By John J. Duncan Jr.
There are several things happening now that would not be happening if Donald Trump had been re-elected.
1.) Gas prices would not be jumping up on a weekly (sometimes daily) basis, with wealthy environmentalists wanting them to go even higher so people will drive less.
2.) Illegal immigrants would not be flooding into the country and there would be no crisis at the border.
3.) Prisoners and illegal immigrants would not be receiving $1400 checks from the federal government.
4.) Black and brown farmers would not be receiving forgiveness of 120% of their federal loans that they had made no payments on while white farmers are not given this extra money.
5.) We would not be nationalizing federal elections so there could be same-day registration, now way to verify IDs and addresses, and millions more mail-in ballots to make sure Democrats control all our elections.
6.) There would be no statehood for Washington, D.C., and Puerto Rico for partisan political purposes so Democrats can get four more US Senators.
7.) Possibly the biggest tax hike in history would not be headed our way and being done in a way so that the harm to middle- and lower-income people is hidden from them.
8.) The very wasteful, inefficient blue state mayors and governors would not be bailed out with $50 billion so they could continue paying very exorbitant salaries and pensions to their very bloated payrolls.
The first federal income tax was passed in 1913, and it was only one percent of all income over $3,000 a year. Very few people made that much then so it effected only 3% of the population and there was little opposition to it.
However, because you can never satisfy governments’ appetite for land or money, all sorts of new taxes were added on over the years.
When Tennessee created the state sales tax in the mid-60s it was only 3%. How nice it would be if it was still at that level today. The problem with D.C. and Puerto Rico statehood, besides being done for partisan political reasons, is that it will be very costly and harmful to all the states we have now. It will further dilute the power of present Senators.
Every state has a combination of urban, suburban, and rural interests. Washington D.C. is just a city and not even one of our largest. It already gets about four times more federal money per capita than any other state so it is not being treated unfairly.
Would we then start seeing other large cities clamoring to become states so they can get additional senators? New York City has never like having to deal with the medium size cities, small towns, and rural areas of upstate New York.
If or when Republicans come back into power, should they then create new states in Republican areas?
The signs at the entrances to Tennessee for many years said “Welcome to the three States of Tennessee”. Our state laws have always recognized what are called the three Grand Divisions.
Would we be better off to have West Tennessee, Middle Tennessee, and East Tennessee as three complete states so we could have six Republican senators and other advantages?
I am not advocating this, but it makes more sense than making D.C. a state.
