So, OK, quick review w/o any of the tangents that were apparently confusing to some: 1. Any given proposal — tax-cut, tax-hike, public works, whatever — must justly serve the public interest and promote the common good. Any politician advocating any kind of policy must demonstrate that the policy meets this test. 2. When politicians support proposals that result in immense financial benefit for themselves personally they have an even greater obligation to demonstrate that the proposal in question is... Read more

Some politicians benefit financially from policies — legislation, regulations, tax code — that they have promoted and supported. In some cases, this financial benefit is significant, even massive — $40,000 a year, or more than $700,000 in one big chunk. I want to talk about that money. It matters. It is at least potentially corrosive. To ignore such financial benefit would be dangerous, opening the door to blatant corruption and policies that disregard the common good. But this is not... Read more

Got quite a bit of response, both in comments and via e-mail, to this post about the immense sums of money that President Bush and Vice President Cheney personally have at stake in abolishing the estate tax. One friend suggested that I look at this in terms of the 1993 movie, Indecent Proposal. You'll recall that was the movie in which Demi Moore's character accepted $1 million to sleep with the tycoon played by Robert Redford. My friend agreed with... Read more