Tax and Spend
I don't know who Christopher Hayes is, but The Nation jumped into the deep end (if they weren't already circling the pool drain) by publishing his article. Excerpt:
Over the past six years, Republicans have succeeded in de-linking taxes from the public services and social programs they pay for. It is the job of Democrats, particularly the presidential candidates who will have the largest platform, to re-establish that connection in voters' minds. John Edwards has the right idea on this score. He has proposed a fairly ambitious universal healthcare plan and says he'll push to raise taxes in order to help pay for it. "We're asking everybody to share in the responsibility of making healthcare work in this country," he says.
There's a phrase to describe this approach, and it will likely strike terror in the hearts of those Democrats who still carry the battle scars from tax-revolt skirmishes: tax and spend. Yes, that's become a toxic phrase in American political life, but after six years of tax cuts for the wealthy and an extortionate war, we might just have arrived at a moment when good old-fashioned tax and spend doesn't seem like such a bad idea.
