Spectator/Stephen Tuttle

Continued from page 3 Remove Bergman

“Representative” Jack Bergman should be removed from his congressional seat as soon as possible — either by impeachment or recall — for his seditious actions that helped spur the violence and insurrection that occurred in our United States Capitol yesterday.

Charlie Weaver, Kalkaska that all such (window-breaking, Congresspeople who rejected the facts of this election, which includes our own U.S. Representative Jack Bergman, regret their foolish and self-serving actions. Our democracy is as precious as the truth. We must all wholeheartedly support it.

—The members of Indivisible Traverse City, Indivisible Grand Traverse, and Leelanau

This is America First? Sadly, Donald Trump’s 2017 inaugural promise of “American carnage” has come to pass. Based on the fictional fantasies of an outgoing but still powerful authoritarian president — and his oncegreat, now-captive Republican party — our shared democratic institutions have been unnecessarily tested, threatened, and trashed as domestic terrorism stalks the floors of the people’s house. On Jan. 6, as my wife and I watched what we all assumed would be the routine count by our elected officials of the Electoral College, we instead joined the world in horror as a Trump-incited mob violently attacked our beloved U.S. Capitol. Their goal? Starting an illegal coup to change the outcome of the legal and fair November election, or God knows what. Concurrently nearby, the oft-fire-stoking PTRD: Post Trump Reality Disorder To all the disturbed Trump loyalists and Obamacare antagonists, there is a message of hope in these desperate times. The Affordable Care Act provides coverage for mental health benefits, and professional help is available. On several occasions I have found counseling and therapy to be beneficial in reducing stress and anxiety. I encourage those suffering from “PTRD” to seek professional help asap. Reality has a baseline that you have deviated from in a dramatic manner. I know it hurts. Massage, art, and music therapy may be valid therapeutic treatments for this disorder. The medical benefits of marijuana may also provide relief from the dissociative aspects of your reality. But for Democracy’s sake, stand down and chill out! Fox News quoted some of the self-styled “peaceful” pro-Trump activists, claiming Marie Cliff, Cedar Indivisible threatening) actions are “legal when they happen in our ‘House!” Where else in the universe of world democracies would similar bullying actions be seen as legitimate expressions of political opposition? Meanwhile, through our own unbelief and tears, while counting the days till sanity returns on Jan. 20, the rest of us ask: What will it take for American conservatives — especially GOP elected officials, who like to portray themselves as “patriots” supporting the “rule of law and law enforcement” — to actually put America first? Reaping What He Sows Since 1970, I have been voting. I have never seen a president until now that hasn’t reached across party lines and try to unite us all. This is our country, not just that of Trump supporters. Trump pretends like he won, landslide, in 2016, when in fact more than a million more people voted for Hillary. He is dividing our country. Mexico paid nothing for the wall, he did not fix healthcare, and he initially claimed COVID-19 was a scam. He cut off food stamps to millions of people. I have heard Frank W. Hawthorne, Petoskey supporters say he is not a politician; he’s gonna clean up the swamp! A politician is someone who lies and talks out of both Jack Bergman Needs to Go Rep. Bergman has pushed Trump’s election conspiracy lies, and the domestic terrorist attack on America’s Capitol is the result of those lies. Bergman must apologize for pushing the lies, and he needs to resign. The people of the 1st District — and America — don’t need conspiracy-pushers in our government; that’s how anarchy and Fascism develops. We saw anarchy taking place in Washington, D.C., and it must stop, starting with Jack Bergman. side of his mouth. That’s Trump. As for the swamp, as my mom used to say, try cleaning off your own porch before cleaning up others’. He has a history of screwing over people. He is a bully, hiding behind his tweets. I think people should read the Bible and get a clue. The only close thing to Jesus about Trump is the ass that he rode on, and that’s an insult to that animal. Trump should be charged with inciting a riot on the Capitol building. Anyone else would be charged. He is a racist and a sexist. Tom LaMont, Kaleva His statement about grabbing women by their private parts is an insult to women. All are Unified Statement We are horrified by the Jan. 6 actions of the insurrectionists in our nation’s Capitol. God’s children. His support for the KKK and white supremacy shows when he refuses to call them out as bad. He will reap what he sows. Trump’s supporters became insurrectionists when they violently broke into our Capitol. Eric Bartell, Beulah This was completely predictable. It is what happens when leaders lie to their people. Discrediting sources of facts by calling the legitimate news “the enemy of the people” and labeling important facts as “fake news” harms our society. The current president has bullied his way through the last four years to inflict his will. And those in Washington who have enabled him are just as responsible. We must reject Trump’s lies, and we must reunite our country. Thank heavens our legislators are safe, but we hope the Correction: We made a mistake in interpreting and editing the original copy of the final statement of Colin Bohash’s Jan. 4 letter, “Light at the End of the Tunnel.” Rather than, “… but we must not try to sweep our history under the rug! None of it is part and parcel of who we are … ” it should have been edited to read “… but we must not try to sweep our history under the rug — none of it! It is part and parcel of who we are … .” 6 • jan 11, 2021 • Northern Express Weekly spectator by Stephen Tuttle

