GOP is afraid of class warfare

[quinnox]

This is a potent issue the Dems should hammer on in the 2004 campaign. The repubs are scared of it, that is why they try to bring it up pre-emptively to try and defuse it. "Oh, that's the old class warfare argument" They try their best to dismiss it, because of how potentially explosive the debate could hurt them.

They know this is a winner for the Dems, and don't want to be perceived as favoring the rich, because it's true after all and this would play badly with the general public.

Graham's recent millionaires tax hike should be the opening salvo in a coordinated Dem campaign to paint the GOP for what they truly represent, the wealthy in America. No matter how much the repubs try to downplay it, if the Dems don't let up and continue to harp on this it will make an impression in the minds of the American public, and could be disasterous for the GOP.

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Agreed and it is comming

the reason why I am saying this is... the GOP is
missing the earthquake affecting our society. They
are absolutely out of contact with the reality on
the ground, aka US.

[Jacobin]

2. I disagree

They ENGAGE in class warfare in the most horrendous and ghastly way.

They aren't even shy about it anymore.

However, when it's pointed out to them, they shriek and scream that anyone trying to defend the middle class is "engaging in class warfare" a classic case of projection.

The Dems meekly sneak away properly admonished (because most of them are on the side of the repuke plutocrats and secretly support it because it swells their campaign coffers).

[rasputin1952]

3. Precisely...

and the RWer's will keep putting it out here as a 'Leftist' position to start 'class warfare'.

But....most, if not all of the people we hang around with, have nothing to do with the 'Upper Class'. So, in essence, we are all warriors against the elitists, regardless of where we are on the political spectrum. Some 2-3% of the population, controls some 85% of the nations wealth. I guess this is class warfare.

Class warfare began long before any of us were breathing, and only the truly ignorant believe that those at the top of the heap, care anything about the rest of the population. As long as there are subservient workers to pamper those that have never gotten their hands dirty, we will have trouble.

Those that control; the wealth, actually 'allow' us to earn wages. The Union strength of the past is sadly gone, and the common man or woman is merely looking to survive, as opposed to moving up. This is the legacy of the capitalist elite unbridled. They do not care if we live or die, as long as we produce and consume.

[Nottingham]

4. I agree! Worker Revolutions have a History for taking down Aristocracies

It can get UGLY! :bounce:

[Must_B_Free]

5. You call it "Tax cuts for the rich"

I call it "Fattening them up for the Slaughter"!

[kentuck]

6. We have no choice....

They have the economy in such a mess that either revenues have to go up dramatically or spending has to be cut dramatically. There is not going to be any growth from the tax cuts - at least nowhere near enough to keep our heads above ater. To save the American economy, we have to ask everyone to sacrifice and that starts with those at the very top. I think the 50% tax rate is a good start. If we're lucky, we will not have to increase it further...

[NYC]

7. They are WAGING class warfare.

They just don't want it to be clearly identified and divulged as such.

[Zan_of_Texas]

11. The top 0.25 owns more wealth than the other 99 3/4 percent combined.

It's not enough that the gap between the very rich and the poor has been increasing for the past few decades.

Bush gives us the Leave No Millionnaire Behind tax cut.

Nearly every U.S. Senator is a millionnaire, by the way.

Class warfare is the real war being waged. At the magntitude it's being waged, it's naked looting and plundering.

We pay the taxes and send our kids to be cannon fodder and guard Halliburton's oil business in Iraq. The corporations (and their CEOs) rake in the dough, and don't even have the courtesy to stay in the U.S. and pay some taxes -- they move offshore.

I recommend this article. It's an eyeful.

