Re: services

At 10:14 PM 7/22/2001 -0500, you wrote:
>Thanks for your detailed reply.  I guess we have different definitions of
>"essential services."  It's a fairly common phrase, but I've never seen it
>used like this before.
>
>Thought you might find this essay interesting as it relates to the Internet
>campaign to direct rebates to progressive causes:
>http://www.reason.com/hod/sr072301.html

Ironic, isn't it.  While I can see that conservatives think the "give it 
back" movement validates the tax rebate, what I find more important is that 
what we're trying to do is undo the damage the rebate is doing.  Of course, 
the fact is that even if Bush hadn't pushed this foolish rebate through, we 
still would not be spending enough on government social services.  Even the 
programs that we're just now learning will be deeply affected by the tax 
cut -- Social Security and Medicare, to take two that are in the news -- 
only benefit those Americans who have been working and paying in to the 
system for years.

And I find it most interesting that while conservatives can crow about the 
fact that progressives are "taking control of their own money", they seem 
to have forgotten the goal of getting us to spend the money, thus lifting 
the economy out of its slump.

A key tenet of most progressive movements is to act locally; so while I 
advocate the national groups listed in my article for illustrative 
purposes, I'm actually going to be turning my rebate over to local 
charities that provide local services.

Niel