JON OSSOFF AND THE CLUB FOR GROWTH PLEDGE

   

   
Dunwoody, GA, 6th Congressional District.  
     To call the Club for Growth a Think Tank would be to deny them of a far greater influence than they deserve.  This powerful right-wing, neoliberal powerhouse rivals the NRA and ALEC for influence on the American Political System.  One of it's most terrifying (for Legislators) dictates goes something like this:  You will pledge to NEVER vote for Income tax increases, or we will put you out of business.
     Here's how their website describes the Club for Growth:
 "the leading free-enterprise advocacy group in the nation, we win tough battles and we have an enormous influence on economic policy.  The Club for Growth is the only organization that is willing and able to take on any Member of Congress on policy who fails to uphold basic economic conservative principles…regardless of party.  We pinpoint key bills up for debate in Congress.  We exert maximum pressure on lawmakers to vote like free-market, limited government conservatives.  And if they don’t, we hold them accountable by publicizing their voting record."

     Did Jon Ossoff take their pledge?  Or is he just responding to the fearsome influence of the dictates of this group and who they represent by pledging not to raise income taxes on the top income brackets?

      I know most progressives in Georgia, including many, if not all stalwart Bernicrats in Georgia  want Ossoff to beat Handel. I do as well. He's a decent candidate. His depiction of Handel is accurate.   We sure could use a more moderate voice in that seat than Karen Handel.

     But there may be a downside to putting a lot of effort into a thoroughly centrist candidate like Ossoff.

     In yesterday's debate on WABE, Ossoff revealed he would not raise income tax rates. 

     

     Put in a corner by WABE moderator Dennis O'Hayer (who unfairly painted calls for tax increases as being definitely pegged to include people making less than 100,000), Ossoff clearly pledged against raising income taxes on the highest income bracket.  

     Here's how that went:

"WABE MODERATOR O'HAYER:  How can you address the long term debt and those deficits without looking at the revenue side?  You have talked about tax cuts for small and medium sized businesses.  But if you win, you’re going to join a House Democratic Congress, where many members have called for increasing individual income taxes on folks in the top income bracket.  Now according to the census bureau the median income in the 6^th district in 2015 was nearly 83900, so that would certainly effect some of those folks.  Would you support a higher tax rate for upper income Americans as many Democrats in the House do?

OSSOFF:  No.  I don’t support any increase in income tax rates.  What I support is a serious approach to tackling wasteful spending; and then setting the right priorities, like infrastructure, research, and higher education."

     To me, that makes him a variety of Republican light, because ultimately if the left won't correct the massive giveaways to the rich that having been coming down the pike since the Reagan era, the result will be more or less printing more money to fix the deficit.  That will of course hurt the poor and the middle class.        It's why I don't want a Republican light candidate, I want a Progressive candidate who isn't going to be a Trojan Horse (like Cory Booker on Big Pharma) when it comes to balancing the budget time, siding with the GOP against raising taxes on the wealthy. 

     I don't know if the Democrats should have their version of the "CLUB FOR GROWTH" pledge, but they sure as shit shouldn't be really happy about Democrats who are taking the GOP pledge against raising taxes on the wealthy.

  If I lived in the district, I'd vote for Jon.  I know progressives have been working their Oss Off for this guy, and there is good reason for him to win.  But here's the rub:  Unity Punch.   The trouble with drinking Unity Punch is when it makes ordinarily Passionate Progressives, who are strong on fighting for the working class and the poor, water down their approach in order to not be offensive to centrists who don't agree with them.

     So if you are a stalwart Progressive,go out and vote and work your Oss Off for Jon Ossoff, but don't let that Unity Punch water down your positions.  Just because Ossoff feels he can't support increasing taxes on the wealthy doesn't mean the rest of us can't.   If we are going to fight for the poor and middle class, the rich are going to have to pay their share, and a Fair Tax should include taking the limit off the Social Security cap, making capital gains equal to real income, indexing property taxes to income, and yes, Jon Ossoff notwithstanding, raising income taxes on the top brackets who can afford to pay it, that is people making above something like 150,000 a year or so. 

      I don't know the exact numbers that would keep from squeezing the higher end of the middle class.  I don't think the Democrats should squeeze the Upper Middle Class.   But the higher ends of of our wealthy must pay back what they robbed from the national treasure since the Reagan era.  And Jon Ossoff isn't committed to that, apparently.