One of my favorite movies of all time, and definitely my favorite movie geared towards children is called A Bugs Life. In the film, a perpetual dreamer named Flik invents a device that harvests grain (Flik is an ant) that his colony must collect for the evil grasshoppers.
Flik does not seem to be very highly regarded by the rest of his colony at the start of the film. They are focused on collecting enough food to satisfy the grasshoppers so they can then begin to pick enough food for themselves to make it through the winter. Flik's fellow ants would rather do what is safe than risk using new methods to collect food. And so the colony is amused, at best, with Flik's attempts to do it faster.
What the rest of the ant colony does not understand is that what Flik is doing is not just about getting done quicker because he is lazy. Flik is sick of the tyranny of the grasshoppers and the fear that it instills in his fellow ants. Flik wants everyone in the colony to be more free and have a better life. Some would dare to call what Flick is doing the pursuit of a dream. I call it the American Dream.
Early on in the story Flik makes a mistake that causes him to end up face-to-face with the leader of the grasshoppers (appropriately named Hopper) as the entire ant colony looks on. In the face of Hopper Flik gets scared, clams up and steps back into line. The moment when Flik steps back is a sad moment in the film but it is only the beginning of the story.
Sometimes life imitates art. And this week life definitely imitated art when a plumber from Ohio stepped forward to challenge Presidential candidate Barack Obama on the question of taxes. The man now known as "Joe The Plumber" queried the Democratic candidate on his tax plan that would raise the liability for people and small businesses earning more than $250,000 per year. During the exchange Senator Obama mentions that a tax on higher earners serves to help others by spreading the wealth around. The comment from Obama represented a rare moment of candor in what has been a amazingly long campaign.
Normally such exchanges would go unnoticed in a political campaign. There are so many of them after all. But video of the interaction became a hit on YouTube and was picked up by national TV news programs. And all of a sudden Joe from Ohio was a familiar face. The discussion about the exchange carried over to the final Presidential debate with both Senators McCain and Obama appealing to Joe. This question about raising taxes and how the money should be used undoubtedly struck a chord with the electorate and threw a monkey wrench into Senator Obama's campaign that had previously been set on cruise control.
Joe the Plumber reminds me of Flik. He's a dreamer who steps from the shadows to challenge an authority figure who wants to collect what Joe has gathered for his colony. Joe questions the wisdom of punishing financial success and stunting economic expansion via progressive tax policies. In the movie Hopper instructs Flik to get back in line. Senator Obama did no such thing. He instead gave a fine answer, that also happened to reveal something about the Senator's true beliefs about where the money earned by the successful belongs.
I'm very sure that the gravity of the situation dawned on the Obama campaign in the hours after the debate. Joe the Plumber had challenged the ideals of the campaign. And not only that. By challenging Senator Obama to his face while on camera he also showed the Senator up. These types of things aren't supposed to happen to a man preparing to take his place of honor on Pennsylvania Avenue.
I don't think it's too much of a stretch too think that the delayed reaction from the Obama campaign and the media to this situation was similar to Hopper's reaction later in A Bugs Life. Hopper has to explain to his gang, which is reluctant to return to ant island for a second time, that the grasshoppers are outnumbered by the ants. And if they let one ant stand up then all of the ants will stand up. And if all the ants stand up then the gravy train is over.
On Thursday morning the war in earnest against Joe the Plumber began. It started with Democratic Vice Presidential candidate Joe Biden asserting that he doesn't know any plumbers who make $250,000 per year. Later in the day at a rally Senator Obama mocked (to hearty laughs from the crowd) John McCain's support of Joe's views and raised the question of whether or not a plumber could earn $250,000 per year.
Media investigators also went to work, hell bent on destroying the myth of Joe the Plumber. Adhering to the highest tenets of journalistic integrity it was reported that Joe wasn't registered to vote. But Joe is registered to vote as a Republican. No matter. Then they charged that Joe doesn't really own the company and he doesn't earn $250,000 per year. The man never said he owned the company or earned that salary. He said he hoped to do both someday.
Then came the charge that Joe is not a plumber because he is listed in state records as an apprentice plumber and doesn't even belong to a union. It's evidently no matter of consequence that Joe performs the duties of a plumber on a daily basis. I also heard somewhere that you can't force a person to join a union if they don't want to be in one.
The damning evidence against Joe was finally revealed. He owes $1200 in taxes to the State of Ohio. And therein the whole truth was revealed. Joe is not an important person in this society. He's just a worker ant, dreaming his life away while cheating the government to boot. So why should we listen to him? What difference does he make? He's a joke. I guess that also means that Congressional Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel is a joke too. He's been filing false tax returns for the last decade.
In truth I know nothing more about Joe than what I've seen reported. I'm in the same boat as everyone else. But I do know that none of what has been dug up by the media to discredit Joe changes the debate about the value of increasing the taxes of those who earn more in order to pass the money to those who earn less. Just as irrelevant is the attempted marginalization of plumbers (and in effect all trade workers) by both members of the Democratic ticket.
Shouldn't any citizen be able to express a point of view on the merits of progressive taxation? After all, it was Senator Obama who walked down Joe's street. He wanted to discuss the issues with real people. It's a situation that falls into the "be careful what you wish for" category.
This is an issue of the attitude towards working people who dare speak truth to power. The media are going to do what they want. But the candidates on the other hand should know better. The mocking and laughing at Joe as a mere plumber is downright hurtful not just to one man, but to working people who feel a fear that if they speak up in an important situation that the same thing will happen to them.
I don't know if the combination of hard work and circumstances will help Joe to pay his tax lien and build the business he dreams of. But I do know that in America every voter should be treated with respect (to their face and afterwards) when they rationally express their point of view to a candidate for President. And those people shouldn't be mocked and the subject of witch hunts by the media for asking a question. Joe has been subject to both.
Some in the media have called Joe's quest to own a business a fantasy. I don't think it is. In America people have the opportunity to elevate themselves in so many ways. Joe can do it too.
The courage of the Flik character in A Bug's Life lead everyone in the ant colony to a greater understanding of the value of courage, freedom and entrepreneurship. I do believe that the actions of Joe are having a similar effect on many people. They're starting to think about how important it is for ordinary people to have a voice in the government. And if that's the only thing people learn from this situation then we're ahead of the game and have Joe the Plumber to thank for it.
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