Midway through this summer, a high-quality poll found that Democrats in California were overwhelmingly in favor of the upcoming ballot measure for a one-time 5% tax on billionaire wealth.
asserted
Democrats → find → wealth
But the state’s most powerful Democrats – including the governor Gavin Newsom, his near-certain successor Xavier Becerra and the Los Angeles mayor Karen Bass – have lined up with Silicon Valley billionaires who’ve raised upward of $340m to defeat the initiative.
asserted
who → include → initiative
While Newsom has led the charge against the measure, most Democratic leaders in the deep-blue state have opted to duck.
asserted
leaders → lead → state
California’s senators Alex Padilla and Adam Schiff have stayed mum on Proposition 40.
asserted
senators → stay → Proposition
“Neither wants to alienate wealthy donors or their allies in labor by publicly opposing it,” the San Francisco Chronicle noted in mid-October.
asserted
Chronicle → want → October
“But their silence on such a high-profile measure is giving cover to the billionaires” fighting the measure.
asserted
silence → give → measure
Nine-tenths of the billionaire tax revenue from Proposition 40 would go to healthcare for Californians in need.
asserted
tenths → go → need
As the New York Times reported this month, “California stands to lose around $100 billion in federal Medicaid funding over the next five years, threatening healthcare coverage for millions of low-income residents, as well as the potential closure of hospitals and other facilities.”
asserted
California → report → hospitals
With so much at stake in human terms, refusal to back Proposition 40 runs directly counter to standard rhetoric from Democratic politicians about standing up to the ultra-wealthy on behalf of the disadvantaged.
asserted
refusal → back → disadvantaged
The stance of Newsom and other Democratic heavyweights in the state puts them on the side of billionaires in ongoing class war.
asserted
stance → put → war
The effect is that party leaders are offering a kinder, gentler oligarchy as an alternative to the far more corrupt Trumpist version.
asserted
leaders → offer → version
Overall, a semblance of party unity has taken hold with the midterm elections looming.
asserted
elections → take → hold
But clashes between corporate Democrats and progressives will soon begin to escalate.
asserted
clashes → begin → Democrats
The fact that the most prominent Democrats in the country’s most populous state are at loggerheads with the party’s grassroots on Prop 40 is a bad sign, but it’s hardly an anomaly.
asserted
it → ’ → Prop
Every time a general election nears, party leaders fervently call for a huge turnout – but their disconnect from the party’s base discourages turnout.
asserted
disconnect → near → turnout
California’s billionaire tax proposal is unprecedented, but the response to it from Democratic party elites is part of a pattern that has undermined capacities to build populist momentum against Republicans, let alone advance progressive agendas favored by voters.
asserted
that → undermine → voters
Now being vilified by an onslaught of attack ads, Proposition 40 might get buried under the avalanche of billionaire cash (with nearly half coming from the Google co-founder Sergey Brin).
uncertain
half → vilify → -
The proposal’s foes have out-fundraised supporters by nearly 10-1.
asserted
foes → fundraise → 10
But whatever the election’s outcome is on 3 November, campaigning to tax the wealth of the country’s nearly 1,000 billionaires has enormous potential nationwide.
asserted
campaigning → campaign → potential
In early August, the California Democratic Party executive board, hardly a bastion of class struggle, voted to give the party’s endorsement to Prop 40.
asserted
board → vote → Prop
But, undeterred, Newsom has gone all-out to fight the billionaire tax proposal as well as to boost another ballot measure that would nullify any such tax.
asserted
that → go → tax
When I contacted a former chair of the state party’s Progressive Caucus, he was matter-of-fact about the alliance of big tech moguls with the current and next governor.
asserted
he → contact → governor
“When it comes to Newsom and Becerra opposing the billionaire tax,” said Amar Shergill, a Sacramento-based attorney, “you need know only two things.
asserted
you → come → things
First, Newsom needs billionaire money for his presidential campaign.
asserted
Newsom → need → campaign
Second, Becerra needs to pay back the billionaires that made him governor.
asserted
him → need → billionaires
Newsom became governor in 2019, following Jerry Brown’s second eight-year stretch in the job.
asserted
Newsom → become → job
His unique style aside, Brown has long been a kind of prototype for the state’s Democratic leadership now typified by Newsom.
asserted
Brown → typify → Newsom
“The way you have to approach the political process is something like piloting a canoe,” Brown said in 1979 during his first stint as governor.
asserted
Brown → have → governor
He explained: “If you paddle a little bit on the left side, then you paddle a little bit on the right side, you keep going right down the middle.
asserted
you → explain → middle
This year, Brown has stayed out of the battle over Proposition 40.
asserted
Brown → stay → Proposition
In late October, when I emailed the former governor to ask whether he supports it, he replied: “I have not discussed the proposition.
asserted
I → email → proposition
Weeks ago, during a BBC interview, Brown lamented: “The gains for those who succeed at the top are getting bigger and richer, and the sustenance at the bottom and the middle is getting less and less.”
asserted
sustenance → lament → bottom
He added: “We obviously need a wealth tax.
asserted
We → add → tax
If Tesla wants to give Elon Musk a trillion dollars over 10 years, then the people have to take back 99% of it.
asserted
people → want → it
Now, can you get that?
asserted
you → get → that
Can you get it in one state?
asserted
you → get → state
No, that would not work.
asserted
that → work → ?
Can you get it in one country?
asserted
you → get → country
So it would take an international agreement to tax the very wealthy, so that you can’t accumulate at the level that they are today.”
asserted
they → take → level
Brown and Newsom share a fondness for voicing lofty principles while kicking them very far down the road, tacitly equating deference to corporate power with realism.
asserted
Brown → share → realism
…and 16 more, not listed.
The Aporia
