In David G. Mosby’s article on April 10, he espouses on what he believes are the aims of the Republican party and, as he calls it, “The Republican Devolution.”

Mr. Mosby could not be any farther from the truth. In the following paragraphs, I will comment on some of his “facts” (read fiction).

1.) Taxes. Mr. Mosby claims that we, as a country, have some of the lowest tax rates in the industrialized world.

This is true only for the lower tax brackets. Tax rates are increasingly progressive once a family begins making over $60,000 a year. Some tax rates are as high as 40 percent for corporations and the top one percent of families!

Mr. Mosby also figures that if we had the same tax rates as we did in 1953, the Treasury would collect $53 billion per year!

The fact is that people were willing to pay such exorbitant tax rates back then to help pay for two wars (World War II and Korea) and to infuse money into the government coffers following the Great Depression.

If we had those same tax rates presently, we would see the greatest mass tax evasion in history!

Most economists agree that high tax rates only serve to stifle an economy; the greater the rates become after a certain point, the less money the government will receive due to tax evasion and numerous loopholes.

Republicans have come up with many proposals for this problem, including lowering the tax rate and offering a “flat tax.”

This flat tax (in its differently proposed forms) would tax families and businesses evenly, with low-income Americans not even having to pay taxes!

2.) Crime and Punishment. Mr. Mosby writes that the war on crime has become a war on the poor. Unfortunately, what he doesn’t realize is that all these tough measures were passed before the elections in 1994. These measures were all passed when Democrats controlled both the White House and Congress.

He also believes that the prison proliferation has become uncontrollable and is unwarranted.

These prisons are not being built for their looks, nor are they being built to oppress the poor. They are being built because prison overcrowding has become an epidemic in this country.

At Iowa’s maximum security facility in Fort Madison, prisoners are being forced to sleep on cots in the weight room and cafeteria.

The primary job of prisons and jails is to punish those who cannot function normally in society. Reform of the criminal, if at all possible, should take a secondary role.

3.) Immigration. We are a country of immigrants. I am proof of this fact.

There are people of every nationality who live as citizens of this country. We are a country of diverse origins, and we should celebrate this fact.

These people have one thing in common, though: they came here through the system legally. Legally.

An illegal immigrant is just that: ILLEGAL. He or she has not gone through the same tests that other legal immigrants have taken to become citizens. He or she has not taken the time to go through the proper channels that others have.

Why, then, should that illegal immigrant receive the same education, health care, etc. as a citizen of this country? Why should my tax dollars go to pay for someone who should not otherwise be here?

If you don’t have a viable reason for living in this country (job, family, etc.), then you shouldn’t be here. Period.

4.) Jobs and Wages. In 1991, the federal government increased the minimum wage from $3.35/hour to $4.25/hour. This was the first increase in over 12 years.

However, only 5 years later, liberals like Mr. Mosby are asking for another increase. They say that no American can make a living off $11,530, and I can agree with that to some extent.

Let’s say the minimum wage is raised to $5.25/hour. A conservative estimate of an employee’s wages for the year would be around $13,500.

However, an employer who employs a large number of minimum-wage workers (like Hy-Vee or Wal-Mart) will stand to lose almost $200,000 per year for every 100 minimum-wage employees!

These employers would be forced to eliminate some workers to offset those losses. Those who lost their jobs would probably prefer making less and working than not working at all.

The large majority of those affected by the minimum wage are dependents. Therefore, the fact that they only make $9,000 to $10,000 a year doesn’t matter because their parents support them.

A raise in the minimum wage would mean a lot more to dependent students than to the poor.

Those independents only making minimum wage are usually unskilled, meaning they do not have any complete secondary or post-secondary education.

Instead of raising the minimum wage, we need to train those unskilled workers so they don’t have to take worthless minimum wage service jobs.

In the preceding arguments, I have shown the short-sightedness of Mr. Mosby’s liberal prevarications on Republican ideas. We conservatives try to appeal to people’s intelligence, but liberals try to appeal to people’s ignorance. The truth is that the ideas most conservatives have are not radical but make pretty good common sense.

Liberals would not have you believe that, though. They will not have any substantive arguments about conservative ideas; they will just make insults, call you names, and say how much of a bigot, racist, liar, etc. you are.

In closing, I have a message for all the liberals out there: If you disagree with what we (conservatives) say, don’t call us names and insult us. State substantive arguments that are based on fact. If you can’t do that, then be quiet and get out of the way.

Robert Zeis is a junior in finance from Des Moines.