The introduction of the Cheney impeachment resolution yesterday got me thinking about the American people. We are not so different from people the world over - we all want fairness. We want fairness when we go to the market... We are willing to pay a fair price for a good product, and know that if we go for cheap, we often end up with cheap disposable crap. However, if we go for the good stuff and we don't get what we paid for, we feel cheated and get angry.

In Nov 2006, the voting public went to the polls and kicked out the Republicans in impressive numbers. We were told (and sold) on the idea that the Democratic product was different... better, than the Republican product. The Democrats were coming to town, kicking ass and taking names. The war was going to be over, and a new day was dawning in DC...

Except - that didn't happen.

What we got was more of the same talk, and nothing to back it up. We got a used-car salesman telling us that the rusty hole in the roof was a sunroof. We opened the package to find out that the batteries weren't included (nor spines, apparently).

The kicker was the Democratic house leadership trying to kill a well-deserved impeachment resolution for a vice-president with approval ratings in the single-digits. The rationale? There are more important matters at hand. I wonder what matters those might be? Giving Bush everything he requests for the occupation of Iraq? Failing to override the SCHIP veto? Americans are pissed and we have an extremely low opinion of Congress to prove it.

So what do people do when they feel they've been cheated? They demand a refund. How does that work in politics? Two ways:

1) They vote for someone else.
2) They try to get their money back.

Hmm... Okay - so how does #2 work? The phrase that I keep overhearing people mentioning is "Fair Tax". :thud:

Like a Perfect Storm, there is a convergence of things that could be very dangerous for the Left come November 2008. First, the aforementioned dissatisfaction with politicians. Second, is the Republican tactic of putting referendums on the ballot to draw "their kind of" voters to the poll. Third, is the appeal of the idea of the Fair Tax.

There is a strong push to put the Fair Tax up as referendum all across the country. Of course, the referendum means nothing. The IRS and the income tax will never be replaced by a consumption tax. But it WILL draw disaffected voters to the polls, and they are likely to vote for Republicans. Meanwhile, pissed off Democrats will stay home or vote 3rd party. The end-result is all too frightening.

Therefore, it is incumbent on all of us to learn about the holes in the Fair Tax so that its easy to explain why the math doesn't work, and why "taking home all of your pay" disguises the truth that you won't have increased spending power. This article explains pretty simply how taking money out of the left hand pocket and putting it in the right doesn't mean you end up with more money in your pockets.

Keep an eye out for this - like the Gay Ammendment referendum in 2004, it could be the stealth tactic to swing the vote to the right.