We would be happy to include you

The Occupy Wall Street protesters have been using the phrase "We are the 99%" -- we are the ones in America being hurt by the greedy practices of the richest 1%. There is, naturally, a backlash. A group calls itself "We are the 53%." These are the people who make their own way, are responsible for their own destiny, feel Wall Street isn't to blame, pay taxes, and are annoyed that 47% of the country doesn't pay taxes. They resent the moochers who get to be lazy at taxpayer's expense.

Essayist Terrence Heath looks at the rich contradictions in those statements.

First are the tax issues. The GOP lowered taxes on the middle class too (though now they want to raise taxes on the middle class to protect the tax rates of the rich). There are lots of other taxes other than income tax (sales, payroll, Social Security), which everyone pays. For the poor these taxes are a much higher percentage of income than for everyone else. There are now a lot of government services, such as education at state universities, where fees (tuition -- taxes on users) have gone up so much that many can no longer afford those services.

In addition, the 53 Percenters (and the GOP) are pushing the idea that being able to pay income tax confers a mantle of responsibility. Which is contradictory coming from an anti-tax crowd.

Next Heath considers what the GOP economic policies have done to those who vote GOP. He includes a photo of a man holding up a page of text. If I can read it accurately, it says:

I am a former Marine.
I work two jobs.
I don't have health insurance.
I worked 60-70 hours a week for 8 years to pay my way through college.
I haven't had 4 consecutive days off in over 4 years.
But I don't blame Wall Street.
Suck it up you whiners.
I am the 53%.
God Bless the USA!

It sounds like he is in economic pain and blames himself. He won't fight those stomping on him and will ask for more pain -- quite the sell job by the GOP. The fallacy: My actions only affect me. Wall Street's actions only affect the titans of Wall Street.

Empathy and compassion have been replaced by duty and a person can resent his duty. That is compounded when economic success is linked to moral worth, which the GOP loves to do. Too many of today's poor know they played by the rules (were "moral") and lost everything anyway.

A great deal of the money in that top 1% is not from work, or even wise investing, but using government to tilt the playing field in their direction. The 99% aren't furious at the rich for being rich, but for rigging the rules. They're furious at government for allowing it to happen.

Heath notes:

The "53 Percenters," in a sense, embody the Republican party's success in getting people to just "live with the consequences of whatever happens to them." It's a world where "the worst economic crisis since Great Depression" somehow "just happens," and "hard times" are a result of your own individual "sins," and nothing else.

Put another way, the GOP is creating a bunch of passive sheep who won't see anything wrong as the rich squeeze them for more.

The GOP is successful in creating "class warfare" between the middle class and the poor. And many of those who claim to be in the 53% category are really in the 47% category, or part of the 99%. You're welcome to join us.