— You’re going to hear many arguments between now and November as conservative elitists and tea party thugs try and put lipstick on a pig. You’ll probably hear “poor people can’t hire anybody”, yet here in Oklahoma, every elected Republican owes their jobs to misinformed, religiously brainwashed, mostly poor folks. They also enjoy taxpayer-funded health care which they then deny to the very people who vote them in.

You’ll probably hear about “entitlements” like Social Security and Medicare and how we have to destroy them to save them. But you’ll never hear about rich people’s entitlements, like how they believe they shouldn’t pay a dime in taxes, their corrupt businesses should never be regulated and polluters can continue to destroy our environment.

Corporate America believes they’re entitled to enormous salaries and ever increasing profits. To maintain those, they raise prices on products consumers need, when those consumers’ wages have been stagnant. It wouldn’t hurt corporate executives one bit to take salary cuts, but the “job creators” continue to rape and pillage.

Between $21 and $35 trillion is sitting in offshore tax havens right now by rich elitists who consider themselves gods. One of those gods is trying to become president. The majority of jobs are created by small businesses and start-ups, not the “job creators” who’d receive the bulk of proposed tax cuts. They’re sitting on $3 trillion and refusing to hire anyone until their demands are met. That’s extortion, and they and their Repugnican lackeys should be charged with treason.

You’ll likely hear about “class warfare” and “class envy.” These are terms conservatives drag out every time they’re afraid they’re going to have to pay more taxes. They’re used to try to shame poor people into thinking they’re asking for too much when facts are presented showing the gap between rich and poor has never been greater. The rich have been waging class warfare for three decades, and they’re winning.

These assaults on the poor and middle class must end by telling these uber-wealthy crybabies it’s time to pay up.

LARRY PARSONS

Warner