Article Of The Week

In a column entitled "McCain has a new hero: Teddy, make way for Joe" which appeared in The Philadelphia Inquirer on October 21, 2008, New York University instructor Jonathan Zimmerman noted that "Joe The Plumber" has replaced President Theodore Roosevelt as the object of John McCain's affections. Zimmerman quotes T.R. elegantly, and eloquently, noting "the man of great wealth owes a peculiar obligation to the state, because he derives special advantages from the mere existence of government," which sounds a little like Joe Biden asserting "It's time to be patriotic ... time to jump in, time to be part of the deal, time to help get America out of the rut." Or perhaps a little like the old John McCain, who opposed President Bush's tax cuts for the rich until he supported them.

But Zimmerman most significantly notes "progressive taxation was often put forth as an alternative (emphasis his) to socialism. In a time of growing economic inequality and labor unrest, supporters said, only a tax on the rich would stave off revolution." Just as President Franklin Roosevelt's moderate reforms helped stave off a serious challenge to the capitalist system, so are Barack Obama's proposals to have the wealthy pay their fair share, eliminate income taxes for elderly individuals with an annual income under $50,000, strive toward universal health care, and steer tax cuts to taxpayers most in need among the best prescriptions to save a free enterprise system in dire need.

Instead, John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their surrogates appear, at least, to be oblivious to the impact upon the middle class of both the deregulation advocated by their party and of their policies geared to further concentration of wealth. As thinkprogress.org has noted,

since 1979, the average income for the bottom half of American households has grown by 6 percent. In contrast, the top 1 percent of earners have seen their incomes shoot up by a 229 percent during that same period. Under the Bush administration, the average income of most Americans has fallen, but the average income of top wage earners (those above the 95 percentile range) has increased from $324,427 in 2001 to $385,805 in 2006.

The upper class- until very recently- had solidified its gains while the middle class has shrunk. And still John McCain and Sarah Palin accuse- accuse!- Barack Obama of wanting "to redistribute wealth." It's as if they've been asleep the past six weeks- or 30 years.