And speaking of checks, since that minority does have money, to enact change we simply need the will to not contribute to any candidate who won't give us the change we want. The government as a structure built from documents cannot withstand legislatures and a President aligned for a common goal, even the Supreme Court must give way to the ability to Amend.

Yeah. One good benefit out of not having 'meaningful reforms' in place. Great article, Bob. And telling — raising taxes has nothing but deleterious effects on all of society, across the board. It hurts the business men, large and small, it hurts the home owner, it hurts the poor. If the gov't wants higher revenues for them to play with, they should lift a page from Reagan's book and LOWER taxes across the board. Reagan lowered taxes and nearly doubled revenues, by boosting the economy — the natural way to stimulate the workforce of a nation. Democrats who doubt this should read what their hero John F. Kennedy had to say about taxes. Lowering taxes stimulates economic growth. What part of that is so hard for the Obama administration to understand?

As for coming from the people, the problem is that a minority percentage of the population shoulders the tax burden. The majority of the population has no desire to change that. This clearly demonstrates the inherent flaw in a progressive tax structure: it allows the majority to tax the minority as much as it wants and the minority is powerless to stop it.