Taxes

I listened this morning to NPR as President Obama defended his decision to support tax breaks for the wealthy as part of a compromise package with Congressional leaders. He asserted his position that people like himself, "those blessed", as he put it, should pay more taxes. Well? He's President! Why has he caved in to Republican pressure to extend tax breaks for the wealthy? Why hasn't he used the power of his office to flood the airwaves with public education about the unfairness of his own compromised position?

I think the answer is self-evident. President Obama is part of the power structure which will ultimately not support universal human rights and universal human economic justice. Talk is cheap. Right action in the face of personal and political fall-out is courageous.

In Mr. Obama's self-description this morning as "blessed", I hear something worse than Republican Social Darwinism. I hear echoes of Brahminism. The gods have ordained his good fortune, perhaps? This is the kind of thinking that promotes aristocracies and class division. Coincidence of upbringing, intelligence, historical context, hard work and good breaks is not a holy mandate. Many have led much humbler and much holier lives under similar circumstances.

The current struggle in government reflects the internal struggle of individual Americans. The religiosity of the Bush years was insincere and materialistic. It failed the majority of those who bought into it. Homes foreclosed, jobs downsized, children destroyed by foreign wars for oil. Many Americans are having trouble admitting that they made a big mistake in jumping on the religious, patriotic and buy-now-pay-later bandwagon. Those who drove that bandwagon have won a major political victory this year. They want to get that bandwagon rolling again to bilk every last cent out of those foolish enough to go for the ride.

The public outrage over the extension of tax cuts for the wealthy is encouraging, though it is also troubling to see how politically naive a large part of the electorate is. The President's position is becoming quite obvious. He is siding with the political class, one of the wealthy classes. To some of us, this comes as no great surprise, but it continues to disappoint.