Taxed Enough Already?

A June 27th poll from Marketplace-Edison Research uncovered the following:
Americans from across the economic and political spectrum — 71 percent of them — think the U.S. economic system is “rigged” in favor of certain groups.
When things get this bad, the world stops behaving like we've known it to. Much like on the bottom of the ocean, where strange animals have adapted to deal with the pressure and the lack of light, we are seeing interesting adaptations here among the vast majority of Americans, who are struggling to make ends meet and even to aspire to what the middle-class standard their parents or their grandparents enjoyed. In such a system, the usual structure tends to break down, and once-hot-button social issues like abortion or school prayer take a back seat to the here and now:
  • How can we make sure our family is fed?
  • How can we keep from losing our homes?
  • How can we retain our dignity?
  • How can we live a life without fear of catastrophe?
  • How can we plan for a future without certainty?
 When things become this simple, when the policies of the day enrich so few at the expense of so many, the standard order begins to break down. Democrat, Republican, Liberal, Conservative, Christian, Jew, religious or non, all of it falls by the wayside because people just want someone to listen to them. They just want someone who will actually deliver on a promise and make their lives better. We have had nearly 40 years of our hard gains being funneled to the top, who hide their money away instead of investing it as we were told they would. We have had 30 years of the forever race of "having to do more with less." We are reaching a breaking point down here, and politics-as-usual will not cut it.

When the Tea Party started, it was said that the T.E.A. stood for "Taxed Enough Already." In the strangest of bedfellows, we now see Occupy and Tea Party folks coming together to agree that yes, a small group of people have too much power, and they use that power to avoid paying their fair share, and the costs get pushed onto us. Is the vast majority of America "Taxed Enough Already?" With states having to pick up the slack for schools, counties desperate to get their roads fixed, and school districts voting in massive levies just to keep the small town schools open, I think it's safe to say that the Other 90% down here are Taxed Too Much, and have been for quite some time.

Minnesota and the DFL have proven it clear as day: the richest of the rich needs to be taxed more. It doesn't destroy the state, it doesn't hurt the economy, and it doesn't make businesses run scared. If we could tax the rich at 90% and have the best economy in the world along with the best middle class, we can do it again. The DFL, having a different name, can have a different purpose. We can become that party of the vast majority of Minnesotans, from all walks of life, if we stay true to our roots and seek to understand the problems facing Democrats, Farmers, and Laborers of all stripes of life. We must seek to understand those who we might have recently labeled our "enemies" and not wall ourselves up in the assurance that we and only we have all of the answers. The DFL has taken the first step toward making life better for the majority of Minnesotans, that much is clear. What we need to do now is put our pride and personal prejudices aside and reach out to Greater Minnesota to keep the movement going.

Who knows: the next great idea just might come out of somewhere like Fillmore County, but first we have to be willing to listen.

At Your Service,

Doremus Jessup