The trashing of “Joe the Plumber” by the Left is uncanny. The defense Republicans offer of Joe is hopeless (like the defense offered up by the woman with the worst voice on TV and radio: Laura Ingraham.) When you have no first principles you are powerless to coherently defend a man’s right to his property.
Of course, proponents of natural rights suffer no such debilities.
Smear #1: “He’s not licensed”
State licensing is a guild system deployed to restrict entry into a trade, so as to keep the wages of a protected group artificially high. Licensing is ludicrous, especially in the case of trades.
Joe, who represents everything that’s good about America, says he doesn’t need a license to make a living. Unlike the ponces in politics, he is not forcing anyone to employ him. That’s the spirit. Don’t you hate those fat cats who want to control Joe’s destiny with meaningless stamps of officialdom?
Obama says no plumber earns so much as to worry about his tax plan. Hogwash. A plumber can look forward to earning a lot of money; they are never outsourced and are always in demand.
Smear #2: “His name isn’t even Joe!”
His name is Samuel Joe Wurzelbacher. I believe that in some parts of the US, people go by their middle names. Even if he were not “Joe,” why would that make him the object of derision and smears from parasites—politicians who’ve never done an honest day of work in their lives, and who live off others?
Smear #3: “He owes taxes”
The IRS is the criminal entity in the business of taking what is not theirs to take. In the process of preying on Americans, it has destroyed many lives. The 16th Amendment ought to be repealed. If generic Joe has taken on the IRS, he’s a hero. If he has held on to what is his for a little longer, well, then, he will soon be forced to hand it over.
The idea that a politician would make fun of his employer—Joe Citizen—is repulsive. Pitchforks anyone?
One more thing: The Republicans are grandstanding about Obama’s tax plans amounting to socialism. For the edification of GOP grandstanders, progressive taxation is socialism. In case Republicans don’t know it, we have a steep taxation system that distributes income. (Russia, I believe, has a flat tax.)
Although they could have lessened the socialism, they have not–life under the Republicans has seen a “slouching toward socialism,” perhaps not in direct taxation, but in borrowing and money printing. That’s how Republicans have funded their orgiastic spending. These stealth-like means are no different to taxation. One might argue that they are more destructive because more clandestine, allowing a greater increase in the national debt and deficit spending. The proof is in the Republicans’ record spending.