Bring It On

"Let’s have a real debate about class in America. That’s just what the people screaming 'class warfare' fear most, so bring it on," declares the latest TomPaine.com op ad. John Moyers, the Editor-in-Chief of TomPaine.com, writes in a companion piece for the site,

George W. Bush railing against 'class warfare' is like Trent Lott deploring liberals for 'playing the race card.'

Lott's recent self-immolation revealed the decades-long conservative hypocrisy that anyone discussing race in America was "playing the race card." Now we understand: All along, it was Lott's team playing the race card in a deliberate effort to lure crypto-Confederates into Republican ranks.

And so it is with "class warfare" -- the phrase wielded by conservatives who insist that liberals attempt to motivate a political base by feeding class resentment.

Thanks to President Bush's latest reward-the-rich tax proposal, we now see that canard for what it is: cover for class-conscious policies that redistribute wealth not downwards but up. It's a slur worthy of Joseph McCarthy, meant to paint its target as Marxist. It distracts the public from real stories about who shares the commonwealth and who gets a handout, a hand up, or a cold shoulder from government.

Also check the compilation of reports gathered by TP.com which scrutinize Bush's tax proposals and propose saner alternatives.