Why Can’t We Tax the Super Rich?

It’s the System, Silly!

I keep seeing memes describing the pre-Reagan tax structure, and detailing how that system created the strongest economy in the world. How the rising tide did in fact float all boats.

It always concludes with “tax the rich”.

Which is obvious and is the desire of the majority of Americans. So why does it keep not happening?

Because the rich have colonized the electoral process so thoroughly that they are able to overcome the will of the people with legalized bribery.

Between FDR’s New Deal and the Reagan Era this country was “taxing the rich” with a solid progressive tax structure. In the 1950s the highest bracket topped 90%.

And it made us a great nation with one of the most prosperous middle classes in the world.

And then came reaganomics. The super rich have received tax cut after tax cut in the years between 1981 and today, gutting the common wealth of this country and driving most of the capital into the hands of a few malefactors of great wealth. We are, in fact, an oligarchy.

And in the throws of a “race to the bottom” for the 99%.

The only way to actually tax the rich is to beat them at the ballot box.

This means overcoming the hurdles the ruling class have put in place against a truly free and fair election.

When the right wing attacks our electoral process they do it with false claims of individual voter fraud, which is nearly nonexistent.

This does not mean, however, that our elections are truly free and fair. The good news is that we still have the trappings of democracy, including elections that can be won in spite of the gerrymandering, voter suppression, corrupt judicial branch, and compromised media.

How? By using strategy. By a great ground game. Ask yourself why money is so important in winning an election. It is used to “get the message out”, also known as paid advertising.

Then the perceived “winner” gets lifted up by the media.

This is in itself undemocratic.

The solution is a citizen revolt against this system. If we collectively stop believing advertising and a venal corporate media we can assess the situation using our critical faculties.

Each of us must ask: “What can I do to take back Congress, the courts, and the Statehouses and legislatures so that we, the 99% can have a chance at a better life? So that we can rebuild the infrastructure. So that the environment is protected. So that our democracy going forward is safe from malefactors of great wealth and their operatives.

Just chanting a mantra is not enough. Praying is not enough.

We must have a deep blue tsunami. Yes, re-elect Joe Biden. But also give him the blue government he needs to get this done.

Everybody talks about the president’s age as a negative. But there is one way in which it is a positive. He has nothing to lose by a frontal attack on the oligarchs. He has revealed himself to be the most progressive president in my long lifetime.

If we give him a blue wall he and a solid blue congress can do much to restore democracy in his second term. The alternative is a horror show without end.

#VoteBlueToSaveAmerica