You'd rather read about lol cats

Why do so many even relatively sentient beings buy bullshit like the "double taxation" propoganda that gets trotted out in discussions of the Estate Tax and why so few of those same beings understand the notion of "marginal rates?" Well, it's not all that difficult to understand why conservatives own message platforms on such things as "the death tax" and are able to take aim at even modest health care reforms such as the tax on the so-called "Cadillac plans."

Very few of the editors and reporters covering these issues really understand them themselves and are more interested in the politics of these messages than they are in informing their listeners/readers; Republicans either buy in to their own bullshit or have no reluctance to pass on stuff they know is bullshit; and Democrats just don't want to talk about taxes of any kind and in any context.