I look forward to the day when the second African-American, of the first Chinese-American, or Salvadoran-American, or Gay American, or whatever, isn’t remarked upon with the historicity of Barack Obama, but is instead just remarked upon as the best person for the job, or the person who won the election.
Not that I don’t think that race or other defining characteristic isn’t important, but rather that Dr. King’s dream will have finally been acheived, and the content of the character will trump the color of the skin. And yes, I do think to a certain degree that happened here with President Obama. But the second African-American President shouldn’t be a big deal, y’know?
What else?
Hmm… President Obama is already off to a very good start with the executive orders he has already signed to close the prison at Guantanamo and elsewhere, to prohibit the use of torture, to re-fund reproductive planning that includes a comprehensive group of tools including abstinence and abortion, ethics rules, presidential records.
But the economic recovery plan has way too many tax cuts, and not enough in infrastructure building. If President Obama did tell Republicans “I Won,” at that meeting on Thursday, then what the hell is he doing with all these ridiculous tax cuts? As we know, tax cuts don’t work, especially during a serious recession. People are not guaranteed to spend the tax money, and people in the lowest tax brackets don’t pay taxes anyway, so a tax cut to people who don’t already pay taxes is kind of useless. Not only that, but we are burdening future generations with debt to pay back for these tax cuts.
Infrastructure, on the other hand, is investment in our future. Roads, bridges, public transit, schools, colleges, and other public works are real things that benefit real people. If we have to take on more debt, then let us take on more debt that actually helps improve the economy and the efficiency and safety of our current infrastructure. We don’t need tax cuts right now – we need jobs and building stuff.
Take Action
Contact your representative and senators and tell them you want more infrastructure investment and fewer tax cuts in this recovery stimulus package.
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