Adam Smith On "Spreading The Wealth"

UPDATE: Mccain explains what a progressive tax is and why it is not Marxism - long ago, in 2000 (im sorry but given all the other factors i think mccain would have won if he went back to his 2000 self for the general election campaign):


The intellectual father of market capitalism:

The necessaries of life occasion the great expense of the poor. . . . The luxuries and vanities of life occasion the principal expense of the rich, and a magnificent house embellishes and sets off to the best advantage all the other luxuries and vanities which they possess. . . . It is not very unreasonable that the rich should contribute to the public expense, not only in proportion to their revenue, but something more than in that proportion. - Adam Smith

the earned income tax credit ("EITC") that was enacted by Gerald Ford and then re-enacted and expanded in 1986 by...could it be, don't tell me, say it ain't so!...Ronald Reagan.

The EITC uses tax revenues (derived from our progressive tax system) to provide additional income to people below certain income levels under a formula so that it gradually phases out as incomes increases. Qualifying families receive a monthly check from the government.

So, Ronald Reagan was a redistributor. That must mean he was a socialist, even a communist. http://www.huffingtonpost.com/paul-abrams/reagan-the-redistributor_b_138428.html

mccain seeks to buy up 300 billion dollars of private mortgages and take them under government control and one of the reasons for Palin's original popularity in alaska was her support for hiking taxes on the oil companies and distributing some of the money to citizens, who already each recieve a free check every year for thousands of dollars from the Alaskan governemnt due to the oil revenues made off of federally and state owned lands - and yet somehow they can tout these policies and at the same time make a case against obamas supposed communism in the same speech with a straight face - george orwell would be proud.

so, having failed to present obama as a radical christian (reverend wright), and then as a radical muslim (simply false), then as a radical hippy pentagon bomber (ayers - when obama was 8 years old), they have decided this week that he must be a communist.

none of these arguments are taking root because they obviously do not mesh with the obama so many people have heard and seen. he is obviously not a man of malice out to confuse or deceive the world into following him down one or another radical path - to our ruin and his fortune. it just ain't so. but try the mccain camp must because they made it this far and they are seeing their dream slip away under the weight of the last 8 years of republican but not conservative government, mccains own poor judgements and general air of befuddled consternation at why his embrace of the far right has left his former fans - the independent voter - alienated, and palin's sexy but hollow psuedo-patriotic jingoism and horrifying lack of preparedness to be president if mcain, the oldest man ever to run for president in the history of the united states might pass over during his administration. they see their dream of rescuing themselves from bush and cheney's arrogant disregard for the opinions of americans of all political stripes and so they are grasping at straws. you may not believe the polls that have obama so far ahead of mccain but it is obvious in the desperation of the mccain campaign in switching from theme to theme to theme in their attacks on obama that the mccain camp sees the their ship is sinking. hence the latest attempt to resurrect the red scare - communism - now dead for 18 years. But fear of commies worked so well for so long for the right, how could it not work again? and that is the fundamental problem with the mccain campaign, it is stuck on issues that were relevant and useful 20 years ago but that no longer resonate today. communism, hippie radicals, racism, fear - the republican party has tried to run a campaign that might have worked in 1984 but falls flat today. europe and japan and china are socialist, and their economies, currencies, banks, etc are better off than ours at the moment, bill cosby and oprah managed to become friends with almost every white american, everyone is tired of the baby boomers and their hippy/anti hippy teenage narrative that they are still trying to work out. their themes are dead. but the democrats have managed to shake off the redundant themes of the past 20 years - they have managed to become known as the party of fiscal responsibility (remember the massive clinton budget surplus?), a reasonable and limited foreign policy, a respect for the privacy and social freedoms of american's, a respect for the restraints of the constitution and finally:

From the moment he vaulted into national consciousness with his inspiring speech at the 2004 Democratic National Convention, this theme has lain at the heart of his approach and his appeal. "We worship an awesome God in the Blue States, and we don't like federal agents poking around in our libraries in the Red States, We coach Little League in the Blue States and yes, we've got some gay friends in the Red States."It is a message of fundamental unity and good will, at a time when politics often resembles Henry Adams' mordant description: "the systematic organization of hatreds." - Steve Chapman

and in the words of another:

The selection of Palin as the vice-presidential candidate was guided by identity politics. McCain clearly believed that a female candidate would appeal to former Hillary voters. The sexism in that assumption is pretty staggering – and American women swiftly and mercifully proved McCain wrong. In fact, what has been striking about the reaction to Palin is that women, even in the first blush of the marketing, have always been much less impressed by her than men.

Then, as Palin ducked any real policy speeches, she became an identity politics figure for the white right. She went to the heartland, which she kept calling the “pro-America” part of the country. By the end of the campaign her message was almost entirely: “Vote for me. I’m like you. You’re like me. We’re better than other people.”

It wasn’t racist. It was just the reductio ad absurdum of political appeals based purely on cultural or ethnic identity.

The roles have reversed. The republican party is now the party of identity politics and the democratic party is now the Big Tent.