Since 1980 the size of the American economy has doubled, yet the median income has barely changed at all. Nearly all of this growth has ended up in the hands of the super rich. In 1980 the wealthiest 1% controlled about 10% of all total income. Today, this 1% controls about 40% of all total income. With this new wealth has come massive political power, allowing the super rich to continue to drop what they pay in taxes. This has caused the tax revenue received by the government to drop sharply, resulting in massive debt. These super rich are then using the chaos and fear created by this debt and uncertainty to turn the middle class against itself, union vs non-union, christian vs non-christian and so on. As a result, the super wealthy continue to weld even more power, which they use to pay even less in taxes, so they can have more money and hence more power, all while impoverishing the American middle class.

There are elites, and yes, they weld massive political power, but most of these power brokers and kingmakers are part of massive corporations. These corporations have seized control of the media, and actively use it to keep the middle class in-fighting and frightened. The Tea party is one of these implements of chaos, despite the cries to the contrary. It has simply polarized the middle class, so that average Americans cannot come to a consensus.

If you want a strong prosperous America, start taxing the super wealthy. In the 1950s, a time of unparalleled prosperity and growth in America, the income tax rate on the richest Americans was over 90%. Our state coffers were full, and we were indisputably the greatest and most powerful nation on Earth, and our high tax rate didn’t diminish this, in fact it allowed this prosperity and growth of the middle class to happen.

If you want to continue to beggar the country, and hand over global supremacy to China, by all means, refuse to tax the wealthy. The middle class will continue to struggle and eventually may die, destroying everything America stands for, like the promise of social mobility.

The Tea Party is right in the assertion that currently we are experiencing a state of class warfare in the United States. It is a shame that the Tea Party is fighting for the wrong side, but that’s what billions of dollars worth of corporate propaganda can do.

The tale of Robin Hood came from before the industrial revolution. There were no real entrepreneurs in those times, the feudal system did not allow for this. Serfs were bound to the land as slaves and the few craftsmen were bound to local lords. With the coming of industrialization production moved towards towns, since building a single factory with all your laborers is less expensive and easier to organize than having decentralized machinery laying about the country-side.

There, the power fell from the aristocracy into the hands of the merchants, the bourgeoisie. Following that were the bourgeois revolutions (starting with the American Revolution). These were of little benefit to the common folk and only served to reduce the tax burden on the bourgeoisie.

Robin Hood robbed the nobles because they had more than they deserved. Deserving comes from labor, and nobles did none. Neither does the bourgeoisie.
Taxation, however, is a poor solution because it relies on currency, which is but a tool by the rich to enslave the laborers. Today, we are held hostage by the upper class. They did not build the factories, they did not design the machines, and yet they reap the profits while the proletariat suffers. Just because they had the money to begin with. This is made worse because the working class has been delegated to undeveloped and developing nations. Americans do not see the class struggle anymore. They do not see the conditions in which their clothes are made. We are content to be in the middle class – as we should be!- and fail to see the misery of others caused by the exploitation of the rich.