Because Repeated Capitulation is Working So Well

I am sick and fucking tired of the apologists scrambling to explain every Obama administration surrender to the rethuglicans as yet more 11-dimensional chess:

"He cut $4 billion in essential programs from the budget and now he's planning to cut another $6 billion! Oooh, he's really got them where he wants them now!"

Yes, indeed he does. He wants a lords-and-serfs economy just as much as they do.

Well, fuck that shit. Time to take a stand, and I don't want to hear any whining about what's "possible in Congress."

I. Don't. Care. what's "possible in Congress." I care about stopping the hemhorraging of a middle-class nation.

So go ahead - shut the government down. But shut it down because the rethuglicans object to liberal demands. Like these from Robert Reich:

Where are the Democrats? Shuffling their feet, looking at the floor. “Please oh please give us four weeks before you shut us down,” they ask. “No,” say the Republicans, “you’ll get only two.” “Well, alright then,” say the Democrats.

Here’s what Democrats should be saying:

Hike taxes on the super-rich. Reform the tax code to create more brackets at the top with higher rates for millionaires and billionaires. Absurdly, the top bracket is now set at $375,000 with a tax rate of 35 percent; the second-highest bracket, at 33 percent, starts at $172,000 for individuals. But the big money is way higher.

The source of income shouldn’t matter-- salary, wages, capital gains, other unearned income-- all should be treated the same. There’s no reason to reward speculators. (Don’t penalize true entrepreneurs, though. If they’re owners who have held their assets for at least twenty years, keep their capital gains low.)

And while you’re at it, raise the ceiling on income subject to Social Security taxes. And bring back the estate tax.

Do this and we can afford to do what we need to do as a nation. Do this and you prevent Republicans from setting the working middle class against itself. Do this and you restore some balance to a distribution of income and wealth that’s now dangerously out of whack.

Do this, Democrats, and you have a chance of being relevant again.

Have you talked to your Democratic neighbors today?