I wish we had a vaccination against commonly used PROPAGANDA. The term propaganda, by the way, went out of favor due to its negative image after WWI, and instead Freud’s nephew Edward Bernays became the “father of PUBLIC RELATIONS.” Nice bit of propaganda right there.
The November 2026 election will have a trio of propositions beginning with tax-the-rich Prop 40, the “Billionaire Tax” and followed by two anti-tax-the-rich Propositions 41 and 42. I should add that Prop 43 is also anti-tax-the-rich. My personal recommendation is YES on 40, and NO NO NO on 41, 42, and 43.
THE EFFECTS OF NOT TAXING THE RICH
These effects can be seen and experienced every day. Unfortunately the adverse effects have been around for so long they seem normal, and seem not to be related to not taxing the rich, for example, high sales taxes, high tuition, difficulty for first-time home buyers, reduced hours for libraries and other public facilities, not to mention high parking fees and deep potholes.
Some quality-of-life matters have been handled better by other places that are much less wealthy but levy higher taxes than the US or California. The benefits include healthcare for everyone, no student debt, housing for everyone, cheap frequent comfortable mass transportation, financial safety nets, childcare, and vacation time.
WATCH OUT for valid-sounding PROPOSITION PROPAGANDA!!!
They know how to get to you. (Who are “they”? Choose your term: the 1%, the 0.1%, super-rich, oligarchy, donor class, billionaires.) They have virtually unlimited resources to craft and disseminate their messages. Focus groups are used to find out what moves people.
Within two decades not taxing the rich has increased the number of CA billionaires from about 90 to over 200. To work your way up to $1B you need a full-time wage of $10,000 an hour from age 20 to age 70, and you need to tighten your belt and only live on $800,000 a year. Hard to believe? Do the math.
Below is a list of some Proposition Propaganda to watch out for, summarized from some of the opposition messages. BUT FIRST! Very importantly, they often say they do agree with taxing the rich, of course, but this particular bill is…
— “flawed” (otherwise they would definitely support it. Do you believe that?)
— “not the right jurisdiction, should be federal,” (Gavin, what are the chances?) “not state”
— “will be applied to you, even though you are not a billionaire”
— “will scare off innovation” (like AI)
— “one-time tax ‘scheme’ not a sustainable budget item” (so why did Jerry Brown insist that the 2012 Millionaire’s Tax should be temporary not permanent?)
— “does nothing to lower healthcare costs” (good point, a system like single payer would lower costs and increase access)
— “would be good, but not the right time” (meanwhile Democratic Party leadership in Sacramento halted implementing single-payer healthcare with lower healthcare costs for 16 years even when there were campaign promises and budget surpluses and pandemics with people losing jobs and healthcare benefits)
— “no safeguards, no accountability, no transparency”
— “does not provide funding for our sector (teachers, firefighters, sheriffs)” (Trump slashed healthcare funding to pay for billionaire tax breaks, this addresses those deadly healthcare cutbacks. I still want to know why the California Lottery has only made many despairing people poorer and not saved our schools???)
— “will drive affluent residents and tax bases to move out” (apparently we’ve already lost Elon Musk, Google co-founder Larry Page and Oracle founder Larry Ellison; do you miss them? Did they pay their fair share in taxes while they were here?)
The above is not an exhaustive list (though this might be an exhausted blogger!). Watch for other bits, send them along to me as you find them.
A quote by Malcolm X, “If you’re not careful, the newspapers will have you hating the people who are being oppressed, and loving the people who are doing the oppressing.”
NOTES
As a Latin America solidarity activist, I am reminded of the perpetual propaganda about other countries. It can sway you even though you oppose lethal sanctions, kidnappings and bombings by the US government (unfortunately that opposition tends to weaken when it’s one’s own party that’s taking the actions). The propaganda sways people into thinking that after all, the foreign government was a dictatorship; involved in human rights abuses; restricting freedom of the press; oppressing various groups of people; committing electoral fraud; not a democracy; harboring terrorists; drug-trafficking; and what propaganda did I miss?
Benefits provided by other less wealthy countries. See the well-done documentary Where to Invade Next, in which filmmaker Michael Moore visited:
Italy: Explored worker benefits like generous paid vacation and two-hour lunches.
France: Examined public school cafeteria meals and sex education.
Finland: Looked at their top-tier education system.
Tunisia: Looked at women’s rights and progressive policies.
Slovenia: Explored free university tuition.
Germany: Visited a pencil factory and reviewed worker representation/industrial policy.
Portugal: Looked at drug decriminalization policies.
Norway: Examined their humane prison and penal system.
Iceland: Highlighted women in leadership and government.