A Stitch in Haste

John Edwards, who recently dismissed the War on Terror as a "bumper sticker," is sealing his political doom by resurrecting the dumbest political bumper sticker in recent memory:

Democratic presidential candidate John Edwards is bemoaning the growing divide between rich and poor as he returns to the signature theme of "Two Americas" from his unsuccessful 2004 White House bid.
...
"Our tax system has been rewritten by George Bush to favor the wealthy and shift the burden to working families. That is simply wrong," Edwards said, according to text provided by his campaign. "There are still Two Americas."

This is, of course, utter nonsense. It is the worst kind of politician blather.

Some hasty stitches:

--The concept of "Two Americas" is simply absurd as a question of empirical fact. There is no clean and crisp divide between the "rich" and the "poor." There are a small number of Bill Gates, Scottie Pippens and Powerball winners at one end of the income spectrum, a small number of crack whores and trailer trash at the other end, and about 300 million Americans in between. The middle class swamps, by orders of magnitude, the caricatures of Edwards' "Two Americas."

--Our federal income tax system already exempts the lower half of the population by income. They pay nothing. Many actually receive money via the Earned Income Tax Credit. So the question becomes: Just how much more progressive than "the rich pay almost all and the poor pay nothing" would -- or could -- Edwards make the tax code?

--Anyone who claims to champion the working poor must, by definition, advocate Social Security (and Medicare) reform. Not merely tweaking the dials with even more payroll taxes or even more raises in the retirement age -- but real reform that relieves the oppressive 15.3% payroll tax burden on the very people Edwards claims to commiserate with.

--Similarly, the single greatest income equalizer in America (at least across generations) is public education. Or, more correctly, "was" public education. Who for the most part has controlled America's failing inner city public schools for the past few decades -- Democrats or Republicans? Anyone who wants to alleviate income equality should start, not with "the rich," but with the teacher unions and educrats who have strangled public education for over a generation. Think Edwards will pick such a fight with them?

--Finally, it demands repeating: It is still soon enough after 9/11 that the very phrase "Two Americas" is downright despicable.

"Two Americas" is something I expect -- and get ad nauseum -- from radical social conservatives -- in the form of "Homosexual America versus 'Normal' America." We don't need such un-American divisiveness from radical class-warrior liberals too.