“I have learned to hate liars. It is a disease they use to deceive the gullible.” – Aeschylus, 480 BC
Democrats have a long history of maintaining control over the middle class by rewriting history. By adulterating the truth about their pernicious past, they appear as guardians over the middle class.
Since the Goldwater campaign, there’s been a myth about the two political parties “trading places” on race? Yet Republicans wrote and passed all Civil Rights Acts. The left has echoed this fable so many times they think it is true. The tragedy is, liberal whites and identity groups now believe this fiction is fact, because it has been repeated in the media and in public schools for over 50 years.
When white voters fled south to escape FDR’s New Deal, they joined a Republican Party that was a haven for Black voters. But during WWII when Blacks moved north to take defense jobs, they joined Democratic labor unions. After the war when factories retooled, this displaced many Black workers who were forced to survive in democratic urban cities. And Democrats still control their vote today.
For years, Berry Goldwater has been the left’s “poster child” for turning the GOP against Blacks on civil rights. But Goldwater did not speak for a Republican majority that passed every Civil Rights Act. And he didn’t filibuster the Civil Rights Act; Democrats did. Goldwater said “each state must clean up their mess before federal intervention.” That had nothing to do with the GOP’s “platform.”
The only fabric of truth about “trading places” is the left’s distorted message. The GOP was once made up of business elites, the well educated and those seeking economic opportunity. It is now the party of farmers, rural America, small business and a rainbow of average middle class voters.
“America has always been dependent on the hard work of the middle class.” – Ronald Reagan
Since its founding, the Democratic Party has been the party of opportunity; not the middle class. Until the Civil War, it was the party of slavery. From 1865 until 1965, it was the party of segregation.
In 1965, a reluctant LBJ bowed to northern pressure and signed the Civil Rights Act. Realizing the potential of identity and special interest political groups, the left turned to special interest politics.
The Democratic agenda is tailored to satisfy their liberal donors and special interests. These are a big government that provides wealth redistribution, free college education and health care, welfare, and food stamps by taxing the rich. They appeal to Millennials, upper class whites, teachers, liberal corporations, unions, identity groups, socialists, identity athletes, globalists, college students and professors, socialists, LBGTQs and radical activists. Their values are not those of the middle class.
Today’s left is the party of the poor and middle class “in name only.” When they speak of the middle class, their concern is high-wage private and public union workers. They target highly paid service industry workers, college students and teachers. The latest NEA figures reveal the average starting teacher’s salary is $42,000 a year, plus generous union benefits. And this is working only nine months a year!
“If I could only make a living with a part time job like that, I’d have it made!” – Jerry Springer
According to Payscale.com, the average annual salary for a teamster is $81,000 a year plus benefits. Figures from Nominal Wage Tracker reveal the average annual wage for skilled service industry workers, maintenance technicians, installers, and other professional labor services is over $60,000 a year. And that does not include retirement or benefits. And the total compensation for our public service unions exceeds those in private industry. They all give billions to the Democratic Party.
Democrats promise to forgive student debt. But this does not help the middle class since many are not college grads. The income gap between graduates and non-graduates has never been higher. Loan forgiveness targets higher income voters with advanced degrees only, not the middle class.
“If Wall Street can borrow money at 0.75% interest, so can college students.” – Elizabeth Warren
The left denounced wealthy malefactors to minorities and the middle class while the Clinton and Obama administrations received big dollars from them. And this was while Al Gore was on the board of Apple, and Nancy Pelosi’s husband’s business took in millions on insider trading. And let us dare not forget Netflix named Obama’s UN ambassador to its board.
“I think everyone should take advantage of every opportunity they get.” – Barack Obama
The big “got ya” Democrats have used to defraud the middle class for years are the IRS tax codes.
The left has a history of raising taxes on the middle class through the back door of U.S. businesses.
The only difference is who writes the check and who bears the economic burden. Big businesses write the check and send it to the IRS. This tax hike is passed on to the consumers who pay for it.
According to historian Elliot Brownlee, Roosevelt’s 1932 Tax Act imposed the largest non-war tax increase in U.S. history. FDR needed it to finance his New Deal charade, and Congress raised tax rates across the board, with the top marginal rate going from 25% to 63%, which killed the recovery.
Roosevelt was a vigorous champion of progressive tax reform, especially when it came to raising taxes on the rich. Because of Roosevelt’s profligate taxing of business, middle class unemployment rose to 17% and remained there until the U.S. entered WWII. FDR’s tax hikes killed private sector employment for the middle class.
“I’m not the smartest fellow in the world.” – Franklin Roosevelt
On April 22, 2021, the stock market fell to a year’s low when Biden announced his plans to punish “corporate America.” Biden promised to “ensure that corporate America finally pays their fair share of taxes!” Yet he has no plan to reduce taxes on small business? Like FDR, the fatal flaw in Biden’s tax and spend stratagem is, every tax hike on business, large or small, is paid by the middle class.
Biden said he’d repeal President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA). If he succeeded, it would have raised taxes on small business by increasing marginal tax rates and eliminating the small business deduction. Most every small business is owned by a middle class American citizen?
“I believe that big business and the rich have never paid their fair share of taxes.” – Joe Biden
P.T. Barnum said, “There is a sucker born every minute.” The middle class has been hoodwinked for years by liberal politicians who promise to redistribute wealth. No wonder many of them have extra money taken out of their checks to loan to the IRS each week, free, to get a bigger refund?
Smart voters support candidates that promise to cut their taxes and don’t expect anything for free for voting for anyone. They use their vote wisely. Unwise voters always pay for everything that they get for free for their vote.
“Facts are seldom allowed to contaminate the beautiful vision of the left. What matters to the true believers are the ringing slogans, endlessly repeated.” – Thomas Sowell
This article was originally published at www.thecentersquare.com
