Democrats can win in 2008!

You won't usually find me writing about politics. You won't find me writing humour. You also won't find me writing about how the market is going to move this way or that. Thanks to Steve Forbes, I invented a little morsel this morning, (it is so choice!) that even Democrats should not ignore it. In fact, I believe the Dems should use my morsel (I'm offrering it free! - "extra, extra, read all about it") as their primary campaign platform in 2008, sure to give them a historical landslide victory!

As I provide the morsel, will the Dems bite? Probably not. It's too simple. It's too good! It makes too much sense, and the fight would be over before it starts. The Dems would have so many Republicans for them that you'd think the world went mad! The idea makes people so angry that they say, "why didn't I think of that?" (because silly, I thought of it first!) But remember, the experts don't get paid to find something easy. "What about the polls?", asks the expert.

These so-called "experts" research, analyze, poll, write and pontificate about what one candidate did right and what another did wrong. Recognize the past tense? Predicting the future is so difficult. Yet my morsel is so simple, so stunning, the Republicans will be screaming for the Dems to get into office.

My idea rests on the same premise as the art of Judo, where success depends upon the skill of using an opponent's own weight and strength against him, thus enabling a weak or light individual to overcome a physically superior opponent.

The day after the election in November, I flew on a 7 AM flight from Seattle to San Francisco. Never in my life had I seen so many grim faces...not since 9/11. Several people who conversed with me threatened their impending departure to another country. Others were in a funk - depressed - blue - whatever you want to call it, they were in outright disbelief.

Happy faces were nowhere to be found because the conservative voters hid their joy. (On the West coast, being conservative ain't popular). In fact on that day, in the eyes of certain of the depressed, it was considered downright anti-American to have been for President Bush. Yet he won the election, even the popular vote! Why? I don't know but it worked and the numbers clearly speak for themselves.

A friend of mine in Los Angeles said that the reason Bush won is because the American people are stupid. The American people stupid? Doubtful. Pursuadable? Absolutely! A simple idea sells, it persuades. Selling is usually about one or two main ideas. The salesperson who grapples for that one other little thing isn't looking in the right direction to win. My idea can do that for the Dems. But if the Republicans try to use it, it'll fail. You Dems wanna win? Listen up!

Bush handily won. And since that time, we've heard of new potential candidates for 2008 on both sides, including Hillary Clinton. Several pundits have said Hillary has begun to tone down her liberal message to become more center (here come those few *little* things that she *thinks* she needs to win an election). But with my idea, she can be herself because what I'm offering is a one-time opportunity for the Dems to bridge the gap; a one time opportunity for conservative Americans to compromise; a one time opportunity that even if the Republicans try to use it as a campaign platform, it won't work. Listen up, here it comes.

Sometimes ideas are difficult, and other times, they just come to you. As I said, I was reading Forbes magazine (April 18, 2005 issue) as I do every month, and Steve Forbes' "Fact and Comment" is a column where Mr. Forbes rants about mostly the politico. This month, he rants about how the U.S. economy is doing far better than many people perceive. He of course goes on to say what we can do to improve and one in particular is his comment that our "...federal income tax code remains a national disgrace..." This is the catch for Dems! Fix the system, it's a mess, and Republicans will love you for it!

It's "that time of the season" and I am once again completing my countless forms and backup information. (Hey I've been blessed by this country, and as an entreprenuer with three businesses last year, there were a few more forms than the average individual. But I'm also a little smarter than the average bear...and with my wife's help, who has her MBA!, I can usually get the taxes complete.) But this year was a complete mess. Each year for the past five or six years, the tax code has gotten worse and worse. Yes, I like paying less taxes but I also like a system that makes sense, and ours doesn't. We need to make it make sense. I cannot imagine what the average American goes through to complete their taxes. Our founding Fathers would be appalled at the lack of productivity toward good things instead of paying the Government money. Hey, I think the Government does some good things, and I'm all for paying *some* taxes but 35%??? Let's get real! I voted for only one Democratic president in my life. I tend to vote more conservative, not being a registered *anything*. Dems, want my vote back? Listen up!

Back to Forbes. A few years ago, Steve Forbes campaigned for the Republican presidential nomination and his big platform was what? THE FLAT TAX!!! I began to day-dream about the possibility of a flat tax. A flat tax would clean up our disgraceful system. A flat tax would save so much time. A flat tax would allow lawyers and accountants to focus on Sarbanes-Oxley, which none of the corporate gurus can do without the enormous help from lawyers and accountants. In short, a flat tax would be heaven. It seems but a dream. I thought, "we could never get something like that passed. The Democrats hated the idea when Forbes campaigned."

Then SNAP! Like a bird who finds out my sliding door is a window, I realized that it couldn't be passed under a Republican idea. But it could be if the Dems began it and got behind it. The Democratic party's message seems to be getting farther and farther from what average Americans want. But taxes hit right smack in the middle of the conservatives' "must haves". If the Dems ran with the flat tax as their main campaign message, and to eliminate the special interest, to eliminate the use of our tax code to incentivize this or that behavior but to allow the free market to regulate those things, it could be a landslide victory. A flat tax could also reduce the size of the IRS and our government. Republican voters will be climbing over themselves to press the "D" button!

Hey Dems, want my vote as a "no brainer" in 2008? Bring me the flat tax. Make it your MAIN campaign message. As soon as you say it, the Republican party leadership will head for the door. They will be against you. But, their people will be for you. Ah, perhaps that's how Bush won in 04'!


-Blog Editor-in-Chief