It is no secret that special interests dominate the state’s politics. It allows them to influence how, from whom and in what amounts tax revenue is collected and then allocated.
Their stranglehold on the process leaves disgruntled citizens of every political stripe – who well may be the vocal majority around the water cooler and breakfast table – unable or unwilling to take action as our American Dream erodes. Let’s seek solutions.
• If you are not a legal resident, you should be ineligible for social and health services. Rhode Island is home to an estimated 10,000-plus such individuals.
• Sell bonds to fund bridge and highway improvements and convert municipal vehicles to hybrids. We all benefit from the trickle-down economics that creates jobs and tax revenues to repay the debt and interest. Proceeds would be limited to Rhode Island companies.
• Create education incentives and disincentives. Until the age of 18, high school dropouts will perform 20 hours weekly of community service. The savings could be used to fund vocational training or college at the University of Rhode Island, Rhode Island College or the Community College of Rhode Island. Out-of-state attendees of Brown University, Providence College, the Rhode Island School of Design and Johnson & Wales University would be assessed an annual tuition impact fee to offset the tax abatement these institutions enjoy. Fees would be credited if the graduates remain in state.
• Across-the-board statewide budget reduction of 5 percent, with individual state and local departmental heads selecting where the reductions will be made. Those parts of the savings not used to fund a rollback of the corporate franchise tax to $250 and reductions in property and income taxes would be used to reduce the budget deficit and the state’s reliance on casino revenue.
We also need to address major national issues:
• Is supporting the troops with no personal sacrifice patriotism?
Perhaps our places of worship and public schools could influence building strong children and safer communities with more municipal and business support for public service and volunteerism.
• Iraq, Iran, Israel, Oil. The Middle East debate focuses on when (and how many) to withdraw instead of the real cost of (un)intended consequences. It relies on fear – in this case of terrorism – as has the wars on drugs and crime.
We need a broader, not narrower, focus of our resources. If sectarian civil war is a foregone conclusion, the question is, “What is an acceptable number of casualties and for how long?”
• A re-examination of the history of theocratic domination might suggest success is best measured in decades, centuries or millennia, not years. If Iran’s government is a threat to Israel’s citizens as well as the region, then our military force strength, reduced by 500,000 since Desert Storm, needs more support than our Persian Gulf Battle Carrier Groups’ deterrence.
A Euro-Arab coalition would be necessary for long-term stability – unless our permanent presence is vital to national security, based upon access to Middle East oil. And if this is the case, shouldn’t the burden be shifted to the global oil cartels and oil-producing nations, not our military, which is paid for by our tax dollars and U.S. sons’ and daughters’ lives?
• The consequences of our cheap-money policy were predictable. The middle class was temporarily silenced, but personal debt skyrocketed as our national debt was sold to China. Meanwhile, the wealthy quietly amassed much more.
A frank dialog about holding our leaders and ourselves accountable by making sacrifices for the greater good might inspire the media to return to investigative journalism versus making politics and citizenship a spectator sport comparable to reality television.
Where is the leadership? •
Carl Sheeler, a former Marine Corps officer and small business owner, is a father of five and was a Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate in Rhode Island last year.
