Nate Hodgson sums up the Republican war against the middle class perfectly in a letter from the Durango Herald News editorial page:
Why does the Republican Party hate middle America? According to 2008 census data, Americans' median household income was $52,000 with 13 percent of the population living below the poverty level - below $21,000 for a family of four. Coloradans fared a little better with a median household income of $57,000 and 11 percent in poverty.
With the Bush tax cuts enacted in 2001 and 2003, the divide between the "haves" and "have nots" in America has skyrocketed. According to 2010 census figures, less than 5 percent of Americans earned more than $180,000 a year and they added to their annual incomes last year, while the overwhelming majority of families at the median level, $50,000, slipped closer to poverty.
The Obama administration, to its credit, has proposed closing this gap by extending the Bush tax cuts only to individuals making less than $200,000 and families making less than $250,000. The Republican Party, on the other hand, has championed tax relief for the über-wealthy at the expense of the middle class. In fact, Republicans pride themselves on a political platform that ensures the richest 1 percent will continue to own 40 percent of all American wealth.
The Republicans are supported by FOX News and AM radio hosts who bombard American airwaves with anti-tax rhetoric. Many of these self-proclaimed "conservative" celebrities would continue to see a direct personal benefit from an extension of Bush era tax cuts. These defenders of the rich, while daily skewering Obama, remain notoriously tight-lipped about the rampant wealth redistribution tactics of the upper class - for example, the wealthy executives at Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Morgan Stanley and Bank of America who personally benefited from the Bush-era bank bailout, even giving themselves $10 million bonuses, while the overwhelming majority of Americans saw a precipitous decline in income.
At a time when middle America is seeing a decline in income, it is time that the Republican Party do more than simply bash Obama and defend continued bail-out and tax relief for America's super-wealthy. Americans of all classes need to pull together and do their part.
http://durangoherald.com/sections/Opinion/letters_to_the_editor/2010/10/26/Why_does_the_GOP_hate_the_middle_class/
