The Evils of Redistribution

I think a lot of people have already noted the vacuous rhetoric of the McCain campaign from a historical perspective. The US has had taxes since day one, a federal income tax for a century, and social security taxes for 40 years. All varying degrees of redistribution and all untouchable except at the margins in modern America.

And yet I think more curious is the McCain decision to raise the issue at this particular moment in time. With unemployment and under employment surging their is no great outcry for government to help less. With millions watching their retirement shrivel, they are not clamoring for the feds to step back further. With hundreds of houses repossessed daily, the anger is for congress to do more, not less.

A lot of people have beehb talking about how republicans where doomed from the start because of macro conditions. But I also think this avoids the reality that McCain's life and background were an impediment. He has literally had government provided health care his whole life (and did I mention he is really old). He has lived in a house provided by the US government or his millionaire wife 90% of his life. And he has lived his life protected by get out of jail free cards (first his family legacy then POW, POW, POW).

McCain could have take this information and thought "I was pretty lucky, I should spend my life working to try to extend those safety nets to every american." but insteed he spent his whole life telling everyone else how awesome he was, and how these were actually the result of his own virtue.