The D.C. Centrists' Straw Men (Huffpo)

[starroute]

5. One problem is that the country has unmet needs and the rich have all the money

This isn't about redistribution. It's about the fact that our infrastructure is falling apart, our education system is inadequate, and our nation is sliding on many measures of health and well-being.

It will take money to fix those problems, but the poor and middle class don't have the money to do it. In the immortal words of the Tea Party, they're "taxed enough already."

But the elephant in the room, which the Tea Party is doing its best to camouflage, is that the reason we can't afford those things is that the rich have the money that should have gone into wage increases. The rich are the only ones who can pay to fix our highways and bridges, to maintain world-class universities and a first-rate workforce, and to keep our citizens healthy and productive.

Perhaps the line shouldn't be, "You didn't build that." It should be, "You built that. You profit from it every day. You pay to maintain it."