What happened to a healthy dose of cynicism?

There is nothing new about rhetoric during presidential campaigns but where is the cynicism that's so natural in young people? When I was a kid in the 60's it seemed natural for young people to be cynical about their leaders. Nothing like anarchy, although that was prevalent in young people too, but just a healthy dose of cynicism. When a democrat says they will reduce taxes for 95% of the viewers, don't you immediately want to do the math? 95% of all viewers, really?

It was later restated to claim that "95 percent of families with children would get a tax break," the Media Research Center's Brent Baker ran the numbers and found such claims "impossible," so it was again refined to mean working families, which is still "impossible".

That 95 percent is impossible since one-third of those who file with the IRS are "non-payers," people who end up paying no tax or get money back which exceeds their payments. Obama plans to expand the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) and create other credits. For those for whom the credits surpass their tax obligation, those are not tax cuts, but spending hikes or federal giveaways akin to welfare.

You can check the new tax proposal analysis at http://www.taxpolicycenter.org/numbers/displayatab.cfm?DocID=1975. I think we don't teach isms much anymore, but if you are only going to study a few I think you should start with cynicism and add these on as you get a chance.

capitalism: An economic and political system characterized by a free market for goods and services and private control of production and consumption.

socialism: Any of various theories or systems of social organization in which the means of producing and distributing goods is owned collectively or by a centralized government that often plans and controls the economy.

marxism: The economic and political theories of Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels that hold that human actions and institutions are economically determined and that class struggle is needed to create historical change and that capitalism will ultimately be superseded by communism.

communism: A form of socialism that abolishes private ownership.
1. A theoretical economic system characterized by the collective ownership of property and by the organization of labor for the common advantage of all members.
2. Communism
1. A system of government in which the state plans and controls the economy and a single, often authoritarian party holds power, claiming to make progress toward a higher social order in which all goods are equally shared by the people.
2. The Marxist-Leninist version of Communist doctrine that advocates the overthrow of capitalism by the revolution of the proletariat.

If you still aren't sure which is best for America, read your history books and then go to the library or hit the internet and start talking to people in socialist countries. You probably won't be able to talk to folks under marxist or communist rule, so don't get sappy on the commune thing. It only sounds good on paper. History has proven them wrong.