Republican precinct ‘targeted’ by Obama tax plan
Voters in Orange County’s second most GOP precinct complain that Obama tax proposal would spare others by hitting them with increases.
This was the headline and lede that caught my attention when this little gem was published on October 22 of this year. The Republicans in one of the most richest counties in America were playing the victimized rich card. They are going to be victims of the Obama Presidency.
NEWPORT BEACH Janet Miedema feels like Barack Obama has put a big bull’s eye on her neighborhood.
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In large measure, that’s because most here are the 5 percent of the population that make more than $250,000 and, would likely see their taxes rise under the Democrat’s tax plan.
I wasn’t kidding, was I? Those who had profited the most in the last eight years are going to be victims of a progressive tax system. Is this really such a travesty?
“The people I know here are working professionals,” said Ron Williams, after unloading Costco groceries from his Lincoln Navigator. “Attorneys, doctors, CPAs. Some are small business owners. They’re paying mortgages. They worked to get here.
“I come from a very poor family. When I hear how Barack Obama wants to spread the wealth, I want to say, ‘Get an education and work hard, and you can get what you want.'”
Yes, because if you aren’t making the kind of money this guy is making then you aren’t just working hard enough? I found this one of the most insulting sentences I had read in many years.
You see, my husband has a Ph.D. and teaches at a Community College. He’s highly educated and he put himself through school with no help from his family. He’s worked hard and yet he will never make as much money as these people do. So, I guess he’s just not working hard enough.
But what about the teachers in Newport Beach?
Teachers in the Newport-Mesa Unified School District expressed mixed feelings about the tentative agreement between the district and teachers union, with some praising the salary increase while others called it insufficient.On Tuesday, the district and union ended six months of negotiations with a plan that would give teachers an extra 1% retroactive pay raise for this year, followed by a total 19% increase over the next three years. The union’s goal, spelled out in its 1999 contract, is to bring teacher salaries between the mean and the 75th percentile for unified districts in Orange County.
1% pay increase in one of the richest counties and cities in America for the people who teach their children.
Median Salary by Employer Type – City: Newport Beach (United States)
So according to this salary site, teachers in the Newport-Mesa Unified School district aver $48,000 a year. In fact, none of these median incomes are close to $250,000 and wouldn’t even reach that when you consider a combined income. So are all these people not working hard enough? The people in our hospitals? Those who care for and teach our children?
Now granted, this is the “median” income and I’m sure that with the upper levels of these professions the $250,000 is easy to meet. But what? Isn’t that adjusted gross income? Yes. So, still it’s hard for two people, working at the top of these industries to make the $300,000 to $350,000 that would be most effected by Obama’s tax plan.
And as we all know, the number of people at the top is most likely smaller than those bunched around the median number. This is not an average.
And this is the myth that the rich in our Country continue to push, that if you just work hard enough, you too can be rich like me. But as we know, everyday people work hard, very hard to just make ends meet, to just put food on the table for their families and to meet their modest monthly expenses. They are working hard too.
And of course, this is why I’m a Democrat. Hard work is valuable at every level of our economy and that every job keeps all of us going. I pine for the day where the man who dig ditches is just as honorable a profession as the one who heals the sick. The irony in the Republican line of bullshit is that well, it’s just not true. They don’t value hard work, they value money over people.
Money over people. Just as we see in our failed health insurance industry, bottom line over human beings.
I know in the last six months I’ve given up being humble and have taken the stance that not only is being liberal the right thing to be but the morally superior thing to be. I gave up in trying to apologize for those who wish to keep everyone feeling as if their work just isn’t good enough. That their contribution to society is just not important enough.
And the irony of it all? That in Orange County, many of the people who work hard everyday and fail to make six figures salaries are registered Republicans. And they bought the line that Obama wants to take their hard work away from them, they bought it big.
So how can we employ a workable model in this County to show these average working men and women that the Republican party isn’t really looking out for them. The Republicans who blocked tax hikes in the State Legislature were merely protecting those who made $300,000 or more (That was the cut off for raising taxes on income when the budget was being obstructed by many of the Republicans who represent the OC).
They signed pledges that they wouldn’t raise taxes, no matter what, they wouldn’t raise taxes. But just who are they protecting? Many of the Republicans who are proud to have their children in their public schools were asked to write checks to the School District to cover the gaping hole that the budget cuts were going to leave their schools. Yes. That’s not a tax?
I, __________, pledge to the taxpayers of the ___ district of the State of _______ and to all the people of this state, that I will oppose and vote against any and all efforts to increase taxes.
So again, who bears the burden of the costs? Those who can least afford it of course! Those districts with higher populations of the poor can’t ask for huge checks to their district. They just find that they fall even further by the wayside in funding. So, public schools, the place where all should be seen as equal, fails on every level possible for the sake of protecting those who can afford to send their kids to private schools.
How do these people even keep their jobs? How do Republicans, who only stand in the way of funding the many important services that Republicans and Democrats alike depend on keep their jobs!?!?!?!
They don’t have to put forth a solution; they don’t have to put forth ideas to really solve the budget crisis or the revenue issue. There are concrete things Republicans can do to help how the budget is allocated to schools, etc. by guaranteeing that when a line item in a budget is not spent, rather than reverting back to the general fund and that piece of the budget being cut for the following year, they could reward those who stay on budget and have a surplus at the end of the year. But no, that would be a real solution. They would have to do something.
Of course this is personal to me. Not only did my husband, Gary Pritchard, run for state senate but we are facing our own hardships in this economy. I guess we just don’t work hard enough?
I found myself facing a chronic illness that has made it difficult for me to work my forty hours a week. But since Gary’s student loans have gone up in their payments, our house has lost $150,000 in value and our credit cards have been maxed to make ends meet, I can’t cut my hours back.
I have even explored the possibility of modifying our mortgage to allow me to work less hours. Did you know that you have to have a debt to income ratio of 70% before they will even consider you a hardship? Since our debt is only 50% (Granted, this did not include student loans and credit card debt or afterschool care costs)we are not doing badly enough.
I do know that, I know we are the lucky ones (we have health care that covers mostly everything we need covered) and we both still have our jobs. But to consider $1,300 enough to cover expenses in Orange County is quite absurd (heating, electricty, water, trash, food, gas, insurance, etc). I guess it continues to be that wallstreet still has no clue about mainstreet and Republicans still have no idea who they serve. Joe six pack doesn’t make this kind of money and neither does Joe the plumber.
So when are people going to stop letting those who, yes, who have worked just as hard as they, think that the trickle down is enough to reward the hard work of those who are in the “median”?
I know I’m preaching to the choir. I know that I’m not telling you anything that you don’t already know but I still can’t help be find myself frustrated knowing that there are millions more who are suffering far worse than anything my own family is going through and there are people out there who think they just aren’t working hard enough.
This is the divide we face. This is the class warfare that the right has been imposing upon the people in their quest to divide and conquer and it’s worked well until Obama made it impossible to keep lying as they do. Nice huh?
So we continue to fight, we continue to fight for those who don’t even agree with us but we want to fight for their rights too and their hard work so that it’s not taken and siphoned up to large corporations and industries that don’t have to follow the model the Republicans set forth. (Oh, don’t get me started on the toll roads that most can’t afford to take asking for a billion dollar bailout).
So, I’m going to keep fighting for Orange County and for all of those who work hard everyday. EVERDAY, no matter what it is they do. I just ask that you help Gary and I try to retire our debt from our campaign.
Thanks for reading.