"I want to spread the wealth around." So said Barack Obama to Joe the Plumber, in the context of explaining his economic plans. Joe than told the press that sounded like 'socialism' to him. Question: does this make Obama a socialist?
No, it makes him what I have elsewhere referred to as a 'Renew Deal' liberal, something like F.D.R. The initiatives of the middle part of the last century created the most successful middle class in the history of America, reducing the disparity between the economic classes. During the Reagan era, however, the middle class has been increasingly squeezed and reduced, while the rich have grown much richer. In other words, most people are doing worse, while the few are doing much better.
There are many reasons for this, including the decline of unionism, the outsourcing of manufacturing, the deregulation of finance, the weakening of the dollar, enormous tax cuts for the wealthy, and so on. It is Obama's intention to turn as many of these things around as possible, so as to increase the size of that vital middle class.
Working-class and middle-class people need to look beyond the hype and the distractions and the mud-slinging of the radio talkshow hosts and this political season, to see where their true enlightened self-interest lies. Because that is precisely where the national interest also lies.
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