Note on the vote
May 14, 2003
Senator Olympia Snowe
Dear Senator Snowe;
Thank you for stepping forward to set limits on George Bush’s latest round in the Toys for
Trillionaires program begun in the 1980s. Tax cuts for the rich will not benefit the rest of
us; forget the tokens. All we’ll get out of it in the long run will be a bill for the resulting
deficit. That is clear; it has always been clear; it will remain clear, despite the
disinformation campaigns, the rhetoric, and the frothing at the mouth by the terminally greedy.
In the 80s it brought us recession followed by depression and a growing rift between the haves
and the have-nots. The first round of Bush tax cuts took us from surplus to deficit. Widely
published multiplier analysis shows the next round will be far worse.
In setting this limit you have incurred the wrath of the far-fetched right as expected. The
bashing campaign against you is illuminating of the mentalities way out there. Eventually
people may start to figure out that the ranting of economic feudalists like the “Club for
Growth” resembles less a political and economic philosophy than it does a case of rabies. You
can’t fool all the people all the time, but spin-doctors like the “Growth Club” have proved that
you can fool enough of them enough of the time that they’ll stand in lines at the polls to
commit economic suicide election after election. But you can’t keep fooling them for ever.
Please be assured of my support for any steps you can take toward fiscal responsibility. Of
course, true fiscal responsibility means no tax cut at all in times of deficit and war expenses
as pointed out by some of your fellow Republican Senators. And if there are to be tax cuts, they
should go to those who work for a living rather than those who live off the proceeds of
accumulated wealth. If there are to be inequities in the tax structure, let those who benefit
inordinately from the system pay inordinately to support it. And, of course, money returned to
the lower socio-economic strata will be immediately released into the economy. The money
returned to the rich will generate more wealth, and returns to the economy will not come close
to equaling those that would accrue if the money were given back to people who actually need it. Again, comparative multiplier analysis has been widely published; among other places, I’ve read it in the Bangor Daily News.
Veterans are denied benefits (and are still being deceived about the source of their ‘Gulf War
Syndrome’). The elderly suffer; the poor suffer. The gap widens. We go from surplus to
deficit. And more tax cuts for the rich are proposed. The people who fight the wars suffer in
poverty while those who make money from the wars play golf in the Caribbean. As you know,
Senator, these are hardly wild-eyed opinions. What has happened, what is planned, and what it
will cause have been widely observed, analyzed and published.
Somebody has to rein in a government run amuk. Please.
I am copying this to Senator Collins and may publish it on the Internet. Thank you for your consideration.
Don Tarbet
CC: Senator Susan Collins
Note on the vote
Senator Olympia Snowe held fast against all the pressure brought to bear by the special
interests. She voted for sanity and common decency. Thank you, Senator Snowe for showing
fiscal responsibility in the face of the irrational hate campaign mounted by the pickpockets and panderers.
Senator Collins voted special interest all the way.