Thanks to Joe the Plumber, the battle between Obama and McCain came down to one of basic economic philosophy: whether our tax system should be used to "spread the wealth," which the McCain-Palin-Plumber ticket call "socialism." That battle is now over and "spread the wealth" won.

Of course "spreading the wealth" through the tax system isn't remotely like socialism, which requires government ownership of industry. George Bush has given us that, but only for failed companies - that mutant version of socialism is called "lemon socialism."

If "socialism" is a European word, there's a red-white-and-blue American word for "spreading the wealth" through taxes - Progressivism. And if Obama wins, he will have a mandate for strong progressive policies. Here's Bill O'Reilly complaining to Newt Gingrich:

But let's face it. We've had three debates and McCain has made that point over and over again. That his policies of tax cutting are better than redistribution policies of Obama. But the public hasn't bought it.

 As David Sirota writes,

Thanks to McCain's polarizing economic message, millions of Americans will now walk into that voting booth with a very crystal clear question in mind: Do we vote for the deregulatory, free-market fundamentalism of business tax cuts, corporate welfare and everyone-for-themselves health care policies that McCain says is needed right now? Or do we vote against that, and for something McCain insists is very, very different? Yes, many people will cast a ballot thinking they are making a choice between Reaganism and socialism. After all, the latest CBS/New York Times poll shows Americans already see the race in these terms. And therefore, if Obama wins, it will be a huge rejection of Reaganism, a huge declaration that demonizing the Left with the argot of Soviet communism no longer works, and a huge endorsement of 21st century progressive economics, only years (or really, months!) removed from an era where if you even uttered the word "inequality," you were billed as a communist and written out of the debate by the media and political Establishment.

That's quite a change from the ideology of the past 28 years, all because of Joe the Plumber. Thanks a (quarter) million, Joe!