About a week ago Barack Obama was campaigning door to door in a suburb of Toledo, Ohio. Little did he know that he would soon meet a common plumber who would possibly turn the entire presidential race around.
Meet “Joe the Plumber.” Joe is Joe Wurzelbacher, a 34 year old, plumbing contractor. He was outside playing football with his son in his Holland neighborhood of Toledo when Obama made an unexpected appearance. Joe took the opportunity to ask Obama a few questions. He asked Obama how his tax policy would affect him if he bought the $250-270,000 plumbing business he was planning to acquire. Obama responded by saying his taxes would go up, but that it was fair since he would be helping to “spread the wealth” around to others! This disturbing comment began to circulate in the media, and a few days later, it became a fixture in the presidential debate when Obama and McCain mentioned him 23 times!
Joe has definitely struck a nerve. It’s funny how these things seem to pop up from nowhere every voting cycle. There was “Willy Horton,” “Read My Lips,” “Swift Boaters” and now this! Millions of dollars are spent every presidential election on intricate political platforms and slick marketing profiles, but invariably, it comes down to some unplanned, symbolic thing like this, that always sways the election.
Joe wasn’t too happy with Obama’s answer. In a host of interviews following this event, Joe explained why. It seems Joe is tired of people running down our country and proposing what he sees as Socialist policies. McCain echoed Joe’s concern during the debate, and now on the stump, by repeating Joe’s view of the American Dream. In Joe and McCain’s world, Americans are allowed to succeed to the extent that their God-given talent and hard work allows. They shouldn’t have to be punished for higher achievement by getting hit with higher taxes. In true Marxist fashion, Obama sees economic success as an opportunity to confiscate and redistribute more wealth: “from each according to his ability, to each according to his needs.”
Joe the Plumber doesn’t want “another set of parents” in the government that has the power to force him to surrender some of his hard-earned profits. In that sentiment, he harkens back to the old, pioneer spirit of Rugged Individualism that built this country. It’s hard not to root for Joe. Progressive Taxation smacks of an un-American principle of punishing achievement. One’s Property Rights shouldn’t automatically decrease just because more property is earned! Who does the wealth belong to anyway: the person who earned it, or the government? And, who can spend that wealth more wisely: Obama and his “spread” machine, or Joe the Plumber. My money’s on Joe!
In an interview posted on the internet, Joe explained how he’s tired of folks “apologizing for America.” He said, “I’m not sorry for being an American. I’m not sorry for the things I have. I have worked hard for them.” He added, “We are the greatest country in the world. People downing America upsets me.” It’s clear his opinions lean to the Right, and it took no time for the Mainstream Media to figure this out. Within hours, several news agencies began critical investigations into Joe’s past examining his- plumbing license, tax returns, outstanding traffic tickets and voter registration, among other things! It’s really shameful that the Media can find so many resources to investigate this innocent by-stander, yet offer no scrutiny at all regarding Barack Obama.
When asked if he had a main issue, Joe related his frustration with the reporting on the Iraq War. He said, “I’m not sorry that we’re in Iraq. We’ve done an incredible thing there, liberating a country and giving them freedom. My friends who’ve served there tell me how much the Iraqi people appreciate us and thank us, but it doesn’t get enough play here. I’m proud of what we’ve done there, and it’s kept us safe!”
Joe the Plumber may end-up being like the character Kevin Costner played in the recent movie “Swing Vote.” Bud Johnson had a failed vote cast by his conniving daughter as result of the power going off before completing the process. The presidential election was a tie, and Johnson had the power in a special run-off election to pick the President. Of course, it was an absurd notion—about as absurd as this year’s Joe the Plumber!
(send comments to WFC83197@aol.com, or mail to POB 114, Jacksboro, TN 37757. see this and other columns at: ontherighttrack.blogspot.com)
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