> how could we really determine whether a tax-bashing neoconservative actively protects labyrinthine tax practices in order to justify adjacent political ends?
We rarely have the ability to truly determine a politician’s motives in a concrete and objective way because many of the decisions they make are not transparent due to lobbying and other forms of influence.
Fundamentally, the American right argues consistently that the government does not represent the interests of the people and actively works to render the government ineffective.
Whether they intentionally use taxation as a means to achieve political gains or not, it’s pretty undeniable that taxation causes resentment when the government appears to be so ineffective. Ultimately, you’re trying to determine if this is intentional or not, which doesn’t make that much of a difference.
As Jon Stewart used to ask on his show when trying to assess the motivations of conservatives: are they stupid or evil? Which is just a simpler way of asking: are they being intentional about this or not?
Well, at the same time there are trains in blue states, in the first place.
To be less snarky and more concrete: blue states have more social programs to screw up and mismanage. But at least they're there. NY and Illinois are the two most corrupt and mismanaged states. But they both host powerful, international cities with public transportation and social programs.
Contrast that with Texas, its middling cities and a laissez-faire perspective on housing development, highways and social programs.
Indeed the state is doing well from a revenue perspective, and they've done a lot to nurture industry and wealth, which shows positively.
I'd consider going there, but with trepidation, and I'd never have my elder retired mother who's mostly penniless move to a place like that, given her health issues.
So it's nice to have variety.
And the blue red divide is fairly annoying once you become an adult, and see how hysterical and closed-minded both sides are. There's no paradise anywhere.
Social programs are fine, but you need to make life nice for middle class people first, because otherwise people lose faith in the government and they move out.
You’ll soon be able to take a train from Orlando to Miami. May not be high speed but faster than driving. Can’t say that for SF to LA. VRE’s commuter rail is improving much better than MARC.
We rarely have the ability to truly determine a politician’s motives in a concrete and objective way because many of the decisions they make are not transparent due to lobbying and other forms of influence.
Fundamentally, the American right argues consistently that the government does not represent the interests of the people and actively works to render the government ineffective.
Whether they intentionally use taxation as a means to achieve political gains or not, it’s pretty undeniable that taxation causes resentment when the government appears to be so ineffective. Ultimately, you’re trying to determine if this is intentional or not, which doesn’t make that much of a difference.
As Jon Stewart used to ask on his show when trying to assess the motivations of conservatives: are they stupid or evil? Which is just a simpler way of asking: are they being intentional about this or not?