As I said the other day, I liked Colin Powell's take down of Michele Bachmann outside the Meet the Press studio, after his endorsement of Obama on that morning's show. But I think I liked even more something else he said on the same occasion:
Taxes are always a redistribution of money. Most of the taxes that are redistributed go back to those who pay them -- in roads and airports and hospitals and schools. And taxes are necessary for the common good, and there's nothing wrong with examining what our tax structure is or who should be paying more, who should be paying less. For us to say that makes you a socialist, I think, is an unfortunate characterization that isn't accurate.
James Maule points out that this is if anything a bit tame, since taxes are not "always a redistribution of money": there is no "transfer of wealth" when the taxpayer receives, in return for cash, a road, an airport, a hospital, a school. But that is a quibble. It seems all McCain has left is Joe the Plumber and Obama's alleged "socialism" for having pronounced the words "spread the wealth around." Powell takes aim and scores a direct hit, just as he did on Bachmann.
I sometimes wonder what Republicans would say if fundamental provisions of the Social Security Act had never been adopted and were now being proposed by progressive politicians. "Here we go again. Big government taking money from these guys and giving it to those guys. Of course the nanny state knows best who should get this money, and it is not the people who earned it. How about a little personal responsibility? It's not as if retirement and misfortune aren't predictable. Prepare for them!"
Questions for McCain: Are social security payments an instance of wealth redistribution undertaken by the government? And are you for or against? Should anyone but Wall Street institutions and the rich benefit from the government's largesse? Why do you keep lying about Obama's tax plan?
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