Conservative ideology is based on protecting rich people from having to pay for the benefits they reap from government: peace at home, government contracts, stable markets, laws, infrastructure, an educated work force, research, potable water, public health, etc.

Many corporations (including Boeing, Microsoft, Apple, and GE) pay little or no state or federal taxes; they shift income overseas, or to low-tax states.

Conservatives wasted trillions on corrupt, disastrous wars and weaponry, but don’t want to pay for it. Conservatives are happy to pay subsidies to corporate farmers and Big Oil, but they’re eager to cut food stamps, crush unions, blame teachers, dismantle public transit, deny science, and restrict the vote.

They won’t raise the minimum wage so the working class can earn a living wage. In Washington state the poor and the middle class pay a higher percent of their income in state taxes than do the rich, because of our regressive sales tax. Hence wealth and power concentrate in fewer hands.

Don Smith, Bellevue