But Reagan also lowered taxes on everyone (when you take in account the expansion of the EIC), dramatically so. Obama is clearly not satisfied with the EIC, plans to increase taxes (and yes, the increases will affect everyone, directly or indirectly), and plans to undo the rule of law — undermining property rights that drive America’s economic engine — by appointing judges who decide cases on the basis of who the parties are, not what the law requires.

The net impact of Obama’s planned “redistribution” will hurt everyone. Reagan’s policies had the opposite effect, making nearly everyone better off than under Jimmy Carter, Nixon and Johnson.

Gergen: Reagan administration enacted ‘redistribution’ of wealthDavid Edwards and Muriel Kane
Published: Tuesday October 28, 2008

Senator John McCain has been attempting to appeal to voters lately by attacking Barack Obama over his plans to reduce taxes for the middle class while increasing them on the wealthiest Americans.

Political analyst David Gergen believes the Democrats ought to fight back harder than they have against these claims that Obama is a “socialist” and suggests they start by pointing out that the most esteemed Republican presidents, such as Teddy Roosevelt and Ronald Reagan, were also supporters of what McCain decries as “income redistribution.”

In a speech set for Monday, McCain asserts, “Senator Obama is running to be Redistributionist in Chief. I’m running to be Commander in Chief. Senator Obama is running to spread the wealth. I’m running to create more wealth. Senator Obama is running to punish the successful. I’m running to make everyone successful.”

When asked by CNN’s Anderson Cooper whether McCain’s attacks are working, Gergen replied, “They may be making some modest progress with it. We do see some evidence of McCain coming up a point or two here and there. I don’t think it’s anywhere near close enough to win an election.”
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Gergen suggested that the Democrats should invoke the example of Teddy Roosevelt, who was both a Republican and one of the greatest advocates of progressive taxation in the years immediately preceding the enactment of the current income tax.

Gergen also noted that the Reagan administration was responsible for enacting the Earned Income Tax Credit, an extremely successful redistribution program which returns money to the working poor.

“Sometimes they get so carried away that they don’t realize the realities of what we’ve been going through,” Gergen added. Apparently referring to McCain’s promises to “create more wealth,” he explained that “the wealth over the last 30 years has been redistributed — it’s been redistributed upwards. As we grow, the top one percent’s getting a disproportionate share.”
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CNN has a complete transcript here.

The report is at http://www.rawstory.com

Kitten? Cosmo? Cayuga? History……You were probably much too young to be aware of Reagan’s socialist/marxist tendencies, weren’t you?