I am not Joe the Plumber

There is a McCain commercial out right now featuring a bunch of middle-aged women and a few men saying, “I’m Joe the Plumber.” One guy agrees with Joe, in that he doesn’t want those working harder than him and those making more money than him (presumed to be the same groups of people) to be taxed because of their success.

If you have an issue with the rich being taxed at a much higher rate than the middle and lower classes, fine. That’s a reasonable concern of yours, but do you, and does the McCain camp, really think that people making more than you are automatically working harder than you?

I hope not. I concede that there are a lot of people making $250,000 a year that work harder than me, but I am not convinced the majority of them are necessarily working harder than the people I know that don’t make $250,000 a year (a.k.a. almost every single person I know).

The man featured in the McCain spot also seems to express the anger he might feel if one of his harder working friends, making over $250,000 a year, is taxed at a higher rate than he is.

A warning to all of you: Call me crazy, but if you start making over $250,000 a year and put yourself into that higher tax bracket, I am just not going to feel frustrated for you. I know, freaking mean. You can call me a wealth-spreader like Palin does, you can call me a socialist like McCain does, you can call me a terrorist like some of McCain’s supporters do, but it won’t change a thing.