I'm Tommy the Elitist

John McCain recently released an ad called "I'm Joe the Plumber," which incorporated voter-submitted videos wherein the subjects declared themselves to be Joe the Plumber, or (Your name here) the (salt-of-the-Earth-occupation). The general idea behind the ad is that a progressive tax is a punishment for hard work. The video submissions were solicited by McCain on his website.

Look at corporate profits over the last eight years, then ask yourself how much of that has "trickled down" to you? Looks like all the "Joe the Plumbers" want to fix even that small leak.

Now, I know that there are tens of millions of people who believe, as I do, that a progressive tax is about fairness, about not just the ability to pay, but the degree to which a wealthier person benefits from our common possessions. That position, like any that disagrees with a Republican position, has been dubbed "elitist."

If that's the case, then I say "Pass the arugula!" As I've said before, I come from a long line of working-class people, civil servants and tradesman, and I'm in the lower end of that economic bracket myself. Where I come from, a man takes care of his responsibilities and doesn't complain. He pays his taxes. And when he gets somewhere, he remembers where he came from.

I would love to hear from all of the other "elitists" out there, the teacher, the construction worker, the waitress, the meatpacker, who think that people ought to pay their fair share. People who understand that the burden of these hard times is not falling on those who earn over $250,000.00. It's "elitists" like us that have carried the weight.

Tommy Christopher co-hosts "Unusable Signal" , on BlogTalkRadio Tues - Thur at 9pm, and Fri, & Sat at 11pm. Click here for the Unusable Signal homepage.