Follow The Path

The following is reproduced from BigPath.net, which created a lot of amazing and informative material relevant to the 2004 election (they are still going, don't worry). Their archives are highly recommended :). The following example is one of my favorites:

"The Tax Cut. It's All About You.

"The government gives you a tax cut. You’re happy. The government’s happy because when you’re happy, you vote for the government because, let’s face it: it’s all about you. And that’s okay. Because why shouldn’t you get money back? You pay your taxes every year, sometimes even as much as you owe. And really, what does the government need all that money for anyway? Nothing that concerns you. They’re using it for interstate highways and homeland security and health care and education programs and veteran’s benefits and... Wait a minute. If they’re using your tax money for all those things, then why are all those things broken? Did the government not really use that money for what they said? How could that be? They said they would, and yet there doesn’t seem to be enough money for the gazillion things the government needs money for. And if there’s not enough money for all those things already, then how can the government give you a tax cut?

"Wow! That’s a lot of hard questions in just the first paragraph!

"And here are some answers. You won’t like them, but here they are: The tax cuts are mumbo-jumbo, smoke-and-mirrors, a ruse, a ploy, a parlor trick. They’re pulling the wool over your eyes, pulling your leg, pulling a fast one, pulling your financial future and your children’s future and your grandchildren’s future into an endlessly spiraling whirlpool of debt.

"You see: the government is running on fumes. It has no money to spend. It’s broke. It gave you back money it didn’t have in the first place, so it had to borrow and borrow and borrow — from foreign governments (the Saudis for example) trust funds (Social Security for example), anywhere it could go to drum up the cash for your tax cut.

"Because it’s all about you, isn’t it?"

You see, so many of the people I know who voted republican in 2004 did so largely because they wanted their tax cuts. Blood money, in my opinion. That part of their vote was entirely greed-based. I feel that I made a huge mistake by not trying harder to make them understand the message that BigPath articulates here so well. I don't want to make that mistake next time.