April 5^th

 

Senator John Thune is the topic, albeit indirectly, of today’s blog. Thune has decided to oppose the “death tax” as he calls it. There is a six-column spread in this morning’s paper labeled Thune’s “tax distortions.” Thune claims that, “about a third of the farms are liable to pay the estate tax.” Thune is basing his claim on the estate tax of 2000, fifteen years ago a when the exemption was just 675 thousand dollars; that exemption is now over five million dollars, or close to 11 million if you are married. The result is that with a bit of estate planning virtually no one, even those with 20 million in transferrable assets pays any inheritance tax.

There is no doubt whatever that Thune is distorting the facts about this tax. Is he a liar? That’s harsh but if Thune new that what he was saying was false to fact, then he was lying. So far there has been no correction from Thune’s office, no attempts to dodge the obvious conclusion that Thune’s assertions were grossly misleading. Well, so what else is new; some Senators and many lesser politicians lie all the time.

That’s true, but you might expect Thune to be a special case; he graduated from Biola University in California. This is a seriously conservative and fundamentalist Christian college; all graduating students must take seven prescribed courses in Bible and three additional elective courses in Bible to graduate.  When they are hired, and again before they get tenure, each faculty member must sign a document asserting that they agree with the strict inerrancy of the Bible. And now if Senator Thune, this prominent graduate, is deliberating misleading people with his message, what good did all that Bible study do?

The background of some politicians is irrelevant, if it’s in that politician’s interest to shade the truth, to mislead, or to lie, all the religious or ethical training they might previously have had matters not at all. That’s too bad, of course, but it is instructive: For all too many politicians those issues favorable to their interests will be exaggerated while those unfavorable to them will be minimized.

We shouldn’t blame Thune; he might have been more straightforward when he took office but a few years observing how the system works effectively slants the view of many men of initial good character. They see how it’s done so some of them go and do likewise.

So is this a cynical viewpoint? Of course it is, but it is obvious that some politicians try to persuade, while others try to mislead. Don’t depend on their backgrounds to tell them apart.