“Never stop learning.” Those were the words of advice that the Commander-in-Chief gave a US Marine as the two men drank ale on a porch off of the White House West Wing on the eve of an awards ceremony. It is a short sentence with great meaning, and we would be wise to always remember it, and take it to heart. The next day, President Obama presented Sergeant Dakota Meyer with the Congressional Medal of Honor, our nation’s highest military award. Meyer was the first living Marine recipient of the CMH in 38 years, only the third since the Vietnam War, and was given the award in recognition for his extraordinary courage under fire.
Yesterday, I finished reading Into the Fire: A Firsthand Account of the Most Extraordinary Battle in the Afghan War, written by Dakota Meyer and Bing West. It chronicles Meyer’s life and military service, and includes a description of the Battle of Ganjgal in Afghanistan conveyed with such intensity that it left me vibrating and reaching for a cigarette. I have the utmost respect and admiration for those who serve our country’s military, and this book only served to reinforce that feeling. Meyer was given top-notch training and top-notch equipment. Then they sent him into a no-win situation that would drive the sanest man crazy. The book points out the problems and ultimate futility of trying to wage a limited war in a country that has been fought over, but never fully subdued, for all of recorded history. Read the book for yourself and draw your own conclusions. It won’t take very long, and it’s worth the additional knowledge that it provides. Never stop learning: it’s very good advice.
I read something else last night, although it turns out that some people in a position of power would have liked it best if no one read it. A report was prepared by the Congressional Research Service and released to members of Congress in September. Usually, such reports are not released to the general public, and after reading this one it is clear that most people wouldn’t even try to slog through the details. The CRS does that sort of thing all of time. It’s one of three agencies that also includes the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and the Government Accountability Office (GAO) which provide our legislative branch with non-partisan, accurate, and objective information, so that they can hopefully make better decisions. The CRS serves as a “think tank” for our government, and their reports and research are generally highly regarded.
The report in question is titled “Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945” and for the most part it lived up to the non-excitement promised by its title. It’s full of things like multivariate linear regression analysis that used to make me yawn in business school, and still do now. It is important to remember that this report was prepared objectively, on a non-partisan basis. The CRS exists only to provide a service; it has no ideological ax to grind. One of the main conclusions of the report is that there is no relationship between reducing top income tax rates for the wealthy and new job creation. No evidence supports a link between allowing the wealthiest Americans to keep a bit of extra money after taxes so that they can supposedly use those extra funds to invest in new jobs for everyone else. There is however evidence that indicates lowering the top marginal tax rate increases the gap between rich and poor, by allowing more funds to accrue to top earners. The rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
The reason that I almost didn’t get to read it was that Mitch McConnell, the leading Senate Republican, and his Senate followers, objected to wording and conclusions in the report and forced the CRS to withdraw it pending further study. Seems they had issues with phrases such as “Bush Tax Cuts” that referenced reductions to the top marginal tax rate made during Bush’s administration, but not directly by Bush himself. The report also references House Budget Committee Chairman (and current Republican VP nominee) Paul Ryan’s the Path to Prosperity by name and disagrees with Ryan’s solutions. One could easily draw the conclusion (most already have) that what really irked those forty or so Republican Senators (who seem to wield way too much power these days), was that the report refutes the central premise of their party’s economic theory. Supply-side economics don’t work. Lowering taxes for rich people does not create jobs. It is time that we all learn to deal with that reality, but as our election approaches, Republicans continue to say that we need to lower taxes for wealthy people in order to create more jobs.
Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), referencing the CRS report, told the New York Times, "This has hues of a banana republic. They didn't like a report, and instead of rebutting it, they had them take it down." Yes, this is strong-arm politics at its worst.
In the war in Afghanistan, policies in place to prevent potential harm to the civilian population prevented Dakota Meyer’s team from receiving the artillery support that might have saved their lives. Among the many allied casualties that day were four Marine advisors from Meyer’s four-man training team (Dakota had been replaced that day, because he was trained as a sniper, and they were going in just to talk with village leaders). Command decisions were made (or in this case, avoided) at a rear echelon command base, instead of in the field where they would have been more effective, and where most military scholars, including Gen. Colin Powell, believe they should reside. During the battle, the civilian population of Ganjgal had either fled the area, witnessed by Meyer and others from their rear echelon position before the battle, or joined in with the Taliban to fight the joint US-Afghan forces who had come to town for a talk with village elders. Such is the ebb and flow of political allegiance in Afghanistan, and one of the reasons that makes finding the bad guys so difficult in that country. They change sides daily.
On the other hand, in the war for the hearts and minds of the American voter, we are faced with information controlled by a handful of self-interested senators, instead of being able to read and digest the information for ourselves. The evidence really points to a small group of people more interested in consolidating wealth and power into the hands of a selected group of followers, instead of providing a workable solution to the problems faced by the vast majority of Americans. But if you believe that these people have your best interests at heart, then give them your vote. Just think about renaming the country “The Banana Republic of America” because the country we will live in will not the one envisioned by the framers of our constitution. They proudly named us “The United States of America” and it remains the country that I love, and maintain a hope for its future.
Never stop learning. These are words of advice to live by. Use your brain, don’t let it rot, or be influenced by thirty-second bursts of misinformation, half-truths, and outright lies. Seek out unbiased information if you can, and try to discern the real reasons behind the information that you are being provided. Most importantly, make your voice heard. Make your vote count. Protect yourself. Above all, never stop learning.
“There is not conclusive evidence, however, to substantiate a clear relationship between the 65-year steady reduction in the top tax rates and economic growth. Analysis of such data suggests the reduction in the top tax rates have had little association with saving, investment, or productivity growth. However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be associated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution.”
-From “Taxes and the Economy: An Economic Analysis of the Top Tax Rates Since 1945” published by the Congressional Research Service
(Congressional) Medal of Honor
Navy Version
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