Ahh, the Flat Tax. The utopian vision of Steve Forbes, Dick Armey, and anybody swimming in 1099-INT forms is now a reality in Iraq (Wash. Post link). It sounds ideal in a lot of ways; everybody pays a similar amount, people save lots of time, and IRS workers are put out of a job. But the downsides are plenty; higher deficit, no write-offs for charitable donations, and more chances that people that earn their money through labor rather than stock trading will be left holding the bag.
posted by destro on Mar 17, 2004 - 25 comments

Strange Bedfellows fight tyranny? - Bob Barr, Dick Armey to join ACLU Quoth James Madison: (Federalist Papers #47) - "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many . . . may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny." and Benjamin Franklin:"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety." William Safire Slammed the Bush Adminstration (Nov 15) over John Poindexter's Total Information Awareness program. NOW: Bob Barr, a gun-rights anti-gay firebrand conservative to join the ACLU? Dick Armey's joining as a consultant? Say that again? And Nat Hentoff reports that the Journal Gazette of Fort Wayne, Indiana ran a broadside called (sept. 8) "Attacks on Liberty" - "In the name of national security, President Bush, Attorney General John Ashcroft, and even Congress have pulled strand after strand out of the constitutional fabric that distinguishes the United States from other nations. . . . Actions taken over the past year are eerily reminiscent of tyranny portrayed in the most nightmarish works of fiction" MEANWHILE...an email of an editorial by right wing radio personality Chuck Baldwin, "Bush Government 'Out of Control' ("The Bush administration seems determined to turn our country into the most elaborate and sophisticated police state ever devised") first published in an online Christian Fundamentalist antiabortion newpaper is making the (right wing) rounds. It asks: "Does that mean one must leave the Republican Party in order to fight for liberty?" [antitroll protection dislaimer: most Democrats signed the Patriot Act, the principle cause of concern behind the statements and editorials linked to on this post]
posted by troutfishing on Nov 27, 2002 - 25 comments

It's beginning to look a lot like Dick Armey will not pursue re-election! In a potential shake-up to Texas and national politics, House Majority Leader Dick Armey is telling congressional colleagues that he doubts he will run for re-election, one of the Flower Mound Republican's closest confidants said Monday. Rumor has it he will make his announcement on C-SPAN's Washington Journal.
posted by Carol Anne on Dec 11, 2001 - 17 comments