Joe the Plumber has gotten a taste of what happens when you stick your neck out. The mainstream media wasted no time in digging up details on his divorce, back taxes, drivers record, licensure and other personal details — a quick slap upside the head to show him who’s running the show. Average Americans should take notice: this is the shape of things to come. Productive Americans who question the liberal orthodoxy will be called out, their lives examined, their sanity questioned and their personal well-being jeopardized. From here it’s only a short step to interrogations, searches and seizures. Ask anyone who lived through the Stalinist era what that knock on the door in the middle of the night means.

Let’s say you’re brave or foolish enough to confront a Democratic candidate on the issues and ask something as straightforward as why you’re penalized for working hard and living within your means while the government burns money by the truckload. And then let’s assume the candidate gives you an answer that clearly telegraphs his real plans for people like you. And silly you doesn’t like what you’ve heard, so you exercise your First Amendment right to say so. Obviously, the candidate can’t retract his statement; it’s been recorded and replayed. So, the propaganda machine backing this Democratic candidate (which would be the entire media universe with a few small exceptions) must destroy you in order to create a diversion. By tar and feathering you, they hope to dissemble the candidate’s response to your rather straightforward question and even dissemble the question itself. By destroying the person, they hope to destroy the question.

By quelling dissent, the socialists hope to slip a noose around the neck of every productive American in order to bring them to heel. But don’t worry, the noose is only temporary. It will be quickly replaced with a yoke so that productive Americans can spend the rest of their lives in servitude, feeding the engines of a massive socialist state ruled by a permanently installed, unaccountable elite. Stalin would be proud.

Our man Joe has verbalized the angst of productive Americans across the country: Why are we bothering to work so hard if the rewards are taken away before the ink on the check is dry? Barack Obama’s intent was made very clear in his brief exchange with our intrepid plumber — don’t even try. Just lay back and let the government take care of you. Obama wasn’t speaking to Joe. He was speaking to his constituents who eagerly await the day when they can get even more for doing even less. Obama doesn’t know how to speak to Joe because Obama doesn’t understand how business is grown, how wealth is created, or what it takes in terms of risk and sacrifice to do so. He is so steeped in Marxist philosophy that the simplest of business concepts is beyond his comprehension.

Joe understands that every increase in income tax, either for himself or his business, delays his ability to hire another employee, which in turn prevents the business from growing. Joe also understands that he has to pay tax on any profit before he can plow that money back into the business. Therefore, the higher the tax rate, the less money to be put back into the business. Joe isn’t putting the money in his pocket. He’s trying to build a business by reinvesting in it. That’s how small business are bootstrapped from nothing. If the business does well, Joe and his family do well. If the business suffers, Joe still pays his employees and still pays his bills, but he and his family make sacrifices. If Joe is willing to take the risk, put his money on the line, work day and night, he should be given the chance to smell success. After all, very few small businesses succeeed, and it’s not for lack of trying. But, Americans continue to try, starting thousands of new businesses each year.

Sen. Obama doesn’t grasp this. He wants to take Joe’s reinvestment money and hand it out to whomever the Gang of Three (Obama, Pelosi, Reid) thinks will vote their way. Yes, it’s that simple. The Gang of Three will make sure that any new spending will be directed toward maximizing their political power and growing their voting bloc. They are the champions and enablers of redistribution. Joe the Plumber called it: We will slip into socialism when the Gang of Three takes power, should Obama capture the presidency. The parasites will celebrate.