Ridgefield Democrats hope to see you at “SummerFest ’64-Ridgefield Rewinds” in downtown Ridgefield, July 18 and 19. Sponsored by the Ridgefield Chamber of Commerce, the event promises to be a fun, family-friendly summer activity.
Americans hold in our minds a belief about that time. The theme “SummerFest ‘64” brings visions of a society in transition. Hip fashion mingled with conservative 1950’s attire promises fun colors and bell-bottom jeans. The year was much, much more. New civil rights legislation introduced in the House as H.R. 7152 by Emanuel Celler (D-NY) was signed by President Johnson (D) as the Civil Rights Act of 1964.
Amazingly two issues from that time plague us today. The country was recovering from the horrific assassination of President Kennedy on November 22,1963. Lee Harvey Oswald purchased a high power rifle, by mail order, using the alias “A. Hidell”. Not much has changed since 1964. You can still easily purchase weapons from non-retail establishments. Gun shows and the Internet provide a steady supply of weapons and ammunition. Adjusting for differences in population size, rates of homicides from guns are 6.6 times larger in the US than in Portugal, the country with one of the highest rates in Western Europe. Ideological manipulation of the meaning of the Second Amendment has led to the loss of tragic numbers of innocent lives.
On February 26,1964 President Johnson signed the Revenue Act of 1964. After decades of infrastructure projects and post war expansion, the government decided to lower taxes to a level that would support both military and civilian needs. I have heard many people talk about this era as a golden age of economic growth. They lament the inefficiency of both Democratic and Republican governments since these “fiscally responsible” days. How about some facts? President Johnson reduced the top marginal rate from 91% to 70% and the corporate tax rate from 52% to 48%. This is far from the perception that conservative media outlets continue to push on the public. Current top marginal rate is 39.6% versus 70%. The current corporate tax rate is set at 35% versus 48%. Of course in 2014 we have deductions that did not exist in 1964, making the difference in effective tax rates even wider.
Our infrastructure continues to age and firearm homicides have become commonplace. Grover Norquist and his “Taxpayer Protection Pledge” have made it so that 95% of the Republican members of Congress are incapable of discussing tax increases. How can our local representatives help when the other side of the aisle is not allowed to even consider this alternative? If you total all of the spend of the education lobbying groups it pales in comparison to the sum spent by the NRA alone. What else can we learn by remembering 1964?
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Paul Murdock is a member of the Ridgefield Democratic Town Committee, which supplies this column. Visit our booth at “SummerFest ’64 — Ridgefield Rewinds”, on Saturday, July 19, downtown Ridgefield.