KISS. Keep it simple, stupid. That seems to be the motto, not only of the "conservative" campaign on behalf of the ninety-nine percent, but also the "liberal" response. The truth, friends, is that it isn't simple, except for the stupid.
The idea of a zero-sum society is that, in this capitalistic culture, there has to be a loser for every winner and visa versa. We don't seem to get it. We continued to believe that putting the screws to one side can be done with no adverse consequences to the other. Wrong.
America has always preferred the simple solution. We blame Muslims for 9/11. In the same way, we've blamed Blacks, Jews, Irish and anybody else who might be different from "us" for whatever particular ill we were experiencing at the time. Now it's the turn of the "one percent."
Soaking the rich, on its face, seems like a pretty good idea. The fact they get away with bloody murder through tax breaks and Bain-capital-type corporate manipulation, plus the royal screwing they presided over in the process of reducing the net worth of the middle class by more than forty percent are ample reasons for demanding punative tax rates and confiscatory policies that might act to level the playing field. But it won't work.
The reason, as the top one percent keep reminding us by their actions, is that the deck is totally rigged by the very system that for years most Americans have defended as synonymous with our country- capitalism. Try asking the average Joe what the opposite of communism is. You probably won't hear "capitalism"(economic). You'll hear "democracy"(poitical). Why? Because we're willing to die for democracy, but not willing to bleed for capitalism. And, if you haven't noticed, most of our wars are based on economics.
Republicans call the top one percent "job creators" and in a way they are. They create jobs when they can make more money and when they can't, they don't. Punishing them with higher taxes allows them to either slow down or shut down their companies or move overseas. Who suffers? Thousands get laid off or the stock goes down, thus hurting pension funds and their millions of contributors. Environmental laws are opposed on the grounds that limiting corporate greed will result in more unemployment. Either breathe bad air or go hungry. It works the other way, too. Giving more tax breaks to the rich, we are told, helps us all in the long run. It's called "trickle down." But there's no "bubble up." We're told the only way to benefit the many is to enrich the few. Remember? "A rising tide lifts all boats?"
Heads they win; tails we lose.
Remember corporations are people who, along with the super-rich, touch every facet of our lives. They buy our legislators. They own the lobbyists who help write our laws. They are the New America. Right now, they're spending millions to control your democracy and your mind.
So don't look for simple solutions: there aren't any. Even Thomas Jefferson, with his call for occasional revolutions, can't help us. Revolutions invariably benefit the folks with the most power and, in this country, the people with the most power have the most money.
There might be one way to get things done without too much blood in the streets, but it will take time. We have to re-educate America. We have to start thinking rather than reacting. Right and Left dittoheads have to stop parroting what we're told and ask what the country should be and how to get there without stomping on the opinions of others.
And that's not simple.