If you’re an average middle-class person thinking of voting for a conservative on Nov. 2, the liberal website Huffington Post thinks you’ve been “brainwashed [1].” It’s the only explanation blogger and author Myriam Miedzian could come up with for your “self-destructive” voting habits.
Miedzian was upset about the many Americans who don’t want to rescind the Bush tax cuts for those making $250,000 or more a year, even though they themselves make less than that.
“A recent SEIU poll reveals that, 38 percent of American voters are opposed to rescinding Bush's tax cuts for the 2 percent who earn $250,000 or more annually. 2 or 3 percent of taxpayers probably earn close enough to $250,000, to think they might be affected someday,” Myriam Miedzian incredulously wrote.
“This leaves about 33 percent voting against their self-interest -- higher taxes on the wealthiest would reduce the national debt, facilitate spending on levies, bridges, schools, healthcare, and create jobs,” she claimed, repeating left-wing talking points.
Actually, the reason so many Americans want to see full tax cut extensions may be because they realize if their employers’ taxes are increased, they will pay the economic consequences.
The Heritage Foundation estimates that nearly 700,000 jobs would be lost per year (on average) over the next 10 years if the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy expire as President Barack Obama wants.
Miedzian argued that Americans should be more like European socialist countries and confused “social mobility” and economic mobility. She claimed France, Sweden and other similar countries have it better because “university education is free, or at minimal cost.” She also praised “universal health care,” and the 13 months paid leave the Swedes have for parents.
She didn’t acknowledge the enormous cost burden that would fall on employers in the U.S. if they were compelled by the government to offer 13 months of parental leave. Higher costs for employers mean fewer available jobs, and with a 9.6 percent unemployment rate, that is something no one wants.
Still, Miedzian said “the divergence in political thinking between Western Europeans and Americans provides much of the answer to why we lag so far behind.” She criticized the “frontier mentality” of the independent American spirit and encouraged the nanny-statism of Europe. “Their concern is getting corporations off their back by pressuring government to pass legislation protecting them from corporate greed …”
But near the end of her story, Miedzian revealed her true fear that the working class might vote conservatively (for less government and lower taxes). After taking a swing at free speech in the form of campaign donations; she called it “U.S. bribery” of the electoral process, she touted Europe’s “public financing” of elections.
“In Third World America, Huffington argues correctly that a ‘complete reboot of the way we finance our elections,’ is the single most important change needed to rescue our country,” Miedzian said. “In the meantime, our best hope for the 2012 election is that the American left will wake up, start organizing unemployed workers, and move them away from self-destructive voting.”