Noblesce Oblige...
Posted on 03/24/2002 10:26:59 AM PST by The Old Hoosier
Give Bono's Money Away
By Terence P. Jeffrey
The Irish rock singer Paul Hewson—who insists the world call him Bono—visited Washington last week to demand more U.S. foreign aid. He even enlisted President Bush in the cause.
Here’s a suggestion for the President: Slap a 100% tax on all income earned here by foreign rock stars to offset the cost of foreign aid.
Bono—who writes lyrics like "Alright alright, alright, alright, alright/It's alright, it's alright, it's alright, it's alright"—sees himself as a poet. The Bono Tax would be such an act of poetic justice you have to believe he’d love it.
Here’s how it would work: He gets taxed. Americans get a tax cut. The great Pharisee of rock’n’roll can still parade from Ritz to Ritz, in sackcloth and ashes (or is it silk shirts and sashes?), explaining to reporters and politicians how his heart bleeds for the destitute masses over there somewhere. American workers right here would keep more of their pay to put clothes on their own kids.
In a recent issue of People, Bono betrayed the kind of shanty Irish class hatred that would make my Irish kin roll their Kerry blue eyes. "There is an old story about an American and an Irishman looking up at a mansion," said Bono. "The American looks at it and says, ‘One day I’m going to live in that place.’ The Irishman looks at it and says, ‘One day I’m going to get the b------ who lives in that place.’"
For this filthy rich Marxist materialist, America is the mansion. American workers are the b------s. And what he wants to get is our hard-earned pay.
This should inspire exactly one application of Mr. Hewson’s ideology: Level it against him and that pernicious class of millionaires to which he belongs, the foreign rock star.
They live in mansions. Many, if not most, are b-------s. Let’s get their pay.
Unfortunately, rather than seize Bono’s U.S. earnings, Bush invited him to a speech at the Inter-American Development Bank. In the speech, Bush proposed a three-year, $5-billion increase in U.S. foreign aid. Yet, in proposing his Bono-driven aid bonus, Bush correctly attacked the underlying premises of foreign aid itself.
"Contrary to popular belief," said Bush, "most funds for development do not come from international aid. They come from domestic capital, from foreign investment and especially from trade."
Right—that’s why development does not happen where governments steal capital and loot foreign investors.
His new aid program, Bush said, will "reward nations that root out corruption, respect human rights and adhere to the rule of law," and "where people can start and operate a small business without running the gauntlets of bureaucracy and bribery." Of course, Bush then correctly conceded, if regimes that receive foreign aid actually do these things "they will really no longer need it."
I’d bet Bono’s mansion that after Bush’s aid proposal runs its course Bono will be back demanding more—and Third World despots around the world still will be looting their peoples.
The principal difference between then and now is that the despots then will have more of our tax dollars.
Perhaps Bono has given Republicans an even better opportunity than the temptation to take him at his word and seize his wealth. It is a chance to debunk the false pretense of his argument.
Bono is right about the problem. Much of the world lives a miserable existence, subjected to disease and poverty it should be the lot of no human person to endure. But Bono is wrong about the solution. It is not government. It is freedom. Man is not elevated by the state, he is elevated by his own exertions when the state gets out of his way.
That used to be the Republicans’ theme song. Have they forgotten how it goes?
He'd rather keep his money and let us foot the bill for loans that have lined the pockets of despots. It just shows how truly ignorant these celebrities are.
I know that I don't agree with a lot of Bono's politics- like the whole letting African nations out of debt with our tax money--BUT the guy is no hypocrite, and that is why I can respect his views even though I disagree with them. He gives away large amounts of time and money to causes he believes in, and as he is a Christian I believe his motivation is a good one.
1. Housing the homeless
2. Feeding the hungry
3. International aid
4. The UN
5. etc.
Let them put their money where their mouths are before demanding the rest to part with more of their own paychecks. How many think Cher, Babs or Sheen will be selling their mansions in Malibu?
Try "hypocritical"
I have to admit, I’m not really sure what KMFDM or System of a Down are (my tastes run more toward Wagner and Verdi). However, I don’t think it’s a leap in logic to assume that music which espouses extreme liberal viewpoints (I remember seeing some band chant “Free Mumia” at the end of their T.V. performance [Rage on the Machine???]) would appeal to people with a lefty bent and repel those with a “Right-minded” viewpoint.
Owl _ Eagle
“Guns before butter.”
The way that SoaD approaches politics is more along the lines of writing political essays for their website rather than trying to turn complex politics into catchy rhymes. And of course, they have a singer that doesn't sound like a crackling just hitting puberty teenage boy (RATM's now former vocalist... can't call him a singer.... Zach De La Rocha has one god awful voice!)
But Bono considers himself an elite Socialist. It's the middle class he despises and wants to rob to pay for his causes. He's not parting with his precious dollars obviously.
Noblesce Oblige...
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