Can We Vote Already?

What was a three ring circus has now become a four ring circus, if there is such a thing.  With nineteen days until the 2008 Presidential election, and Obama leading in key counties in battleground states across the country, according to www.politico.com, McCain has made one last desperate, spontaneous, and erratic move to try and regain some ground.  Enter "Joe the Plumber."
Anyone who watched the debate on Wednesday night and hasn't been living under a rock for the last couple days knows who "Joe the Plumber" is.  The McCain campaign has once again put the full weight of their campaign behind an individual who has emerged to celebrity status from total obscurity.  According to McCain campaign officials they did not thoroughly vet this individual before thrusting him into the national media scene, and first learned about him from reading The Drudge Report.  Well it's too bad that they didn't vet "Joe" because the media has and have found some pretty interesting facts.

Turns out "Joe the Plumber" is not a licensed plumber, "never served an apprenticeship and does not belong to the union" according to The New York Times.  It also turns out the "Joe the Plumber" who's real name is Samuel, owes $1,182 in backed taxes and does not make $250,000 a year meaning that Obama's plan would currently give "Samuel the non-licensed plumber" a tax break.  It also turns out that plumbers across America seem to think that they would do much better under an Obama-Biden administration as "The national plumber's union, the United Association of Plumbers, Steamfitters, and Service Mechanics, endorsed Mr. Obama" according to The New York Times.
It's pretty clear that Senator McCain is desperate here, and it says a lot about his judgement and the judgement of his campaign staff, who could potentially become his cabinet members, to make a move like this.  However, they do bring up an interesting question that is fundamental to this campaign.  McCain raised the question in the debate in asking Obama why he would want to cut people's taxes in a time of such financial turmoil, and Obama responded in kind by reminding McCain that under his tax plan corporations would continue to receive billions of dollars in tax breaks.
This issue is very important to explore and is one that the country is deeply divided over.  The issue is a redistribution of wealth in this country.  It's a known fact that a very small percentage of the population in this country controls the great majority of the wealth, and therefore the power.  Under the Bush administration this small percentage of the population and large corporations have done quite well while much of the rest of the country has suffered, and these economic problems have been exacerbated by the recent economic downturn.  With Senator Obama's tax plan, 95% of individuals in this country would get a tax break and taxes would be raised for those making over $250,000.  There are many exceptions for small businesses in Obama's tax plan and only 2% of small businesses in this country make over $250,000 a year.
There are really two schools of thought here, and they are wildly different.  If you make a lot of money you are entitled to keep as much of it as you can, which involves the many loopholes that currently exist in our tax system that allows those with the most to pay a very small amount of taxes.  The idea being that if those wealthy individuals have money to invest and start businesses etc. the money will "trickle down" to the lower classes.  The other school of thought is based on the idea that those who make more money should pay more in taxes, and those making less should get relief from the tax system and not the other way around.  This way, the lower classes are guaranteed some relief.
Warren Buffet is worth an estimated $52 Billion and famously said in June of this year that "The 400 of us [here] pay a lower part of our income than our receptionists do, our cleaning ladies, for that matter.  If you're in the luckiest 1 percent of humanity you owe it to the rest of humanity to think about the other 99 percent" according to www.thetimes.com.  He demonstrated this fact by showing that he was only taxed at a rate of 17.7% last year while his secretary was taxed at a rate of 30% of her income.  Who do you think needs that money more, and shouldn't the wealthy be taxed at at least the same rate as lower income individuals?  Yes, Warren Buffet paid more money in taxes, but as a percentage of income it was about half what his secretary paid.
This is the crux of Obama's argument and Senator McCain's campaign is trying to make it about raising taxes on the average "Joe's."  You know, "Joe the Plumber," "Joe Six-Pack," and "Hockey Mom's across America!"  In reality these people are going to do much better under an Obama adminstration than under the McCain administration which will continue the failed tax and economic policies of the Bush administration. What is odd about this issue is that many American's don't understand it.  They have continued to buy into the "tax and spend" label of the Democrats that the Republicans put forth.
What's also interesting about this campaign cycle is that it's the Democrat who is proposing massive tax cuts for the majority of the country, and McCain is now asking why Senator Obama would want to cut people's taxes during this time of economic turmoil; my how the tables have turned.
The bottom line is that this is just another distraction in a long line of distractions during this campaign season.  The last thing the American people need during these times is distractions from the important issues that should be front and center in this campaign; and the media is being too easily distracted by these circus acts.  This isn't a time for politics, it's a time for leadership.