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Create Your Own Tax Cut
opinion by Joel Hanson
The dust has yet to settle on the American military's illegal invasion
of Iraq and already George Bush is engaging in a diplomatic offensive
regarding Syria, accusing Iraq's northwestern neighbor of harboring
Iraqi leaders and stocking chemical weapons. Are Bush's accusations
nothing more than tough talk in the aftermath of an easy military
victory or do they signal phase two of the Project of the New American
Century--Deputy Defense Secretary Paul Wolfowitz's not-so-secret plan
to establish worldwide economic dominance via military means?
Time will tell but the anti-war movement can't afford to wait around
and find out. A new, more aggressive strategy is needed to counter the
potential military threat against Syria. The anti-war movement,
however, appears to be headed in the opposite direction. While the
most technologically advanced army in the world was rolling through
the Iraqi desert, groups like Direct Action to Stop the War and United
For Peace and Justice were curtailing their acts of non-violent civil
disobedience in order to re-shape the anti-war movement's image in the
face of negative media coverage. This makeover may attract greater
numbers to the long-term cause but it also signaled an abandonment of
the immediate goal of stopping the fighting in Iraq.
Is it not possible for the anti-war movement to fight the battle on
both fronts: devising a long-term goal of attracting more supporters
while taking bolder steps to thwart the administration's immediate
military ambitions? Ironically, the actions of the Bush administration
may provide the anti-war movement with the sort of aggressive strategy
it desperately lacks. By invading Iraq without UN authorization, Bush
has essentially sanctioned law breaking when it suits one's interests.
If the protest movement wishes to prevent future wars, are we not
justified in breaking the law, too--but this time in the interests of
the anti-war majority?
According to Gore Vidal's latest book Dreaming War, 51 percent of
taxpayer revenue is redirected to the Pentagon's astronomical military
budget: well over $1 billion per day and rising each year. By
continuing to pay our taxes, we are tacitly supporting our
government's imperialist foreign policy and undercutting the goals of
the anti-war movement.
Perhaps the Bush administration might listen to the anti-war
movement's demands if millions of people threatened to withhold future
tax dollars, like tenants with a legitimate grievance against a
delinquent landlord, until our demands are met. And after demanding a
slash in the Pentagon budget, we could also demand that our tax
dollars be used to address the most pressing social/political concerns
in America: 1) establishing universal healthcare for all American
citizens, 2) creating a $12-an-hour living wage for America's minimum
wage workers, 3) expanding the welfare state for the poor (anyone
making less than $25,000 a year), 4) increasing the funding for
schools (who will no longer need to turn to corporate advertising to
make up for federal budget cuts), 5) and rebuilding our country's
crumbling infrastructure with high-speed subway systems in every major
city--thereby decreasing America's dependence on foreign oil. If Bush
can propose a $726-billion tax cut for his already wealthy corporate
donors in a time of war, shouldn't we create our own tax cuts with the
aim of establishing a lasting peace?
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