Short Stories, Long Odds

I was out at my mother’s place last weekend to celebrate my brother’s birthday, and my uncles were there too. They are an excellent set of guys (and I mean set - when all are represented, the number is nine) but they like to rag on me hardcore for my politics. When they found out I was working for the Democratic Party, it was like party time.

They told me about how great it was to listen to Rush Limbaugh and how smart he is. They were just kidding. Later on, they were not just kidding when they asked me about John Kerry’s tax return.

“Hey Josh,” said Uncle Scott, “how come Kerry makes a bunch of money but he only paid like 7 million dollars in taxes over the last few years, and his wife paid not much more even though she’s like a billionaire?”

“Well,” I said, “why do you think the rich people pay less taxes proportionately than regular people do?”

Uncle Joe says “Because those liberals find ways around it!”

I said “No, rich people have a way around it and just pay less taxes to begin with because of Bush’s tax cuts, because of years of pro-business, pro-rich Republican economic policy.”

Quiet for a minute, and then “Pssshhh! Come on, really! Tell us the real reason!”

Me: ::Sighs::