Class divide needs some equalizing

Published 4:27 pm Friday, October 1, 2010

The other day, I mentioned to some fellows that I was voting for Initiative 1098, the income tax to be levied on the richies. “You can’t do that, LaBelle,” one huffed. “Taxing the rich; why, that’s waging class warfare!”

No, actually, it’s called retaliation, for the richies started waging class warfare on us a long time ago. They’ve outsourced us. They’ve globalized us. They’ve plundered our pensions and nest eggs. They’ve driven our investments into the toilet. They’ve lobbied (read: “bribed”) our legislatures into selling us out at every turn.

The richies have sucked the life out of the middle class and it’s time we sucked some of it back. Won’t you join me in voting for I-1098?

Remember what the old philosopher, Balzac, said: “Behind every great fortune lies a great crime.”

Tom LaBelle

Snohomish