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<DIV><FONT size=2>
<DIV class=timestamp> [NY Times OP ED]</DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp> </DIV>
<DIV class=timestamp>June 4, 2011</DIV>
<DIV class=kicker></DIV>
<H1><NYT_HEADLINE type=" " version="1.0">Our Fantasy
Nation?</NYT_HEADLINE></H1><NYT_BYLINE>
<H6 class=byline>By <A class=meta-per
title="More Articles by Nicholas D. Kristof"
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/opinion/editorialsandoped/oped/columnists/nicholasdkristof/index.html?inline=nyt-per"
rel=author>NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF</A></H6></NYT_BYLINE><NYT_TEXT>
<DIV id=articleBody><NYT_CORRECTION_TOP></NYT_CORRECTION_TOP>
<P>With Tea Party conservatives and many Republicans balking at raising the <A
class=meta-classifier title="More articles about the national debt."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/topics/reference/timestopics/subjects/n/national_debt_us/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">debt
ceiling</A>, let me offer them an example of a nation that lives up to their
ideals. </P>
<P>It has among the lowest tax burdens of any major country: <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/19/world/asia/19taxes.html">fewer than 2
percent</A> of the people pay any taxes. Government is limited, so that
burdensome regulations never kill jobs. </P>
<P>This society embraces traditional religious values and a conservative
sensibility. Nobody minds school prayer, <A class=meta-classifier
title="More articles about Same-Sex Marriage, Civil Unions, and Domestic Partnerships."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/subjects/s/same_sex_marriage/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">same-sex
marriage</A> isn’t imaginable, and criminals are never coddled. </P>
<P>The budget priority is a strong military, the nation’s most respected
institution. When generals decide on a policy for, say, Afghanistan, politicians
defer to them. Citizens are deeply patriotic, and nobody burns flags. </P>
<P>So what is this Republican Eden, this Utopia? Why, it’s <A class=meta-loc
title="More news and information about Pakistan."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/international/countriesandterritories/pakistan/index.html?inline=nyt-geo">Pakistan</A>.
</P>
<P>Now obviously Sarah Palin and John Boehner don’t intend to turn Washington
into Islamabad-on-the-Potomac. And they are right that long-term budget issues
do need to be addressed. But when many Republicans insist on “starving the
beast” of government, cutting taxes, regulations and social services — slashing
everything but the military — well, those are steps toward Pakistan. </P>
<P>The United States is, of course, in no danger of actually becoming Pakistan,
any more than we’re going to become Sweden at the other extreme. But as America
has become more unequal, as we cut off government lifelines to the neediest
Americans, as <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/02/us/02states.html?_r=1">half of states
plan to cut spending on higher education</A> this year, let’s be clear about our
direction — and about the turnaround that a Republican budget victory would
represent. </P>
<P>The long trajectory of history has been for governments to take on more
responsibilities, and for citizens to pay more taxes. Now we’re at a turning
point, with Republicans arguing that we need to reverse course. </P>
<P>I spend a fair amount of time reporting in developing countries, from Congo
to Colombia. They’re typically characterized by minimal taxes, high levels of
inequality, free-wheeling businesses and high military expenditures. Any of that
ring a bell? </P>
<P>In Latin American, African or Asian countries, I sometimes see shiny tanks
and fighter aircraft — but schools that have trouble paying teachers. Sound
familiar? And the upshot is societies that are quasi-feudal, stratified by
social class, held back by a limited sense of common purpose. </P>
<P>Maybe that’s why the growing inequality in America pains me so. The
wealthiest 1 percent of Americans already have a greater net worth than the
bottom 90 percent, based on Federal Reserve data. Yet two-thirds of the proposed
Republican budget cuts <A
href="http://www.cbpp.org/cms/index.cfm?fa=view&id=3460">would harm</A> low-
and moderate-income families, according to the Center on Budget and Policy
Priorities. </P>
<P>For a country that prides itself on social mobility, where higher education
has been a traditional escalator to a better life, cutbacks in access to college
are a scandal. G. Jeremiah Ryan, the president of Bergen Community College in
New Jersey, tells me that when the college was set up in 1965, two-thirds of the
cost of running it was supposed to be covered by state and local governments,
and one-third by students. The reality today, Dr. Ryan says, is that students
bear 78 percent of the cost. </P>
<P>In fairness to Pakistan and Congo, wealthy people in such countries manage to
live surprisingly comfortably. Instead of financing education with taxes, these
feudal elites send their children to elite private schools. Instead of financing
a reliable police force, they hire bodyguards. Instead of supporting a modern
health care system for their nation, they fly to hospitals in London. </P>
<P>You can tell the extreme cases by the hum of diesel generators at night.
Instead of paying taxes for a reliable electrical grid, each wealthy family
installs its own powerful generator to run the lights and air-conditioning. It’s
noisy and stinks, but at least you don’t have to pay for the poor. </P>
<P>I’ve always made fun of these countries, but now I see echoes of that pattern
of privatization of public services in America. Police budgets are being cut,
but the wealthy take refuge in gated communities with private security guards.
Their children are spared the impact of budget cuts at public schools and state
universities because they attend private institutions. </P>
<P>Mass transit is underfinanced; after all, Mercedes-Benzes and private jets
are much more practical, no? And maybe the most striking push for reversal of
historical trends is the Republican plan to dismantle <A class=meta-classifier
title="Recent and archival health news about Medicare."
href="http://topics.nytimes.com/top/news/health/diseasesconditionsandhealthtopics/medicare/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier">Medicare</A>
as a universal health care program for the elderly. </P>
<P>There’s even an echo of the electrical generator problem. More and more
affluent homes in the suburbs are buying electrical generators to use when the
power fails. </P>
<P>So in this season’s political debates, let’s remember that we’re arguing not
only over debt ceilings and budgets, but about larger questions of our vision
for our country. Do we really aspire to take a step in the direction of a
low-tax laissez-faire Eden ...like Pakistan? </P><NYT_AUTHOR_ID>
<DIV class=authorIdentification>
<P>I invite you to comment on this column on my blog, <A
href="http://www.nytimes.com/ontheground">On the Ground</A>. Please also join me
on <A href="http://www.facebook.com/kristof">Facebook</A>, watch my <A
href="http://www.youtube.com/nicholaskristof">YouTube videos</A> and follow me
on <A href="http://twitter.com/nickkristof">Twitter</A>.
</P></DIV></NYT_AUTHOR_ID><NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM>
<DIV
class=articleCorrection></DIV></NYT_CORRECTION_BOTTOM><NYT_UPDATE_BOTTOM></NYT_UPDATE_BOTTOM></DIV></NYT_TEXT></FONT></DIV><FONT
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