American politics abides by the Golden Rule. He who has all the gold makes all of the rules.
In 2010, the United States Supreme Court sold our system of government to the plutocrats in a landmark ruling called Citizens United. If you’re a member of the President’s base, I should explain a plutocrat is a super-wealthy individual who controls government through the power of money.
Citizens United invented the notion that corporations are the same as individuals in terms of First Amendment free speech rights.
That changed the rules of campaign finance and advertising. The practical result is that hundreds of millions of dollars from the ultra-rich and their business empires flooded the campaign coffers of favored politicians.
Prostitution Takes Many Forms
The U.S. Capitol is infested with political prostitutes who are bought and paid for by the ultra-rich who decide how this nation will be governed.
Moreover, the ultra-rich have hijacked capitalism so the average American can’t get ahead.
The deck is stacked against him or her.
The problem isn’t capitalism. The problem is a global group of rich and powerful bandits who cheat and distort the capitalist system.
Adjusted for inflation, the wages of the average middle-class American have been flat for decades while the top one percent own and control 35 trillion dollars.
They control more and more of our national wealth with no end in sight.
Two of the Democratic presidential candidates—Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have made a wealth tax a centerpiece of their campaigns.
Why a Wealth Tax is Probably Doomed
I want to explain why I think this is a doomed issue in the general election.
I fully agree—wealth inequality in this country is obscene. It has put us on a road to ruin. The destruction of our middle class by the upper one percent is a recipe for disaster and it must be stopped.
But as they say, the devil is in the details and that’s where I find the problem with the highly popular idea of a wealth tax.
Let’s explore the details of a wealth tax. I think you can absorb an idea that is longer than a phrase in a sentence or an eight-second soundbite.
Bernie Sanders explained his wealth tax proposal on the Senate floor a year ago. He said it would be a progressively bigger tax, based on the scope of wealth:
“Under my bill, any time someone inherits an estate in America of 3.5 million or less, that person will not pay one penny in taxes, in estate taxes. They will get to keep that inheritance tax free, and that population includes 99.8 percent of the American people.
“So, the legislation I am proposing will not raise taxes by a penny on 99.8% of the American population. But if you are in the top two-tenths of one percent of the population, that population that inherits over 3.5 million dollars, your taxes, will in fact, will be going up and they should be going up.
“My legislation establishes a 45 percent tax on the value of an estate between 3.5 million and ten million, a 50 percent tax on the value of an estate between ten million and fifty million, a 55 percent tax on the value of an estate in excess of fifty million and a seventy-seven tax on the value of an estate above one billion dollars. (Sanders repeats) Above one billion dollars. In other words, this bill begins to create a progressive tax system in America, which is based on ability to pay.”
Here’s Elizabeth Warren recently on ABC’s The View:
“I think it’s time for a wealth tax in America. This is a tax on the top one-tenth of one percent, 50 million dollars and above, you’re fortune, in other words, your first 50 million is free and clear but your fifty millionth and first and one dollar you’ve gotta pitch in two cents and two cents on every dollar that.”
Laws are Written by Bought-Off Lawmakers
All well and good. But listen to what Sanders and Warren say about the system—the system that will have to enact laws to impose taxes on the plutocrats who have politicians in their back pockets:
Bernie Sanders:
“A real issue is, that our campaign finance system, and let me underline the word. Don’t misquote me on this. It is a corrupt system. The United States…
Q: Who is corrupt?
“It is corrupt…”
Q: Who are the corrupt people?
“The Supreme Court that gave us Citizens United created a system in which billionaires can buy elections.”
Elizabeth Warren:
“We have a problem. Money. Six years ago today the United States Supreme Court made the problem worse. A lot worse.
“Thanks to the Supreme Court our system of elections is riddled with corruption. Money floods our political system. Money that lets a handful of billionaires shape who gets in to Congress, and may decide who sits in the White House.
“And as Congress has become more beholden to billionaires and less worried about the American people just look at what’s happened in Washington. Armies of lawyers and lobbyists flood the hallways of Congress and regulatory agencies, urging just a little tilt for every law and every rule. A sentence here, an exception there, and always tilting in favor of the rich and the powerful.”
Do you see the problem?
How can Sanders or Warren get a wealth tax passed into law in a rigged Congress bought and paid for by the wealthy?
Let’s consider carefully what Warren said:
“Armies of lawyers and lobbyists flood the hallways of Congress and regulatory agencies, urging just a little tilt for every law and every rule. A sentence here, an exception there, always tilting in favor of the rich and the powerful.”
There are probably millions of Americans who would agree there should be a wealth tax.
But do you really think the wealthy, who own Congress through campaign contributions, are going to agree to a wealth tax? Really?
Maybe when pigs fly.
How To Defeat The Plutocrats
This brings us to one of my favorite harangues of this election year.
To really change our corrupt government, we need to clean house in Congress and state legislatures. Vote ‘em out up and down the ballot.
The ONLY way we will see a wealth tax is if we get rid of the politicians who oppose it.
If we rid Congress of the whores of the one percent, we have a chance at real change. They have to see that pandering to the plutocrats won’t save them at the ballot box.
Nationally, congressional Republicans are the worst at prostituting themselves—they put on knee pads for whatever the President wants and whatever the 1 per-centers want.
There are a dozen Republican senators up for election in 2020. All of them should be defeated if you want to break the grip the super-rich have on Congress. Mitch McConnell of Kentucky might be called the ringleader. Wealthy Americans with a conscience should pour money in to a campaign to defeat McConnell this year. We can un-rig our political system, but it’s going to take a major house-cleaning.
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