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Letters to the Editor

Say hello to the new Dark Ages

President Donald Trump holds an example of what a new tax form may look like during a meeting on tax policy with Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, right, in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Nov. 2
President Donald Trump holds an example of what a new tax form may look like during a meeting on tax policy with Republican lawmakers including House Speaker Paul Ryan of Wis., and Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee Rep. Kevin Brady, R-Texas, right, in the Cabinet Room of the White House on Nov. 2 Evan Vucci AP

The GOP’s cruel tax plan is nothing short of social engineering, but this has been tried before. Any attempt at a libertarian state has failed in the past, as in David Oddsonn’s Iceland, Augusto Pinochet’s Chile and Gov. Sam Brownback’s Kansas.

But this bill is far worse than just an economic nightmare that exacerbates our unsustainable wealth inequality; it also imposes punitive, authoritarian, Calvinist values in the form of anti-abortion language, eliminating public schools in favor of private (i.e. Christian) schools, and of course a repeal of Obamacare. With our current administration attacking internet neutrality and our media, resistance will be futile. Welcome to the next Dark Ages.

Steve Felten, Paso Robles

This story was originally published December 7, 2017 at 1:26 PM with the headline "Say hello to the new Dark Ages."

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