(5/18/2005) I constantly hear Republican politicians accusing the Democrats of class warfare, when its really the Republicans who are waging an all-out class warfare against 99.9% of the American people. Presidents Nixon and Reagan started the war against the middle class with huge tax cuts for the upper class, and Bush has been following their actions with even more and bigger tax cuts for the rich.

 

Bush calls his economic policies a move towards an "ownership society", but what his policies really do is concentrate ownership into the hands of some people who already own almost everything. The way he plans on accomplishing his ownership society vision is by selling off and giving away the assets our government owns, which are assets that really belong to all the American people, to a bunch of really rich people so they can be a lot richer. And then, when a few families own everything in America Bush's ownership society will be established and our democracy will be a plutocracy. 

 

Bush's policies have already moved America in the direction of an ownership society. For example, Bush's tax cuts have all gone almost exclusively to people in the top 1% at a time when our entire tax system is already regressive. Not only is this unfair but Bush has lied consistently and repeatedly about who his tax cuts were designed to benefit. His tax cuts and spending increases have also created the largest deficits in history. These deficits are unsustainable and could bankrupt the federal government, which I suspect is what Bush wants to happen. I believe the constitution calls this treason.

 

In addition to his highly regressive tax cuts Bush has taken some other actions that are hurting the middle class. For example, he has been encouraging American based companies to outsource their jobs to foreign countries, and not just low skilled jobs but all skill levels. He wants to grant amnesty to illegal immigrants and offer "job passes" to Mexicans who want to work in America. He has redefined who can collect overtime pay, thus cutting many people out of that right. He has refuse to raise the minimum wage unless states are allowed to opt out, and he has refused to extend unemployment benefits to the people that his backwards economy policies have made unemployed despite the fact there is plenty of money in the fund to extend benefits.

But the real nail in the coffin of the middle class is Bush's burning desire to repeal the estate tax. Bush and his friends in the GOP call the estate tax the "death tax", as if it is some type of bad or evil tax. But the estate tax should really be called the "America's Economic Growth Tax" or the "Billionaires Tax", or the "Better Economic Opportunity Tax", or the "Spoiled Rotten Rich Kids Tax". The estate tax was designed to force super rich people to decide between giving much of their wealth away to charities, or require their heirs to pay a big tax bill upon their death. The estate tax effectively stopped the Robber Barons greedy anti-democracy plans dead in its tracks and it created a large vibrant, dynamic middle class in America. The estate tax is the greatest idea our forefathers ever had for protecting and preserving America's democracy and growing our economy.

But clearly Bush does care about our democracy, or our government, or the middle class and he has spend the majority of his time in office trying to convince the American people that his deficit creating tax cuts, including the repeal of the estate tax, should be made permanent. The most costly of these cuts would be the permanent repeal of the estate tax, and not just in dollar terms but also in the health of our democracy and the survival of the middle class.

The truth is Bush and the Republicans in Congress are representing a few mega rich families at the expense of everyone else in America. They don't care about what is fair, equitable, or moral. They don't care what about the middle class, our democracy, or the fiscal health of our government. They are just greedy ruthless whores for the wealthy elite. They are representing people who just want more wealth and more power. And it appears that they are paid very well for that representation. Based on their plan the middle class will pay more so that the super rich can have more, and that is the definition of class warfare, and it is killing our democracy, and they know it.

The repeal of the estate tax is at the apex of the Republican's wealth concentration strategy, and it has been Bush's main focus. it is the greatest danger to the continuation of our democracy and the survival of the middle class in America. Not only should we not repeal the estate tax we should increase it and make it much more difficult to repeal. We should also remove the cap on income subject to Social Security taxes which would solve all the forecasted fiscal problems with the trust fund. We should increase the number of tax brackets, increase the top tax brackets, and raise corporate income taxes and repeal some of the tax loopholes. If we did all these things we would see our economy grow in a way that lifts all people up, but first we have to get rid of money whoring fascist puppet political leaders like Bush and the Republicans in Congress.

"Economic justice can be measured by the screams of anguish from the very rich." - John Kenneth Galbraith