Aug 31^st

Cal Thomas begins his column today with the usual lies. Why do these wing nuts believe that no one ever checks on their version of the facts? Perhaps it is the Trump effect; if Trump can get away with bald-faced lies (like telling us that our GDP is never negative) then why shouldn’t this fine columnist? Cal begins with a rant about a British politician, a socialist, who wants to “increase the taxes on the rich who are already paying more than half their earnings in income taxes.” It takes very little time to find out that this is a lie. If a couple earns 100 thousand pounds a year (that’s 153 thousand dollars) their income tax in Britain is 29.4 percent. That’s not really rich so let’s go up to 500 thousand pounds a year (that’s 765 thousand dollars a year) now the couple will pay 42 percent of that income in income tax. Even if you earn a million pounds a year (153 million dollars) your income tax comes to 44 percent of your earnings which is well less than half. I believe this is the Trump effect infecting the right wing. I’m sure they think, “If trump can get away with this why can’t I do the same thing?” The reason, dear Cal, is that you aren’t Donald Trump.

Then Cal says, “In the United States another self-described socialist Bernie Sanders, is appealing largely to a younger generation that apparently knows little about the history of leftist ideology and its failures.” Nonsense on two counts: A recent article points out that Sander’s has an appeal to his own generation: Patrick Healy in “Politics” writes under this headline, “Bernie Sanders appeals to a certain generation: his own.” Then we have the leftist failures Cal talks about, but no mention of leftist successes nor any mention of right wing failures. He might look at the level of happiness in Iceland, Sweden, Denmark and Norway. These are socialist countries but Thomas’ political blinders keep him from seeing the advantages they provide for their citizens. These same blinders keep him from seeing the brutality of the right-wing military junta in Argentina. Then there was Somoza in Cuba and those fine conservatives in Chile. Weren’t they a splendid group of right wingers?

Then he complains that Republican candidates are “more interested I attacking each other than in naming and shaming the consequential domestic and foreign policy failures of liberalism exemplified in the presidency of Barack Obama.” Cal Thomas is apparently unacquainted with the principle of least effort; applied here it means that these Republican candidates find it much easier to attack each other than to mount any meaningful attack on the “domestic and foreign policy failures of liberalism.” It is also the case that for most people, even marginally acquainted with politics, the problem is to first win the primary; to do that Cal, you must beat your primary opponents. If you aren’t successful there then you needn’t worry about anything except paying your campaign debts.