The President's deficit-cutting proposal has been met with faux outrage by conservatives. Many conservative politicians and pundits have accused President Obama of fomenting class warfare. That is complete nonsense. I think about two news items I heard within a few days of each other in July. The first indicated that summer camp administrators had noticed that there was a significant increase in the use of private jets by their wealthy campers. The second item reported the same week in the New York Times stated that many families were no longer able to "splurge" at dollar stores due to the recession. When these two stories were reported I heard not one peep of outrage about class. Warfare has been waged by the wealthiest on the middle and working classes throughout history. And for the past 30 years in the United States, they have used campaign cash to win almost every battle. Enough! I think the president's proposal should be a starting point. My own position is that we need to fix the capital gains tax so that speculation (or more accurately high-stakes gambling) is not confused with investment. I also acknowledge that the entire budget process reflects priorities. Our elected representatives need to use the budget to get people back to work, educate our children for a sound future, and protect our environment. Our budget does not need to reflect the priorities of only those who make thousands of dollars of campaign contributions.