Reply #100: You might be right

[davekriss]

Today there are two votes in America. A Dollar Vote that's followed by a democratic vote. Nothing gets on the agenda of the democratic vote that does not first pass the dollar vote. The problem with this arrangement is those with more dollars get more votes than those with less. The result of this anti-democratic setup is that those with money get to set the agenda for the democratic vote.

This agenda includes items that first and foremost serve the monied classes. The resulting thrust of policy and law serves reflects those interests. Our interest, we denizens of the bottom 90% of America, are seldom represented -- oh, to some degree we are, we get just enough to maintain the illusion of democracy and opportunity, just enough to render us as passive "consumers", unknowingly chained down in inescapable debt peonage. So somehow the virtuous cycle of money buying politicians who promise to transfer more money to their benefactors must be broken. One way is to take money out of the cycle, out of the wallets of the corpo-fascist-oligarchy. And a way to do that is to restore a steeply progressive tax rate on earned and unearned income.

I am now convinved: 90% on income above $4,000,000 is the way to go. It won't generate a heck of a lot for the coffers in the federal budget, but it will diminish some of the anti-democratic power that accrues from massing significant wealth.