https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2019/02/01/elites-have-led-way-permission-granted-be-irresponsible/
The elites have led the way: Permission granted to be irresponsible
By Tom Toles
Editorial cartoonist
February 1 at 9:23 AM
It is more than a little ironic to see progressive ideas being subjected to the test of whether they are responsible. Where does the idea come from that responsibility is a standard anymore?
Elites — and I define those as the wealthy, the leaders of corporations, government, think tanks, universities and the media — enjoy their positions and privileges to set the ethical standards for a society and to guide the direction a society moves in. So how have they been doing?
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Last I saw, the federal government gave stupendously MORE in tax cuts to the rich. How was this funded? It wasn’t! It was written entirely in red ink! Oh, yeah, the deficit. Which has been another area of endless empty lecturing from the elites. And yet there is always room for more tax cuts for the rich.
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But suddenly, it’s: Is Medicare-for-all RESPONSIBLE? Are higher marginal tax rates RISKY? Is a Green New Deal properly DETAILED? Mightn’t there be costs or TRADE-OFFS? And — again, for progressives only — what about the DEFICIT? These progressive proposals aren’t irresponsible. They are aimed at undoing prior irresponsibility. If we are going to use responsibility as a standard, let’s let the current swath of leaders back things up, reduce the vast inequality they have allowed and institute their own program of carbon reduction, and then we’ll resume the discussion about responsibility.
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