“John McCain and Sarah Palin they call [my tax plan] socialistic. You know I don’t know when, when they decided they wanted to make a virtue out of selfishness.”–Senator Barack Obama (D-IL).
The real question surrounding Barack Obama’s tax plan is not whether the ultimate moral virtue is to act to preserve one’s own well-being, a debate that Ayn Rand provoked with her collection of essays, “The Virtue of Selfishness,” where she described that the exact meaning of selfishness was “concern with one’s own interests.”
And it is not whether the redistribution of wealth is socialistic—“from each according to their ability [or income], to each according to their need” is clearly a Marxist principle.
Nor is it about whether Senator Obama advocated the redistribution of wealth, for he clearly said, “I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
These questions are already settled. The real question now is: just how low can his campaign go?
First it was individuals making under $250,000 were going to get a tax cut, and those above that were going to get their taxes raised.
Then when Senator Joe Biden (D-DE) outlined the plan it was individuals making less than $150,000 would get the tax cut—which is basically code for raising taxes on those making over that amount.
Next, in Mr. Obama’s propaganda—err, infomercial—it was married couples making a combined $200,000 would get the cut—more code for raising taxes on the middle class since then the number drops to about $100,000 individually.
And most recently, when Gov. Bill Richardson was describing the tax plan, the individual-receiving-tax-cut-number dropped to $120,000. He said, “What Obama wants to do is he is basically looking at $120,000 and under among those that are in the middle class, and there is a tax cut for those.”
Senator John McCain, according to the FOX News story linked above, said that Mr. Obama’s numbers were “creeping down…” Which, clearly they are.
So, why is that? How is it that a campaign known for its scripted discipline could have so many numbers from all over the place? Are these unscripted gaffes? Or something else?
Allow your humble correspondent to offer his hypothesis, and I’ll put it in the simplest terms possible: Barack Obama is going to raise taxes on the middle class.
The confusion engendered by the various numbers is probably a deliberate tactic. And, if as a taxpayer, you’re confused about Mr. Obama’s tax plan, if you’re still asking the question, “Will he raise my taxes?” as Joe the Plumber did, make no mistake.
The Bush tax cuts are going to expire. And unless by some fluke the Republicans manage to regain Congress and make those tax cuts permanent, your taxes are going to be raised by Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid. They control the power of the purse.
So perhaps it is time for the American taxpayer to invoke the virtue of selfishness, and act in one’s own interests, and not take any chances with this double-talking, two-faced, double-taxing socialist who wants to “spread the wealth around.”
Robert Romano is the Editor of ALG News Bureau.