It didn't take the ultra-progressive wing of the Democratic Party long before they started carping away at President-elect Joe Biden. His cabinet nominees, so far the most diverse group ever, wasn't diverse enough. Or he wasn't aggressive enough combating the Trumpian nonsense. Or he wasn't sufficiently loyal to their agenda.

They were surely correct on the last point, and Biden has made no secret of that. In fact, he doesn't support most of that ultraprogressive orthodoxy like “Medicare for All,” defunding the police, or lots and lots of free stuff paid for with dramatic tax increases for rich folks and corporations. Not to mention new environmental plans that are a practical impossibility. The Bernie Sanders/Alexandria OcasioCortez (AOC) faction, who call themselves Democratic Socialists, are actually a tiny part of the Democratic caucuses in both the U.S. House and Senate. But they have an oversized voice and have cleverly used both mainstream and social media to generate an audience and adherents, especially among those who would most benefit from their ideas. So, what is that agenda? Start with a single-payer Medicare for All healthcare system. Add free public education from pre-K through graduate school. Forgiveness of current student debt. Defunding police. (It should be noted here that AOC has plainly said she doesn't mean that phrase euphemistically or metaphorically; she really wants to eliminate or greatly reduce budgets for police departments.) Meeting 100 percent of power needs from renewable sources within the next decade. The list is pretty long — some of it based, they think, on the Scandinavian model the progressives so admire. So let's take a look so we can understand why that model won't work here. Denmark, Sweden, and Norway have remarkably generous social programs including free cradle-to-grave healthcare, free education at every level, at least a year of paid maternity/paternity leave, five weeks of paid vacation to start, and a generous social security program. They also are among the world’s leaders in taking steps to combat climate change. All this requires an enormous financial commitment from the government, paid for by what most of us would consider monstrous tax increases. In Sweden, for example, the tax rate for those making more than 1.3 percent of the national average is nearly 56 percent. That system here would take more than half of what anyone earned beyond $65,000. And they don't have thousands of deductions to ease the burden. Norway also has a wealth tax — those whose net worth exceeds certain levels must pay a fraction of their estate in the form of a wealth tax — and they have the equivalent of a consumption tax of about 10 percent, which everybody pays with every purchase.

(Interestingly, environmentally conscious Norway makes half its export revenue from vast offshore oil and natural gas reserves. And private enterprise is responsible for 80 percent of its “socialist” economy.)

But Sweden, Denmark, and Norway

In Sweden, for example, the tax rate for those making more than 1.3 percent of the national average is nearly 56 percent. That system here would take more than half of what anyone earned beyond $65,000.

combined are small — only about the size of Texas and with nearly 10 million fewer people. More importantly, the people of those countries chose, by legislation or referendum, to have the kind of social welfare system they do, and they chose to pay for it with their tax dollars.

The majority of Americans have made no such choice and aren't likely to do so in the foreseeable future.

Progressives have made proposals that would cost $30 trillion over just the next decade so they will need new revenues aplenty, and rich folks and corporations are the targets — like a top income tax rate of 70 percent for the very rich, restoring the corporate tax rate to 35 percent, instituting a wealth tax, and even creating an exit tax for those wishing to move on to greener pastures.

Even then it doesn't pencil out without raising taxes for everybody from the lower middle class on up.

Biden doesn't support much of it, and there aren't 219 votes in the House nor anywhere near 60 votes in the Senate to get something passed. Without a House majority and a filibuster-proof Senate, the progressive agenda is only an interesting topic of discussion.

Frustration and grumbling are the more likely outcomes as Biden assumes the presidency. He can and likely will undo much of President Trump's backward steps on the environment. He might be able to negotiate a small corporate income tax increase, perhaps from the current 21 percent to 23 percent. He campaigned on expanding the Affordable Care Act (Obamacare), not Medicare for All. Like all other Democratic candidates, he says he will close tax loopholes and eliminate outlandish and excessive deductions.

Not much of that will appease progressives. But there is not yet public support, and nowhere near the political will, for the model of government programs they propose. They have taken big strides in gaining attention for their ideas but will have to settle for baby steps when it comes to realizing any of them.