Hidden Taxes?

The Democrat candidate for Michigan governor has repeated this.  The condition of the roads which leads us to pay for auto repairs is, she said, a "Republican road tax."  (And, yes, we've had blown tires and damaged rims, too.)  Maybe.  Maybe not.

I wonder if she considers the huge increases in my health insurance premiums, along with the higher co-pays and deductibles, to be a "Democrat health care tax."  After all, Obamacare passed without a single Republican vote in Congress.  So, obviously, the Democrats own it.  "Republican road tax?"  "Democrat health care tax?"  I know, I know.  "But that's different."

Relative to Michigan's Proposal 2, which I will vote against, I am reminded of Obama's words.  "Elections have consequences......"  Why, then, is it so wrong for those who win elections to draw up district boundaries?  Isn't that a consequence of winning elections?  I know, I know.  "But that's different."  By the way, do we really need more unaccountable, that is they never have to face voters, bureaucrats making decisions for us?  Haven't we learned our lessons?

Adding to my post of last week about "Free," the freebies and handouts to which many people feel entitled and which many politicians promise in their bids to get elected, was an article I read the other day.  Young folks, ages 19-35, by sizable majorities want those freebies, such as free health insurance and free college education.  I guess nobody should be surprised.  I wonder if, though, all those young folks realize that none of the freebies are really free.

I tried, I really did.  I turned on the Detroit Lions game this afternoon.  I told Karen I was going to just "veg out" and watch the game.  The game remained on the boob tube for its entirety.  I'll estimate that I watched, at most, 11 or 12 plays.  It just held no interest for me.  I know a lot of people live and die with professional sports.  I don't happen to be one of them.  And I didn't watch a single down of either MSU or UM yesterday.  I did mange to catch the last quarter of the Amherst game on my computer.  There were technical difficulties and I couldn't watch the first part of the game.  I'm sure all will be happy (at least I am!) that the Lord Jeffs held off the Jumbos, 19-13, and are now 7-0 with two games to go.  The Purple Cows come to Amherst in two weeks.

I just finished The Switch by Joseph Finder.  It's a thriller and I enjoyed it.  More so, it fed into my fears of Big Government, more and more unrestrained, and what it can do to citizens.  Another book I read a few weeks ago had these gems:  "How can one plan a book about lying without including politicians?"  and  "How [are we] to distinguish between the politician who is lying and the one who is just stupid?"  Of course, despite the punctuation, they are more statements than they are questions.

If you are looking for a good book, try Nelson De Mille's Gold Coast.  One reviewer called it an updated Great Gatsby.  I wouldn't go that far, but I really enjoyed it.  The characters were sound, both flawed and heroic, and the writing was very good.  De Mille even managed, like Mario Puzo in The Godfather, to turn a Mafia boss into a sympathetic character!  What to read next?  I think I'll catch up on a pile of magazines I've not yet opened.

OK, I have to get this off my chest.  I gave midterm exams in all of my classes last week.  In one of my Michigan history courses, two students misspelled "Michigan," multiple times and all misspelled the same way(s).  Plus, "Michigan" was splattered all over the exam itself, from a title to individual questions.  I was tempted to just put a big F on the papers.  Some years ago, I questioned an elementary teacher about why spelling isn't taught in the lower grades any longer.  Back when, it was part of every academic day, grades one through six, with spelling textbooks, etc.  Anyway, this elementary teacher said the theory was students "would catch on to spelling eventually."  Well, many of them obviously didn't.  Who could possibly think that?  (Well, I know who, but......)  If spelling doesn't count, isn't emphasized, why would students care about it?  Again obviously many of them didn't and don't.  It's like no longer requiring things like math flash cards and tables--addition, subtraction, multiplication, division.  I was reminded of that during my last stop at McDonald's.  I paid my $2.59 with 7 quarters, 6 dimes, 4 nickels, and 4 pennies.  It took the guy about five minutes to count the change.  I even wondered if he just finally gave up and put the coins in their proper tills.  His calculator didn't help him much that night, did it?  Still, nobody listens to me about the schools.