I am not Joe the Plumber
As we enter the final days before the Tuesday, November 4th elections, I am flabbergasted at how brainwashed the voting public has become. Case in point: Joe the Plumber. Now I realize that stories about real people or situations make arguments more persuasive. That's why I try to work in as many real-life examples into my recruiting webinars and other presentations as possible. But the stories should make sense, shouldn't they? And if they don't make sense, then shouldn't the story teller suffer for failing to respect their audience?
The latest example is the use by the McCain campaign of Joe (the Plumber) Wurzelbacher, the plumber who reportedly isn't licensed as a plumber, has unpaid back taxes, and thinks that it is un-American to "spread the wealth." Give me a break. Spreading the wealth has always been part of the American way, as it is in every other nation and community. Humans and many animals "spread the wealth" in every society because doing so makes us all better off. We "spread the wealth" when we pay taxes to fund schools, roads, police, fire, military, and every other function of government. We "spread the wealth" when we use governmental services. We "spread the wealth" in our places of work as some days we are more productive than those around us and other days they are more productive than are we. We "spread the wealth" in our families, as seen in families where one spouse is the primary moneymaker while the other primarily takes care of raising the kids.
To claim that "spreading the wealth" is the death of small businesses is, pardon my French, total crap. I am a small business owner and have been one since 1991. I have voted Republican more often than I've voted Democrat or Independent and plan to vote for Republicans, Democrats, and an Independent next Tuesday. So don't read this blog article and think to yourself that this guy is a die hard Democrat and he's only bashing the Joe the Plumber story because it is coming from the McCain campaign. But do read this blog article and hear the frustration of a small business owner who is tired of those in politics claiming to understand our needs and wants. They don't and we don't expect them to. We don't expect our friends or family members to either. Unless you've run your own small business, you can't possibly understand the good, the bad, and the ugly inherent in doing so. But every small business owner that I know understands that many times during the day we receive more than we give and many times during the day we give more than we receive...and we're fine with that.
It is not un-American to "spread the wealth." What is un-American is to have such little respect for the intellect of American voters that you would even think that "spreading the wealth" is un-American let alone voice such nonsense let alone use it as the cornerstone of a political campaign. John McCain, I think you're a great guy and the country could do a lot worse than having you in the White House for the next four years. But show some respect and admit that you and your advisors are so desperate that you made a serious error in judgment in making this "spread the wealth" argument.
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