When in the company of conservative Republicans I often hear the refrain that Barack Obama is going to raise their taxes. Raising taxes, of course, is anathema to Republicans, and Republican legislators and political pundits have successfully convinced Americans that even if Obama allows the Bush tax cuts to expire, as they are intended to do, that is a tax hike by Democrats.
What differentiates this liberal Democrat from those conservative Republicans is the idea that there is more to life than "what's in it for me." When I hear conservative Republicans, especially wealthy or very, very comfortable ones, whine about taxes I want to ask them just how much money they need, because the reality is a small tax hike would not hurt them at all when it comes to their needs. Sure, they might not be able to go on three vacations a year, or buy that second or third house, or that fifth car or that new wardrobe, but is that the measure of good public policy or a healthy society - how much the wealthy get to keep to spend on items they don't really need?
I honestly have never been able to understand this mentality that the wealthy have a right to get even wealthier and if the poor don't pull themselves up to be successful, too bad! They have only themselves to blame. This makes no sense to me. The poor don't have themselves to blame. They are kept down by ponzi schemes and tax codes and historical prejudice and legislation that favors the wealthy. They have few opportunities for either education or jobs that might get them out of the endless cycle of failure and poor health and poverty that comes from the deck being stacked against them by decades of public policy that deprives them of basic needs and then blames them for their poverty.
We have developed in this country an ethic of individualism, which preaches the ideology that anyone can make it, anyone can overcome misfortune, anyone can go from rags to riches and the reality is that this ideology is a myth. Here in the United States, regardless of evidence to the contrary, we think people are responsible only for and to themselves and to no one else and we feel very little obligation to reach out to others.
I have felt this profoundly as I have tried desperately to care for two ailing parents, one with a terminal disease, and one with a progressive neurological disease. As an only child, with no relatives nearby, I have felt more alone than I have ever felt in my life. No one offers to help. No government services are available. Even the medical profession makes life difficult with the many hurdles that we must all jump through just to get help.
We simply don't live in a society where we believe we are our brother's or our sister's keeper. We live in a society where the rule is to "look out for number one" and "what's in it for me?"
Conservative Republicans have the same mindset in foreign policy. "America right or wrong." "We're number one." "You're with us or against us." The Republican view is that America can do what it wants around the world because America can do no wrong. It doesn't matter what other countries want or need, it is only America's needs and wants that count.
Liberal Democrats would like to see a shift to a more communitarian outlook - one that says we're all in this together and unless the poorest among us have a chance, we will all be the worse for it. We would like to see the poor, the jobless, the uninsured be given a chance to feed their families and get medical care and live in decent housing. And if that means the wealthy or the relatively more well-off have to pay a few more bucks in taxes, so what? Are the wealthy really that selfish? And we would like to see more community service and more reaching out to those who need assistance, either in taking care of their ill relatives or in caring for their children while they go to work.
And no, having a communitarian outlook, one that says we thrive and prosper as individuals only when we assure that all of us are cared for, does not mean we are communists. I wish conservative Republicans could get over that - it's ignorant, narrow minded, and uninformed, not to mention unkind. But then, I have never seen conservative Republicans as possessing an abundance of kindness or open-mindedness.
