Orwillian Dogma: “Not All Tax Relief is Created Equal”
Representative Jeb Hensarling (R-TX)
Definition of Orwellian:
“Orwellian” describes the situation, idea, or societal condition that George Orwell identified as being destructive to the welfare of a free society. It connotes an attitude and a policy of control by propaganda, surveillance, misinformation, denial of truth, and manipulation of the past, including the “unperson” — a person whose past existence is expunged from the public record and memory, practiced by modern repressive governments. Often, this includes the circumstances depicted in his novels, particularly Nineteen Eighty-Four.
An example of “Orwellian”:
George Orwell’s “1984” has plenty of slogans used by the powers that be on the perpetual war: WAR IS PEACE, FREEDOM IS SLAVERY, and IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH. So, when President Bush said on June 18, 2002, “I just want you to know that, when we talk about war, we’re really talking about peace,” that statement is referred to Orwellian.
Most of you must be aware of the fact that in his recent NY Times Op-Ed piece Warren Buffet has identified payroll taxes as the main reason for the poor to be burdened with higher tax rate than the rich. Also, the Obama administration is proposing to extend these payroll tax cuts for one more year after Jan 2012. Make no mistake about it, payroll tax reduction is a tax-cut.
Republican politicians have been trained or brainwashed to utter, “tax cuts today, tax cuts tomorrow and tax cuts forever” – even when they wake up from sleep – no matter what they personally believe in. So, one would think that Republicans love the idea of any tax cut. Here is a gem from last week. A Republican Congressman, Jeb Hensarling said about Payroll tax cuts.
“It’s always a net positive to let taxpayers keep more of what they earn,” says Rep. Jeb Hensarling, “but not all tax relief is created equal for the purposes of helping to get the economy moving again.” The Texas lawmaker is on the House GOP leadership team.
Here is the punch line for my article:
“All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others.” George Orwell (Animal Farm). This is the interpretation of the new constitution’s “all animals are equal” clause by Pigs of the Animal Farm, who came to power after driving the farmer away from his ranch.
It can get any more Orwellian than that.
