Squawking Points

Face time with Sidney Blumenthal

Tim Cavanaugh | June 5, 2003

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Blumenthal skimmed happily through the paper. Stan continued, backing up his claims with numbers. Blumenthal's flack came to the rescue with a stack of display copies for the author to sign. "Do you mind if I sign these?" Blumenthal asked Stan.

"Not at all," said Stan, "But there's more. How are they going to continue collecting an income tax when it's up to 49 percent?" A side conversation began over Blumenthal's schedule, which, it turned out, was quite tightly planned. Stan waited patiently. "There's more," he continued after a pause. "This plan would allow everybody to put aside 15 percent for retirement, if they so choose."

"I think there will be a lot of plans, like yours, as Social Security comes under pressure," Blumenthal offered.

"But what I'm saying is, take this document, look it up," said Stan.

"I will."

"But there's more. You know, the 16th Amendment was never ratified, and I have the documents to prove it. So this excise tax could prevent an upheaval that could be the death of the country."

"Well thanks for coming by."

"But it's disturbing that corporations destroy millions of jobs—"

The flack cut in: "He's gonna be skootin' out now," she told Stan.

"Well there's more," said Stan. "I've shown this to other people in Washington, and they didn't know what to do with it. So I'm throwing it out to you...."

I realized that the quick-moving Stan had fulfilled my own ambition of waylaying Blumenthal with irritating questions. But I was not bitter. While the rest of us wallowed in Democratic Party nostalgia, Stan was out there proposing real solutions. And besides, the last thing Sidney Blumenthal needs is for me to harsh the vibe of a successful book tour.