I've been leaning heavily towards supporting John Edwards for some months now. However, the recent ratcheting up of his anti-corporate rhetoric has lost him my vote. See my reasoning below the fold.
John Edwards is right. There really are two Americas, and the wealth gap between the two groups is getting larger all the time. Recently, Edwards has ratcheted up his rhetoric blaming the wealth gap on Republican party policies and American corporations; the "big pharma, big oil, big tobacco, and big defense" many progressives like to vilify.
Edward's criticisms of corporations are misguided for a number of reasons. First, his anti-corporate populist rhetoric is what Al Gore tried to run on and lost on in 2000. Second, the anti-corporate message makes Edwards sound just like Ralph Nader, who has vanishingly small support amongst Americans. From a practical political standpoint, Edwards anti-corporate message is bad strategy and may well lose us the White House if he is the nominee in 2008. But most importantly, the wealth gap is not the fault of American corporations, but of Republican party policies that favor the wealthy at the expense of the poor (the "New Age Robin Hood" syndrome).
American corporations have created millions of good jobs for our citizens, and have enriched millions of American shareholders (which is anyone who has money in the stock market) by zealously pursuing profit. It is the Federal government's job to regulate corporate behavior to ensure they make their profit in a societally responsible manner and share their wealth fairly. The best way then to close the wealth gap is for the Federal government to make corporations, via appropriate laws and policies, to engage in behavior that enriches us all. Bashing corporations will only make it more difficult when the time comes to enforce these policies and laws. If you need to persuade someone to do something for you, name calling and finger pointing are generally not good tactics.
John Edwards should be spending his time and energy telling us how he will manage the economy in a way that will enrich all of us, rather than blaming America's corporations for our economic ills. Let's place the blame for the wealth gap where it truly belongs, on the Republican party.