Note: I changed the diary title shortly after publishing. - ddw
Yes Virginia, there is a class war in America, and it's being waged against the majority of us by a very small, very wealthy minority.
My friend Tony recently sent me this article that had me seeing red. As Tony said, the literal money quote here is this:
The McCourts, who own the Los Angeles Dodgers jointly pocketed income totaling $108 million from 2004 through 2009, according to documents Jamie McCourt recently filed in the couple's divorce case in Los Angeles Superior Court. On that sum, they paid zero federal and state income tax. Jamie claims in her papers that the tax breaks will continue this year too.
Nice.
This very small minority of Americans have somehow convinced the 28% of crazies, and by extension our policymakers, that taking their money away and giving it to the ultra-rich is, well, good for them. And, anyone who dares to oppose such policies are evil, liberal, fascist, terrorist, communist, _____ist dictators who want to control every aspect of their lives via global warming, ACORN and the United Nations. Or something.
This is quite a neat little scam, especially when so many of the beneficiaries of the government-subsidized largesse control the very messages we see and hear all day via our media. Thank goodness for the Internet and blogs, the only real forums for us, the powerless majority, to express our outrage and disgust at this continued theft of our great American heritage.
More broadly, this kind of tax policy the legacy of Barry Goldwater and Saint Ronald Reagan, who have convinced so many people that giving more to those who have the most is in everyone's best interest. Again, quite a nice scam.
But we see through it, and we're fighting back.
For instance, like millions of other Americans, I just moved my small business bank account from Bank of America to a small community bank in Orange County called Sunwest Bank. (Lemme know if you need a contact there, I'm happy to hook you up.) And I am going to move my personal savings account soon as well.
Sure folks, they are winning. But we have to keep fighting, even when we get so despondent that we feel nothing will ever change.
On that note, I would like to end this diary with a somewhat cheesy but optimistic quote from Man of La Mancha. (A family friend read this quote at my mother's funeral, so although it is a bit cheesy, it has a special place in my heart.)
The Impossible Dream
To dream the impossible dream
To fight the unbeatable foe
To bear with unbearable sorrow
To run where the brave dare not go
To right the unrightable wrong
To love pure and chaste from afar
To try when your arms are too weary
To reach the unreachable star
This is my quest
To follow that star
No matter how hopeless
No matter how far
To fight for the right
Without question or pause
To be willing to march into Hell
For a heavenly cause
And I know if I'll only be true
To this glorious quest
That my heart will lie peaceful and calm
When I'm laid to my rest
And the world will be better for this
That one man, scorned and covered with scars
Still strove with his last ounce of courage
To reach the unreachable star