One of the main, if not the main, campaign theme of extreme left Dem. Tammy Baldwin of Wisconsin, my state, who was just elected senator defeating popular ex-gov Tommy Thompson was that the rich don't pay their fair share. Millions of idiots believed that twaddle, and she coasted to an easy victory. Never underestimate the public's capacity for gullibility and stupidity.
The GOP has dropped the ball so many times I can't even count them. Never once have I seen the GOP say: "The top 10% of the income earners in this country foot 71% of the federal tax bill, while the lower 51% of the people pay no taxes. If it's a 'fair share' you want, cut the taxes on the rich by 80% and start taxing the poor at 20%." To me, if you don't pay federal income taxes, you don't have anything in the game and shouldn't even be allowed to vote in federal elections.
Liberal policies and prosperity are mutual exclusives.
You cannot support a progressive agenda, and also make a statement you are in favor of supporting the “middle class” at the same time. The very wealthy have all kinds of means of protecting their life of continued privilege, and any program that is supposed to support the the very poor, comes only at the expense of those closest to their existing economic status. The very poor take from those who are merely poor, and the merely poor take from those who are considered to be “middle class”, not by any means raising the very poorest, but only leveling the average downward. Thus, the gradual disappearance of what was once known as the “middle class”.
By defining the very lowest economic class as “middle class”, well, then, the liberal agenda certainly does defend the “middle class”. (Or is that “muddle class”?)