Word: argumentatively
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Dates: during 2000-2000
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...Bush seems to have a more fundamental problem with the estate tax, a problem reflected in his use of the phrase "death tax." Implicit in this phrase is an argument most commonly made by one of the estate taxes most prominent opponents, Rep. Bill Archer (R-Tex.): "Death as an event should not be taxed...
...problem with this argument, and with the use of the phrase "death tax," is that the death tax doesn't tax death at all: it taxes inheritance. And inheritance, unlike death, is a transfer of wealth between two parties, placing it squarely within the class of taxable transactions...
...only remaining argument against the estate tax, then, is fairness. From a progressive standpoint, few taxes are as fairly distributed as the estate tax: the revenue generated by the estate tax is twice the amount generated by the federal income taxes of the poorest half of all taxpayers. Furthermore, although only the wealthiest 1.4 percent of Americans pay the tax, the revenue is used for government programs and services that help all citizens...
...this has resulted in record-breaking dirty air in Houston and children uninsured at an alarmingly high rate. (At the federal level, in the Reagan Administration, eschewing mandatory government standards for voluntary ones led to Firestone tires flying off SUVs). This doesn't mean there's no argument for voluntary efforts over government ones, but Bush has to make it specific, not send a political mash note from his well-meaning heart...
...dilemma for Al Gore. He should be well ahead of George W. Bush by now. He should be on cruise control, barreling down the interstate toward an electoral inevitability. He should have won all three debates by knockout or unanimous decision, exercising his famous command of fact and argument. He should be the unarguable favorite in this race--the Expected One. Instead...