Yesterday, a middle-aged white woman boarded the number 9 bus and handed out flyers about voting yes on Proposition 1 (the proposition will raise a number of taxes and fees to save a large chunk of our bus system). All passengers accepted the flyers, which were funded by the Transit Riders Union, except one middle-aged white woman, who said with a loud voice that she had already voted no on the proposition. Why? Because, she explained (increasing the volume of her voice even more), we need to tax the rich and not us. "Tax the rich!"

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The problem with this logic is that the rich have already won. They have beaten the game and are long gone. (Indeed, this is the very reason we are in this ridiculous situation.) So if we do not tax ourselves, then what ever public services there are will certainly perish due to the fact that none of them could survive the long wait for a politics that recaptures the civil participation of the rich.