Republican legislators are standing shoulder-to-shoulder this Fourth of July and preferring to sacrifice government function and services, rather than increasing taxes even slightly on the rich. Which is to say that budget showdowns are taking place around the country. Minnesota State Representative Mary Kiffmeyer summed up her Republican rejection of legislative responsibility like this¹:

It's not about revenue... It's about a tax increase, because they want to go after those who've actually worked hard.

Yup. By the inverted logic of Mary Kiffmeyer – and of Republicans everywhere – the 22,000 Minnesota state workers who just got laid off on July 1st? They didn't work hard enough to justify taxing the wealthy a bit more, which would have thereby allowed the state to continue functioning. Even if the Minnesota workers – who've now lost their incomes – are experiencing hardship, that pales in Austrian importance when compared with the verboten prospect of increasing the tax rate by a half-percent on rich people. Republicans know their base.

Oh, and in case you doubt the Republican willingness to throw average Americans under the bus, here's John McCain to let you know that Republicans only do what he says average Americans want²:

The American people... don't want us to compromise. They want us to balance the budget. They want us to stop mortgaging our children's and our grandchildren's futures. And they don't think they want their taxes raised.

Never mind that the taxes proposed by Democrats would not affect middle-class Americans – despite what McCain implies – but would affect the wealthiest sliver of Americans, who can afford the increase without batting an eye. That's a group that includes McCain (the guy who couldn't remember how many homes he owns). Also never mind that 19 different polls since January 1, 2011 have shown Americans favor increasing taxes to address budget shortfalls³:

Americans want the opposite of what John McCain asserts. Americans want budget compromise. Because in the absence of compromise – and continued government functioning – it's average Americans who suffer the impacts of the Republican-led legislative breakdown.

Still, what Republicans understand very well is that Americans applaud those whose dint and work has gotten them ahead. It's the American Dream, and it represents this country's animating heart beat. Sometimes we hear that the American Dream doesn't operate like it once did, but I disagree. We have only to look at our President, and we see a bi-racial man who was raised by a single mother and who got to his position based on merit. Such a thing never happens in Europe, as any European will eagerly tell you. Nonetheless, rates of upward mobility in Europe are higher than in the US.

What Republicans do not understand is that – in addition to the American Dream – Americans applaud corporate fairness. It's what drove the abolitionists to challenge the then-Constitutional endorsement of slavery. It's why the Progressive movement succeeded the robber-baron Gilded Age. It's what the enfranchisement of civil rights is always about. It's what brought marriage equality to New York. It's why Americans have finally gotten healthcare reform. Which is to say that – often enough – our grand-grand-grandparents came to this country to escape from oligarchic injustice. Many Americans retain the memory that that is what brought them here. John – who's my ancestor – wasn't an indentured servant on the Speedwell in 1632 for nothing, nor for nothing did my ancestors, the Cahills and Dooleys, come to this country during the Irish potato famine, nor for nothing did the Cackowskies land on Ellis Island at the turn of the 20th century.

Roy Zimmerman's song End of the Ship, which I've hyperlinked above, addresses the conceits of oligarchy but never mentions the Republican 30-year success at redistributing America's wealth upward and solidifying the oligarchy we have today. And don't doubt it's oligarchy that Republicans are fighting to keep afloat. Roy Zimmerman explains the situation better and less polemically – and with greater wit – than I ever could.

Americans' forebears came to this country to form a more perfect union, which we know is acknowledged in our Constitution's preamble. A commonweal is needed to make the American Dream possible... Which is to say that all Americans proudly uphold the few who succeed on their own merit... Happy Birthday, United States of America!


¹Mark Sommerhauser (01-Jul-11), Frustration reigns on Day 2 of Minnesota shutdown, online at www.sctimes.com.

²Gabriella Schwarz (03-Jul-11), McCain: Afghan drawdown is an 'unnecessary risk', CNN political ticker, online at politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com.

³Bruce Bartlett (29-Jun-11), Americans support higher taxes, CapitalGainsandGames, online at www.capitalgainsandgames.com.