so folks are just floating around with these brains and y'know—ideas?—but there's not much for them outside of tiny houses, jobs not quite fulfilling and a society that isn't sure any more what the general proper way of conducting oneself is. [emphasis added]

I think she is getting at something that definitely affects me (and a whole lot of other people): The collapse of the American Dream and the security that goes with it... and the fact that it's not being replaced with much more than a fractured vision of the good life filled with anomie.

To be clear, there is a damned big upside to that: Freedom.

But freedom - choice - can be a scary thing sometimes, as it implies a need to take responsibility for one's actions.

My generation, it seems, is doing a great job putting that off.

Thanks, Judd Apatow.

Also, have I mentioned that Jezebel is awesome?