Get a free quote

And you lost

Obama’s late-coming issuance of call for the “Buffett Rule” to tax the rich is being broadly panned as “class warfare” by Republicans. And after fifty years of supporting grandfather Reagan’s trickle-down theory of economics, the conservatives’ reaction is predictable.

Republicans don’t seem to understand is that they won the class war many years ago, so it makes no sense to beat a dead starved child about it. The last half century has seen a massive transfer of wealth from the individual worker to corporations, and with it, a shift of the tax burden from corporations to the individual—mainly the middle and lower class income earners. The winners of the class war were decided many, many years ago, so it’s pouring salt in the wounded for the rich to declare that any kind of war of class is still being waged.

To modestly suggest a tax increase on the wealthiest individuals among us is barely a call for war. If we were to take class warfare seriously in this country we would be launching salvos not at rich individuals but at mega-corporations. The Buffett Rule is but a gentleman’s gesture toward fairness. To suggest that this gesture constitutes any kind of war is historically blind and dishonest.

However, the growing recognition that the rich are getting richer and the corporations are gaining in political power is kicking up some new dust on the issue of class warfare. It’s a bit disingenuous of Obama to make his “gesture” at all, since he may be the President of the United States, but he is not the county’s CEO. That title belongs to GE. If we were to be truly honest about our system of government, we would be teaching our children that we have four branches of government—the Executive, the Legislative, the Judicial, and the Corporate. The Corporate branch advises the Executive branch on matters of policy and business health.

The cost would be politically dear to revise the documents of our founding fathers to reflect the addition of a fourth branch of government. Many historians would cite early letters from Madison to Franklin that in fact discussed including business in the formal structure as evidence that this country was founded on the concept of corporate power, since most of those participating in the early discussions were involved in business conglomerates of one sort or another.

Obama’s call for individual responsibility and fairness toward the American tax burden is but pitiful mewing at this point. What both Democrats and Republicans have to fear is not about simple fairness, it is rather the possibility of an open revolt and rioting by citizens across this land as the balance of power and money in the hands of corporations and a small group of individuals becomes even more untenable.

Then we might talk about class warfare.

structured settlement

One Response to “Class Warfare: They Already Won”