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Surprising U.S. tax history truths

Commentary

The more things change, the more they stay the same. Taxes, for instance, have been changing and staying the same ever since Reagan and the 1980s: They’ve been heaven for corporations and the rich, purgatory or worse for everybody else. Now comes a groundbreaking book that looks back not just decades but centuries. It’s Vanessa A. Williamson’s The Price of Democracy: The Revolutionary Power of Taxation in American History. The surprises never stop coming. Surprise No. 1, the Boston Tea Party. We’ve been brainwashed into believing that taxes were the cause. Not so; the Sons of ...

PORTLAND: Data center talk brings responses

The OBSERVER’s View

Portland town Supervisor Richard Lewis in March set the ball rolling. In an interview with Dunkirk OBSERVER reporter Braden Carmen, the elected official noted there may be some interest in the former Sugar Hill golf property by a data center. Within a month, the board meeting saw attendance numbers that had not been that high since the solar discussions took place before the COVID pandemic. On April 8, about 50 residents came to voice their opposition to the center. Days later, a petition began filling up online. There are now more than 2,000 who have signed it with the intention of ...

As numbers grow, helpful tips for budding socialists

Commentary

We would like to offer some helpful tips for our budding socialists. A recent U.S. poll claimed that 55% of U.S. voters under the age of 30 favor socialism, and they complain the economy does not work for them. This begs an obvious question: Why do the 55% claim the economy does not work for them? Are they saying that they are not free to pursue personal dreams because they are taxed to death to support deadbeats? (No, that’s the 45% who oppose socialism.) The 55% apparently believe the government should take from those who produce, and give it to people who do not. How ...

Healthier choice in automobiles

Peoples column

Editor, OBSERVER: As communities across the country grapple with rising fuel costs, air pollution, and the growing impacts of Global Warming, one solution is becoming increasingly clear; the widespread adoption of electric vehicles. Electric cars offer a cleaner, more sustainable alternative to gasoline-powered vehicles. By producing zero tailpipe emissions, they reduce air pollution and improve public health, especially in urban areas where smog and poor air quality disproportionately affect vulnerable populations. When you factor in that EVs cost roughly 40% less to fuel, and ...

My memories of Wretched Group

Peoples column

Editor, OBSERVER The OBSERVER has published many articles about The Wretched Group over the years. As the founding member of the band, I would like to submit the following flashback from my own knowledge and belief to begin to straighten the record. I was the founding member of The Wretched Group, serving as lead guitar and vocals starting in 1964, when the band was initially known simply as The Group. Early rehearsals took place in my parents’ garage on Center Street in Fredonia. Leigh Green served as the first lead vocalist before being replaced by Hank McKee on lead vocals. ...

A flaw in the Citizenship Clause

Commentary

The Fourteenth Amendment is back before the U.S. Supreme Court in a way that presents an issue of extraordinary importance. Yet what’s before the court in Trump v. Barbara isn’t one of the clauses that is often before the court. This time it’s the Citizenship Clause: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the (s)tate wherein they reside.” In this action, birth, not naturalization, is at issue. One specific issue is: What does “subject to the jurisdiction thereof” ...