On Politics and Family

In the last few months, I re-opened a dialogue with my younger brother, from whom I had been estranged for nearly a year. We had been living in different states and so I decided since I was back in Tennessee, and because I missed him, the time was right to renew the brotherly bond.

As expected, our sometimes daily conversations turned toward politics and various goings-on in Washington and abroad. It seems that my brother has become something of a staunch conservative in recent years, even writing his own blog on what he plainly sees as a “liberal menace” to our society. In reading today’s news, which contained the inevitable details of wrongdoing and scandal in our nation’s capitol, my thoughts turned toward my brother as a prime example of so many in this county who have been deluded into believing their values are represented by our elected leaders. What’s even more amazing, though liberals can hardly claim their wishes are adequately served, conservatives like my brother actually believe the current administration and Congress are actively looking for him and his family.

With that thought in mind and without going into too many personal details, I feel it would be interesting to take a look at what my brother stands for and how those beliefs are represented by those he passionately defends against the charges of ethical misconduct and illegal activities.

To start, my brother is a stay-at-home dad of two beautiful children. His wife attends school full-time in pursuit of a nursing degree even as she works long hours at a local hospital. Their total income would best be described as lower middle class with the hope of moving up at least a few tax brackets upon her graduation. Eric has plans to attend school as well, starting by summer and going after a degree in computer science. They both have my undying support in these endeavors and I wish them well.

However, I sincerely hope they both qualify for full-ride scholarships as a recent bill passed by the House of Representatives and expected to be signed into law by President Bush would cut nearly $12 billion from aid for students seeking higher education. Additionally, the variable interest rate on most loans would be raised to a fixed rate of 6.8%. This will impact millions more students than just my brother and his wife, but the bottom is the same for them all. Upon graduation, their student loans will be one of the primary debts they are under for years to come, almost negating the financial rewards associated with college graduates.

Yet, the trouble Eric and his family will face doesn’t stop with hiked student loan rates and decreased funding available to them both. As I mentioned earlier, their total family income can be reasonably said to be below the middle 20% of all earners in the country. Bush’s tax cuts, promised to reduce their burden, instead focus large amounts of money in the upper tiers of our society. That middle 20% of households received just 8.9% of the tax cuts, while those with incomes above $1 million (0.2% of households) received 15.3%. This caused millionaires’ incomes to jump by 6.4%, triple that of the middle 20%. In short, Eric’s family benefited magnitudes less from Bush’s tax cuts than the wealthiest echelons of our country.

Small wonder that the Eric is so concerned about Social Security, parroting the administration’s talking points on the matter. The loss of revenue to the country from these Supply Side has totaled nearly $300 billion, or 2.6% of the gross domestic product even as Bush has pushed Federal spending into stratospheric heights. The Social Security issue is thus a smokescreen to keep people from paying attention to the very real fiscal crisis this country is facing and which will be borne by the likes of my brother and his family. Had Bush not been so generous to his elite peers and spent the country’s money more wisely, the solvency of the Social Security program would be an easily manageable task using current economic tools. As it is, Eric will have to rely on personal investments from his 401K and other securities in order to adequately fund he and his wife’s future retirements.

The trouble isn’t over yet. Federal taxes are not the only burden Eric’s family has to bear at the moment. In the five years Bush has been in office, Federal expenditures have increased rapidly. Military spending ,for example, jumped to $535 billion in the current fiscal year from its 2001 measure of $304 billion (76%). Federal spending on health care, Social Security, and all other government programs jumped by 57%, 30%, and 39% respectively. At the same time, the government has decreased its aid to states for things like highway improvement, housing, social programs, and education. This means already cash-strapped states are looking at any and all ways of funding these programs, including tax hikes on the state and municipal levels, further increasing the tax burden Eric and his family are already under.

Even as oil companies recorded record profits, the very necessary travel Eric and his family must undertake for things like going to classes, doctors, and grocery stores continues to increase in cost, especially as a percentage of their total household income. The rampant real estate speculation bubble brought on by federal tinkering with interest rates in an effort to stimulate the economy has begun to burst, meaning Eric’s house will be dramatically undervalued should he decide to sell it in the next few years.

In my next installment, I will address the issues of religion and ethics in our government and how they supposedly mirror the beliefs of my Christian brother. However, I want to close with an example from a conversation Eric and I recently had via instant messaging. We were being somewhat snide with each other and he declared unequivocally that he would never, ever vote for a Democrat in any election. I responded by saying I had converted enough former conservatives to my side of things to cancel out his vote. He played tit for tat and questioned whether I had converted enough conservatives to match how many liberals he had converted. That sort of argument could go on for days, but the best answer all the evidence is that Eric would find it difficult, if not impossible to convert a liberal to his conservative philosophies. The reason is that there is no enticement from what he defends to convince even a skeptical liberal that the conservatives have the best policies in place to guide our country and represent our interests as a nation. Eric is supporting a regime which ignores all that he hopes for himself and his family.