Cut consumption, not taxes.

Recently, I read this quote on the Internet:

"The sooner we get this relief in the hands of the American people, the sooner they can begin to do their job of being good consumers," Boehner said.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080129/ap_on_go_co/economy_stimulus

He is a senator from Ohio commenting on the recent tax rebates that the senate just passed. I may be taking this WAY out of proportion, but it just seems wrong that the American people are just consumers.

I was telling my students today that it is their patriotic duty to spend money. In fact, that is their only purpose. It sounds a bit like "a brave new world." Never mind the ethnic cleansing in Kenya or any other issues outside the US. It is almost like we are supposed to stay sedated by consuming more crap. If we have our crap, we are happy and don't care about anything else. It is funny that the senators can agree on an economic package within a week, but it will probably be another year or longer before we see anything done on health care or immigration.

SO, lets cut greenhouse gases and waste BUT keep spending. It won't work that way!! You can't have both. If you want to protect the planet based on the theories of global warming, then we have got to cut our consuming... not our taxes! Even if you don't care about global warming, it is still wasteful and excessive living!