It’s impossible, at least right now, to rid DNC-approved publications of moral scolds, the out-of-touch, but “elite” men and women who presume to lecture to “average” or “normal” Americans about their lifestyles. At The New York Times last week (and The Atlantic, a Times-approved publication and luxury retirement home) there were two appalling op-ed columns that proposed raising taxes; one to reduce the level of alcohol and drug consumption in the country, the other… well, just because rich people aren’t paying their “fair share.” The latter is a common refrain among wealthy Democratic politicians; I’m not sure if the writer is feeding lines to office-seekers or if it’s the other way around. Doesn’t really matter, since it’s demagoguery whatever the source.
On June 1st, Times editorial board writer German Lopez (mid-30s, born in Venezuela), under the headline “It’s Never Been Easier in America to Get Buzzed”—I don’t get “buzzed anymore, save caffeine, but as a teenager and young man it wasn’t too difficult, although keeping an eye out for the “fuzz” factored in—proposes new taxes on alcohol and marijuana. At least he didn’t haul buckets from the “It’s too smoky outside because of the pot stink” well that’s popular among some citizens who undoubtedly said the same about tobacco smoke. (I smoke moderately, but have long accepted the ban inside almost all buildings, but snarl when a do-gooder waves my smoke away while in a park with the family dog.)
Here’s the fuck-the-poor-I-don’t-associate-with tell from Lopez: “One argument, often made by the alcohol industry, is that such taxes are regressive, and it’s true that higher prices hit the poor harder. But with higher taxes, those communities would also reap the benefits of less drunken driving, violence and disorderly behavior.” As with all “sin taxes,” it’s a screw-the-poor sentiment, and reminds me of the Smiths’ lyric in their song “I Want the One I Can’t Have,” “A double bed, and a stalwart lover for sure/These are the riches of the poor.” Isn’t the Times an ostensibly tireless advocate of the impoverished and beaten-down members of society (at least, as long as they vote on Election Day, through whatever means necessary)? Pardon the dumb question.
Lopez adds that mild drinkers aren’t likely to feel the pinch “of one drink of rum [that] costs 10 cents more,” (or even wealthy habitual drinkers), but “If you drink heavily every day, the extra cost will quickly add up—and maybe lead you to rethink your habit, or stop you from drinking so much to begin with.”
Lopez admits that prohibition didn’t work, but his scolding—hectoring— has more than a whiff of those morons in the Women’s Christian Temperance Union in the late-1800s and early-20th century who finally made a deal with President Woodrow Wilson: support the abolition of booze and we’ll use our clout to get your federal income tax passed (1913). Wilson, who drank, jumped on it: prohibition, started in 1920, was repealed in 1933, but the tax remained. Wilson wasn’t good for much, as his racism, reneging on America staying out of World War I, and suppression of free speech are reexamined by historians, but that was a clever, if cynical, political deal.
Meanwhile, on June 2nd, Natasha Sarin, a Millennial Times contributing “Opinion” editor and professor at Yale Law School, advocates for much higher taxes, telling whatever readers can make it through her AI-like prose, that American society will go down the drain if the “Oprah tax code”—her complaint that anti-tax fervor is spreading across the nation. She includes Democratic Sens. Chris Van Hollen (anti-Semite, MD) and Cory Booker (Parrot, NJ) who want a system where most Americans pay no taxes at all. Sounds like a flat tax!
The gist, perhaps lifted from Bernie, Platner or AOC: “In America, we pay taxes on salaries and wages. For normal people with normal jobs [what’s a “normal job”?], that means paying taxes on everything they earn. But billionaires and centimillionaires live largely on investment income that taxes barely touch.”
The photo above was taken on the day of my brother Jeff’s wedding, with the five Smith boys horsing around on our front lawn in Huntington, New York. That was before “sin taxes” went nuts: in New York, a pack of cigarettes cost 40 cents. When I moved to Baltimore in 1973, it was 35 cents.
Take a look at the clues to figure out the year: Grady Hatton was manager of the Houston Astros; the Kansas City Athletics (62-99) finished last in the American League; Bert Campaneris led the A.L. in stolen bases (55); Mickey Mantle became the sixth player in MLB history to reach 500 homers; Muhammed Ali refuses military service; Elvis and Priscilla get married; A Man for All Seasons wins Best Picture Oscar; The Jungle Book is released; Brian Cashman is born and Bert Lahr dies; Desmond Morris’ The Naked Ape is published; and The Beatles host a party for The Monkees in London.
—Follow Russ Smith on Twitter: @MUGGER2023