Deja Vu all over again

 I was vilified this morning. The same pundits that argued that we progressives would have to accept the health care reform package because it was the best we could do are now making the same argument for the Republican tax cuts. Those of us who are against the tax cuts, allegedly, are undermining Obama, and will destroy the economy.

I accepted this argument for the health care reform because it was a once-in-a-lifetime program. We had to get reform started, no matter how poor the outline was.  However, tax cuts are not like that. If we do not accept this plan, believe it or not, something else will come up within the next few weeks. It always happens. This is tax reform or tax cuts or tax whatever you want to say. Congress messes with taxes constantly. This is not the last chance that Congress has to make tax code changes.

Another argument they use are is that somehow the fact that Sarah Palin and the teabaggers are against this plan is an argument for me to be for it. Just because I am progressive and want progressive tax programs does not mean that I am for unlimited deficits. In that case I do agree with Sarah Palin. We cannot keep on borrowing, borrowing, borrowing, letting the deficit grow exponentially and not do something about it. The only difference between us, well maybe not the only, is that I believe that our fiscal and tax policy should help the majority of Americans and not the richest one or two per cent. She thinks that helping the richest one or two per cent is sufficient. And let the the others eat cake.

So to all of those pundits I quote our former president:  "There's an old saying in Tennessee — I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can't get fooled again."