As I’ve written before, you don’t often hear liberals base their economic arguments on moral concepts. For instance, consider the recent battle between Republicans and Democrats over taxes and the federal deficit. President Barack Obama has proposed normalizing taxes on the wealthy. Republicans have charged that Obama is promoting “class warfare.” Obama’s answer: my proposals are “just math.”

Turns out I’m not alone in thinking this sort of response is a major problem. Here’s Robert Reich writing in the Christian Science Monitor:

We’re in the worst economy since the Great Depression — with lower-income families and kids are bearing the worst of it — and what are Republicans doing? Cutting programs Americans desperately need to get through it. …

[Obama’s deficit reduction plan is] more than math. It’s a matter of morality.

Republicans have posed the deepest moral question of any society: whether we’re all in it together. Their answer is we’re not.

President Obama should proclaim, loudly and clearly, we are.

You can read the rest here.