The Super Rich Are Out of Sight
by Michael Parenti

<http://www.commondreams.org/views02/1227-06.htm>
Published on Friday, December 27, 2002 by CommonDreams.org


Excerpt:

The higher one goes up the income scale, the greater the rate of capital accumulation. Economist Paul Krugman notes that not only have the top 20 percent grown more affluent compared with everyone below, the top 5 percent have grown richer compared with the next 15 percent. The top one percent have become richer compared with the next 4 percent. And the top 0.25 percent have grown richer than the next 0.75 percent. That top 0.25 owns more wealth than the other 99 3/4 percent combined. It has been estimated that if children's play blocks represented $1000 each, over 98 percent of us would have incomes represented by piles of blocks that went not more than a few yards off the ground, while the top one percent would stack many times higher than the Eiffel Tower.

[UnAmericanJoe]

12. As Warren Buffett put it...

We have Class Warfare right now...
And my Class is winning.

[jpgray]

8. It ain't coming yet

Historically, the public needs to be astronomically screwed to get riled up enough to bonk some heads. Even then, there needs to be charismatic, working-class leaders to get the job done. Have a bunch of dilletantes leading things, and historically that ain't a pretty picture. If you think most socialists in the USA these days are factory workers, you're fooling yourself.

Maybe our media is to blame, who knows. Then again I can't understand how right to work laws make workers more free either. ;-)

[Best_man23]

9. I want this question repeated again and again, as often as possible

During the campaign:

"President Bush, how have you and your family been affected by the recession?"

[dubyadiprecession]

18. Great Question,

but dubya doesn't like those "gotcha" questions. He'd probably just say, "my assets are in a blind trust, since I was appoint...I mean elected president". You would also need a great follow up question to push his mental capacity and turn him into a full blown, rambling idiot.

[wildmanj]

10. class warfare

as was so amply put by another on Bastille Day----Those HEADLESS ARISTOCRATS----and as i say stay tuned for "AS THE WORM TURNS"

[aquart]

13. If they're afraid of a class war, why did they start one?

[SharonAnn]

20. Right! We should say this...

Yes, it's Class Warfare! Why are you waging it?

Why are you trying to impoverish working families?

Why are you trying to make it harder for kids to go to college?

Why are you trying to make it harder for families to buy a house?

etc.

[revcarol]

14. As tactics go, we couldn't do better than to imitate Bernie!!

We ought to get the blog off his site every week, and apply it to our local situations, and broadcast it far and wide and talk it up friend to friend. He's one smart cookie!!

[union_maid]

15. first people need to understand what class they're in

My position has always been that there are only two classes in the US, at least as far as determining which party will be best for you financially. There is the class of people who are sufficiently wealthy that they don't have to depend on earned income and are insulated against the ups and downs of the markets at least to the point where they are in no danger of needing to work for wages. Then there's the rest of us. Whether you drive a new car and have a lovely, mortgaged McMansion in a nice neighborhood or you're living under a bridge, you're still the underclass if you don't have any big offshore accounts. Now, the question is how to make that a truth that's appealing to a lot of people. There's a lot of denial out there.

[WhoCountsTheVotes]

16. NAFTA/Free trade is an issue that will divide the GOP down the middle

Take a look at Free Republic and look for the threads about corporate globalization, and you'll find there are many Republicans ready to bolt over that issue.

The class war is an issue the Dems can win with, but only if they WANT to - and it seems a lot of Dems don't want to touch it.

[w4rma]

17. Remember who controls nearly ALL of the mainstream media... (n/t)

[alfredo]

19. Hell yes it is class

warfare, and it is about time the working class fought back.

[inthecorneroverhere]

21. this is the issue

Listen up folks.

The economy is the election issue!

5,000 more laid off in Seattle by Boeing says something.

Job growth during past three years is negative.

Can anyone say Hubert Heav-er (Herbert Hoover)?

[PurityOfEssence]

22. That's what Lee Atwater said

He's quoted by Kevin Phillips as saying that the best way for the Democrats to win the Presidency is by fighting Class Warfare. Note that he was specifically talking about the Presidency.

By the way, when faced with the argument, THEY fight class warfare; WE fight AGAINST class warfare.