We're running a campaign in the California open Senate primary, for Mike Strimling, with a simple message: tax the rich. Mike is a Democrat. But we're hoping it's going to attract voters of all stripes, in this first-ever open primary. We think they have had it with the tax cuts for the rich while there continue to be threats to Social Security, Medicare and the solvency of the nation.
We don't think the slight tax increase on the rich that Obama proposes is nearly enough, given that the rich are paying taxes at 1/4 the rate they paid for most of the 20th century. Ours is an educational campaign, as well, bringing these facts to the California voter pamphlet and to whomever we can reach with our campaign.
We'd could to say that we are bringing the Occupy movement to the ballot box but, in fact, our website - TaxTheRich2012.org - was established 3 months before Occupy Wall Street happened and fixated on the 1% and the 99%.
But we are Daily Kos folks here. We wonder what you think. We think that undoing the tax cuts for the rich, and taxing their concentrated wealth, are the central and most important issue, not only for our time, but defining us as Democrats and Progressives....
To our mind, the concentration of wealth in the 1%, now equalling all the wealth held by the bottom 90% combined, is the horrific result of policies that are turning the US into Mexico or another sort of third world country. The tax rates over the last century and statistics are collected on our page. Visit us - TaxTheRich2012.org - tell us what you think. But here are a couple more. The bottom 85% of Americans split only 15% of the wealth. 400 Americans in the Forbes 400 own wealth equal to the bottom 60% combined. America now has less social mobility than almost any industrialized country, as we have defunded education but talented kids are educated and trained by the taxpayers in other countries.
We think that almost all other issues in the Progressive pantheon stem from these central facts. Rich women don't have to worry about not getting an abortion, healthcare or contraception. The rich don't have to worry about their civil rights. The rich can support civil rights because ultimately they are buying everyone's labor for cheap, and class is more important to them. The rich don't worry about gas prices or wasting vast resources because they are the ones that do. If the rich had to pay for the Iraq war and other foreign adventures and send their sons and daughters - instead of getting tax cuts even while America was spending a trillion on those adventures - we wouldn't have gone there or stayed. If the rich were having their privacy invaded or were being tortured - ditto. These are people without really a loyalty to any country, but who now can give limitlessly to campaigns and steal elections... so they are the source of our electoral problems. Etc. etc. etc.
But we're interested: do you believe that other interests or Progressive causes are more important? What are they? We are going to make ours about taxing the rich, and we'd like your feedback. And come see us at TaxTheRich2012.org or HERE.