I can’t help but wonder what an alien’s impression of the United States would be if she touched down to Earth during this week’s political convention.
A whole lot of noise by seemingly very angry, middle-aged, white-skinned people.
I can’t remember the last time I raised my voice, and certainly not in anger. Perhaps it was when my boys competed in sports and out of excitement I cheered them across the finish line.
And I wonder with all the sophisticated sound equipment at Cleveland’s Quicken Loans Arena if the presenters really needed to put such strain on their vocal cords.
I’ve seen plays where I’ve emerged exhausted because of all the histrionics. Eugene O’Neill’s “Long Day’s Journey into Night” stands out in memory for its endless diatribes. Edward Albee’s “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf” is another challenge.
If done well, the plays leave you emotionally — but satisfactorily — spent.
If not, the theatrics have me looking for the nearest exit.
I STUCK WITH it Thursday night, however, because as a U.S. citizen I felt it was my patriotic duty to see what Donald Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, had to say in his acceptance speech.
This was, after all, his moment to tell the country what he could do for us.
Instead, he spewed hate, told us to head for the nearest bunker, and in messianic zeal claimed that only he could save us.
The speech held little substance as to how he could make things better, but one item struck home: Cut taxes. According to Trump, “America is one of the highest-taxed nations in the world.”
No, not by a long shot.
The tax burden on U.S. citizens is the fourth lowest among the other 34 advanced countries of the world according to the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development.
Income taxes make up 26 percent of the total U.S. economy. Among our peers, those with much higher tax rates include Sweden at 43 percent, Britain 33 percent, and Germany 36 percent. Only three other first-world countries have lower tax rates — Chile, South Korea and Mexico.
