Lincoln and Obama

By Jim Thompson
HCP columnist

It has been quite evident that President Obama wants us to so think of him as being Lincolnesque.

He is going to be sworn in for his second term using the same Bible Lincoln used. He is going to give his State of the Union address on Lincoln's Birthday.

It has been evident to this writer for a long time that the president is not a very good student of history; but come on, do you really want to replicate President Lincoln's second term? Think about it, Mr. President.

There are other comparisons and ironies as we observe the 150th anniversary of the Civil War. The White House has this petition process of which you may have heard. Their promise is to respond to any petition containing a minimum of 25,000 signatures.

As of this writing, residents of Florida, Louisiana, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, North Carolina, South Carolina and Texas (where the petition has received 125,000 signatures) have met this threshold with petitions requesting that their states be allowed to secede from the Union.

Very Lincolnesque, indeed.

However, Governor Bobby Jindal of Louisiana may have pulled a fast end run that will ultimately lead to interesting and much needed changes.

On Thursday, Jan. 10, Jindal proposed eliminating the state income tax for corporations and individuals. If he can succeed in pulling this off – certainly a tough assignment – Louisiana would join Texas and Florida as states without income taxes. In those two states, populations and businesses have swollen due to the attractive tax structure.

This has long-term implications for the whole nation.

Oklahoma and Kansas are attempting to lower, if not eliminate, state income taxes as well. Republicans currently hold 30 governorships. If they become enamored with this idea, this could become 30 states with attractive tax rates. It could result in a mad competition to attract residents.

People are already fleeing California for Texas in droves. New York's total tax take is the highest in the country.

When Robert Byrd of West Virginia was senator, he bragged about how much more federal money he hauled into West Virginia than West Virginians sent to Washington as taxes. The good folks of West Virginia thanked him by naming nearly every stationary item in the state after him.

Ironically, most of the employees of the Federal Bureau of the Public Debt are located in Parkersburg, W.Va., thanks to Senator Byrd. How fitting.

But see my vision for a minute. If enough states, over time, eliminate state income taxes, thereby attracting large population influxes, this has the potential to tip the scales in that all important national election, the one for president, and, in the state elections that send congressional members to Washington.

This looks more like Lincoln's times than ever. The difference will be, unlike free and slave states, that those states that take more than they give will be in the minority and those that give more than they get will be in the majority.

Further, the ones that take more than they receive will face ever diminishing populations and industry. This could fatally choke the federal largess monster. At least, we can hope so.

One of the strengths of the United States has been that when radicalized by one side or the other, as it now has been by the liberals, we collectively find a way to bring it back to the center. Just maybe, once again, the states hold the key and sanity can return.

It beats a Federal Reserve full of fake trillion-dollar coins.

Jim Thompson, formerly of Marshall, is a graduate of Hillsboro High School and the University of Cincinnati. He resides in Duluth, Ga., following decades of wandering the world, and is a columnist for The Highland County Press.