With his singular style, Tom Toles tackles the complex issues of the day. This Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist skillfully targets political, economic and social concerns — in particular complicated environmental issues — with a clear-eyed precision that hits the mark every time.
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egreshko said, about 2 years ago
I feel it would have been more funny (accurate) if the cars heading off in the “Ask Not” lane were mostly limosm corporate trucks, and HumVee types….forcing smaller, older cars into the “Do for your country” lane.
jmattadams
said, about 2 years ago
JFK is spinning so fast in his grave at what Democrats have become, he could generate 50 mWs of electricity a month. Unfortunately, he needs natural gas to fuel the flame at his grave that Billy Joel sang about.
Doughfoot said, about 2 years ago
Eisenhower is spinning so fast in his grave at what Republicans have become … well, you get the idea.
But the cartoon is wrong, there are many, many cars in the left lane. Some are driven by genuine public servants, those who could make more money in the private sector but choose to serve their country instead as soldiers, social workers, firemen, teachers, cops, volunteers of many stripes.
And then there are those conserve and recycle, and try to spend their money in ways that do less harm to themselves, their country, and their planet.
And then there are those who support and would gladly pay higher taxes or shoulder greater burdens (like delaying their retirement) if they knew the money given or saved would go to pay their country’s debts and strengthen it, and not merely provide tax cuts for folks richer than themselves.
The generation of 1776 never in their lifetimes saw their taxes fall as low as they were before independence, nor was their country as prosperous as it was before the revolution for another generation. They fought to establish the principle that the people’s elected representatives have the sole right to levy taxes on the people.
If the duly elected representatives of the country cannot be trusted to do that wisely, or at least in a manner answerable to their constituents, then the revolution was in vain, and the tyrants are right: democracy is sham, the Constitution is a failure, and the revolution was fought in vain.
Looking at the Tea Party, it is hard to believe now that the GOP was once a party that favored large-scale investment in the country (a la the Interstate Highways and the Railroads) and civil rights for all, or that a Republican president (DDE) once warned that every dollar spent on the military was a dollar stolen from the hungry and those in need, or that republicans once believed in the findings of scientific inquiry, and laughed at the democratic rubes who prosecuted Scopes in Tennessee.
“I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just …”
pavlov said, about 2 years ago
Well said Doughfoot. when you running for office.
W(ar).Crime said, about 2 years ago
Excellent post Doughfoot (as usual).
Simon_Jester said, about 2 years ago
Tell you what Jmatt…why don’t you go fight your OWN wildfires, if you hate federal handouts so much?
ssejhill said, about 2 years ago
Doughfoot … my sentiments exactly, but you stated them much more succinctly than I could have. Thank you.
motivemagus said, about 2 years ago
“I must study politics and war that my sons may have liberty to study mathematics and philosophy. My sons ought to study mathematics and philosophy, geography, natural history and naval architecture, navigation, commerce and agriculture, in order to give their children a right to study painting, poetry, music, architecture, statuary, tapestry, and porcelain.”
–John Adams, letter to Abigail Adams, 1780
Harleyquinn
said, about 2 years ago
“And then there are those who support and would gladly pay higher taxes or shoulder greater burdens (like delaying their retirement) if they knew the money given or saved would go to pay their country’s debts and strengthen it, and not merely provide tax cuts for folks richer than themselves.”
And then there is 35% of the Americans on the public dole. Their are those who do not understand income tax,, wo ho I am getting some back this year. 50% do not pay income tax so we must stick it to the top 2% Not to mention the poor pitiful poor, we must make sure they have government radio government tv and governmental housing and governmental cheese. Face it the entitlement culture is here and the muchers are running most of the show and the D’s are doling it out. You want to know Why R’s are shown to be evil rich and D’s poor? The R goes to the leaders and those who do. They ask How can I help you. Answer stay out of my way! The D’s go to those who want and ask What can I get and give to you. More often then not “I want what the other guys has. why should I have to work for it”?
Harleyquinn
said, about 2 years ago
Foot get over yourself, you could take %100% of those evil riches money and that would run our country for about 100 days. Of course Obama 100 day plan went in the crapper and he has been slugging around in the sewer of wealth envy and class warfare ever since, and HE KNOWS IT! And if he does not know it then I have given him to much credit and we as a country are in more trouble then are credit rating being revoked.
GreggW
said, about 2 years ago
“We are so very far from the classical republican ideal of ruling and being ruled, of exercising political agency and participating in the life of our commonwealth, that, incapable of pursuing even narrow self-interest effectively, we instead offer ourselves up as impotent, obsequious subjects, the unresisting tools of interests we scarcely comprehend.” Roger D. Hodge, “Speak, Money” Harper’s Magazine, Oct. 2010 (excerpted from his book “The Mendacity of Hope: Barack Obama and the Betrayal of American Liberalism”)
Patrick JB Flynn
said, about 2 years ago
Harleyquinn sure got some good fiction going, his/her facts are the absurd suppositions funneled from the fetid water of Grover Norquist’s drowning tub. “Get out of my way!” (YOU LIE!) As if the deregulation of the banks and the bleeep hats on Wall Street didn’t completely disprove that egregious notion.
mnsmkd said, about 2 years ago
I think the line went something like: “ASK NOT WHAT YOUR CONTRY CAN DO FOR YOU but ask what you can do for your country…” Looks like , in the cartoon, lots of folks are asking the country to do for them. Come to think of it, I guess the cartoon more clearly reflects what the “takers” are doing.
Spaghettus1 said, about 2 years ago
Harley thinks he knows taxes, along with many other things.
The tax code’s greatest break for the poor is the EIC. If one does no work, thus no earned income, the credit is $0. If one works very little, the credit is very small. Without children, the maximum credit is $457, though most get less, and is only available to those over 25 and under 65. Only the working poor who are also raising children get larger payments.
And, of course, the “lucky 50%” who pay no income tax pay a large chunk of the sales and payroll tax collected in the US. A few always slip into this category by running rather large businesses, but are able to “write off”, legally or illegally, what should be considered income.
On the other end, note that Mr. Buffet only pays 17.1% because he uses no tax avoidance methods. With different instructions to his accountant, he could pay much less, like many of his peers.
The proposals currently being considered would raise the wealthy’s maximum rate to about half of what it was in the 50’s, 60’s, and 70’s. If this is a class war, it looks as if their side will have no casualties, regardless of the outcome.
Harleyquinn
said, about 2 years ago
http://weaselzippers.us/2011/04/18/government-handouts-top-tax-income-for-first-time-since-1936/