The Republican members of Congress are adamantly opposed to raising taxes, they say. They have the option of approving President Obama's proposal, which will raise taxes on the top 1 percent or 2 percent, or blocking that action, which will result in raising the taxes of 100 percent of the population. Can they really be unaware of the inconsistency of that position?

Further, the claimed reason for protecting that 1 percent or 2 percent is that it will hurt "small business" (the long-standing definition of which is under 500 employees). I retired from running a Chamber of Commerce for 15 years, so I'm quite familiar with "small business." The overwhelming majority of these businesses have employees numbering in the single digits to dozens, not hundreds. President Obama's statement that his proposal will exempt 97 percent of "small business" from additional taxes is right in the ball park from my experience. Besides, it's these really small businesses that add employees, rather than sending jobs overseas.