Tea Party Logic: Chop Off Fingers to Improve Juggling Skills

The last time the gap between rich and poor in America was as wide as it is today was in 1928, just before the Great Depression.  Last year middle class Americans saw their net worth drop by 20%.  The bottom end of income spectrum experienced an even sharper decrease.  Also last year, according to a recent New York Times report,  the nation’s top money earners realized an average increase in pay of 23%.  The rest of America’s wages stayed flat with an average .5% increase.

In a recent report on NPR’s All Things Considered, Federal Reserve Board of Governors member Sarah Bloom Raskin said she is concerned that flat or declining income levels for 99% of America is bad news for our consumer driven economy.  I agree.  For me the political irony is, working class Republicans chant detax and deregulate big corporations, and their chosen representatives in congress would die than increase taxes on the wealthiest of Americans; and thereby profit blind corporations are empowered and the income gap continues to widen and deepen.  Middle-income Americans are paying federal taxes at or near historically low levels, yet I would argue these are the very same folks who don the tricorner hat and scream to cut taxes for Rupert Murdoch and the Koch brothers.

I have to admit, Tea Party ideology is an amazing feat of brainwashing.   How have so many working class Republicans become the rabid foot soldiers of billionaires?  They trust the big bosses will take care of us.  The big bosses know what’s right for the environment and schools.  Climate change is a myth.  Teachers and formal education are the enemy.  “No new taxes.”  An unregulated free market economy is best for everybody, despite overwhelming evidence a lack of oversight leads to catastrophe.  Say mortgage crisis … Enron … Silent Spring …

In the special election for Nevada’s CD2, a vote for Republican Mark Amodei is like chopping your fingers off with a dull hatchet in an effort to improve your juggling skills.   A vote for Dean Heller or Joe Heck or any “no new taxes” Republican means you will become poorer and worth less, and Bohemian Club billionaires will add to their rake while golfing at Pebble Beach.

Rein in corporate influence on government.