<\/a>For the past 30 years, \u201cWe can\u2019t afford it\u201d has become the mantra of city councilmen, state legislators and even U.S. Congressional representatives.<\/p>\n

But there is something terribly wrong with that.<\/p>\n

What do lawmakers mean by \u201cit?\u201d There are many meanings. Sometimes, \u201cit\u201d is higher salaries for teachers. Sometimes, \u201cit\u201d is repairs to crumbling bridges. \u201cIt\u201d can also refer to pay raises for the city workers who pick up our trash, clean the bathrooms in municipal buildings, and mop up after floods, windstorms and festivals. \u201cIt\u201d also often refers to federal programs, like Medicare and Social Security, or to state-run programs like Medicaid and health care for children in indigent families.<\/p>\n

The \u201cwe-can\u2019t-afford-it\u201d argument has become so ubiquitous that we have stopped questioning its validity and the reasoning behind it. The public\u2014abetted by the media\u2014has come to accept that there\u2019s just not enough money, and that programs, services and benefits, of necessity, need to be slashed, because, well, that’s the way it is.<\/p>\n

That acceptance is misguided.<\/p>\n

In fact, we could afford all of the \u201cits,\u201d if we did what really needs to be done\u2014and what anyone with an iota of sense about how government should operate knows is necessary\u2014raise taxes in a way that would be fair [meaning, asking wealthier people to kick in their fair share].<\/p>\n

But we don\u2019t do that. Not only don\u2019t we do it, we don\u2019t even talk about it.<\/p>\n

Why? Because, over the past 30 years, the right-wing\u2019s anti-tax propaganda campaign has worked its way into America\u2019s psyche. The Republican message machine has successfully convinced Americans that taxes are bad\u2014even taxes that fund services and benefits that help people\u2014like Social Security, police protection, fire and rescue, road repairs, and so many more. They\u2019ve made taxes something from which we need \u201crelief,\u201d not something that assures the continuity of programs that people expect\u2014and howl about when they are inadequate.<\/p>\n

For a while, there was somewhat of a dialogue about this topic: Remember linguist George Lakoff? He fought bravely against the \u201ctax relief\u201d meme. But the fight seems to be over. The anti-taxers have won. Their message is so deeply embedded in today\u2019s political discourse that they don\u2019t even have to mention \u201ctax relief\u201d any more. Not in public statements. Not in media reports, either: No one actually reports on the context and the motivation behind all of this.<\/p>\n

And so, the discussion has shifted: We simply assume that there\u2019s no more money available. We can\u2019t possibly expand programs or raise benefits or wages, the story goes, because there just isn\u2019t any money for that.<\/p>\n

But, in fact, there IS money for that. Mostly, it’s in the wallets and off-shore accounts of the wealthy people who are assiduously protected from fairer taxes by their Republican minions.<\/p>\n

Social Security? There\u2019s plenty of money out there. It\u2019s just untapped, because the solution to Social Security\u2019s purported issues\u2014raising the ridiculously low taxation cap of $118,500\u2014is not even being discussed anymore. The only discussion comes from the right\u2014and what they\u2019re talking about are things like cutting Social Security benefits, raising the eligibility age, privatizing the whole shebang, or eliminating it altogether. .<\/p>\n

Infrastructure? There\u2019s no money for that? Baloney. The money is there, but it might involve raising the tax on a gallon of gas. We can\u2019t even bring that up anymore.<\/p>\n

You get the idea. It applies across the board. The real reason that \u201cwe can\u2019t afford that,\u201d is not that the money doesn\u2019t exist, it\u2019s that we won\u2019t contemplate what really needs to be done. The right-wing propaganda department has made it politically impossible to discuss doing these things. The anti-tax ideology has become so much a part of our national psyche that I\u2019m not sure most people even know that they\u2019ve internalized it. They want the programs; they need the services; they expect government to do the big things that only government can do: But they wring their hands, and sigh, and give up, because they’ve unwittingly adopted the notion that there’s no more money to be had.<\/p>\n

Of course, the anti-taxers are not interested in \u201crelief\u201d for middle-class earners or poor people: They are about protecting the wealth of the wealthy. [And funneling money to the military\u2014for which there is ALWAYS money\u2014and, via tax breaks, to the defense contractors whose campaign contributions are mother\u2019s milk to politicians.]<\/p>\n

On a related note: A number of years ago, I attended a dinner honoring a healthcare executive. The keynote speaker was the chairman of the hospital corporation\u2019s board\u2014a well-known industrialist who made a fortune as a defense contractor. During his speech, he talked about the problems he had encountered in running a company. \u201cThe truth is,\u201d he said, “that most managers and executives know what needs to be done. The problem is that they just don\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The same goes for funding government programs. There\u2019s no courage to do what reasonable people know has to be done. There\u2019s no political will to buck the increasingly rich donor class who own the politicians. So, our elected representatives\u2014at all levels\u2014just go along. Not asking why\u2014not even aware of why they don\u2019t ask why.<\/p>\n

And people suffer. But nobody talks about it.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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