Socialism? I Don't Think So

[davidbcoe]

The Earned Income Tax Credit is a refundable tax credit that gives money to low income workers.  It is paid for by the taxes paid by higher income earners.  Under John McCain's definition of such things, it's socialism.  The EITC was enacted in 1975 under Republican President Gerald Ford and vastly expanded by Ronald Reagan in 1986.  So under John

Comments

[davidbcoe]

It IS your patriotic duty to pay taxes!!! (Not to mention the fact that progressive taxation is the law of the land!) Why is it that conservatives who scream about ridiculous pseudo-patriotism issues like flag pins can't seem to grasp that living in a great country like ours means paying for that privilege?! If you don't accept the idea that the government has the right -- the responsibility -- to tax in a progressive way so that those with the greatest means pay the greatest proportion, then you are out of step with every national Administration since 1916 -- Republican and Democratic. That is the way we fund our government, and it's far more just and humane and fair than any so-called "Fair Tax". Ronald Reagan thought so; John Kennedy thought so; FDR thought so. Barack Obama thinks so. The only people who don't seem to understand this are John McCain, Sarah Palin, and their supporters. You can call it socialist all you like, but that doesn't make it true. Unless we've been living in a socialist nation for the past 92 years.

And what Barack Obama said was that the Civil Rights movement relied too heavily on the courts and failed to fight harder for legislative initiatives that would have had a more redistributive effect. He NEVER said anything about the courts doing more to redistribute wealth. Read the quote -- not the Drudge Report/McCain Campaign distortion of his words, but the actual quote.