The Poor Need to Pay Their Fair Share

This week, Hillary Clinton trotted out the now familiar mantra of the Socialist Democrats that the wealthy "need to start paying their fair share." This is a tired trope which has as much to do with the Socialist Democratic political tactics of divide-and-conquer as it does with political philosophy.

In a country where the top 5% of wage earners pay 60% of the income taxes and the top 50% pay 97%, we have almost half of the wage earners in the United States paying only 3% of income taxes (IRS data for 2008.) Let me repeat that - practically the entire tax burden of this country is borne by half of the wage earners. In fact, the wealthy pay a higher percentage of taxes after the Bush tax cuts than before the Bush tax cuts. We are at the cusp of the disturbing and dangerous condition where the majority will be able to vote themselves unlimited benefits and demand that the minority pay for them.

This, of course, is the intention of the Socialist Democrats. The more savvy of them (in which category I do not place Barack Obama) know that socialism doesn't work. This type of redistribution of wealth has never worked, no matter how or where its been tried. For just the latest example, look at Greece. No, this is not about "fairness" or raising the poor out of poverty. On the contrary, the left would like to place more people in that class that depends on government largesse, because they are a reliable voting bloc. So, as they have successfully done for years with race (for the latest example, look at the flap over the Arizona situation), the Socialist Democrats are trying to divide the country along socioeconomic lines in order to preserve political power.

Anytime you make anything more costly, including by taxation, it creates a disincentive for whatever product or behavior is being taxed. The Socialist Democrats know this very well. This is why they propose taxing soft drinks, cigarettes, and fossil fuels - to discourage people from using them. Likewise, the more earnings and investments are taxed, the less incentive there is for people to earn or invest. In my case, for instance, I am considered by the Obama administration to be "wealthy", a threshold that is getting lower all the time. I work, on average, about 50 hours a week. By the time I pay federal, state, and city income tax, almost 25 of those hours will be spent working for the government. That doesn't count payroll tax, sales tax, etc. With the expiration of the Bush tax cuts and the tax raises that are on the way for Obamacare, my marginal tax rate will be somewhere between 60-70%. I have to decide whether I should continue working in my field if I am going to be punished for it. Maybe it would be better for me to get a much lower stress, 30 hr./week job that pays a fraction of what I'm making now, but I don't have to pay taxes, or at least much in the way of taxes. Many other physicians are evaluating the same thing and, honestly, medicine doesn't look very promising right now.

Instead, I think we should look at a different solution - make the poor pay their fair share of taxes. In short, everyone who votes should be required to pay at least some income tax, no matter how little. When income taxes rise, they should all rise proportionately. This way, increased government spending will affect everyone. There will not be a class of people that vote for government projects and/or subsidies, yet are exempt from the negative ramifications of those projects. If we want to get control over government spending, just start making everyone pay for it. The politicians will get the message very quickly that it is not in their best interest to continue to spend like a drunken sailor. We keep hearing how we all need to participate in a "shared sacrifice". All right, let's make sure the sacrifice is truly shared.

How long do you suppose Nancy Pelosi will continue to utilize a government jet to fly back to California, instead of flying commercial, when someone making $35,000/yr. sees his taxes increase? How important will government funded frog tunnels be, then? Do you think that there may be just a little more outrage over a Timothy Geithner or Al Sharpton touting "shared sacrifice" as they simultaneously dodge the very tax collection agency that they oversee?

If President Obama and his lackeys in the Socialist Democratic party truly wanted to be uniters, not dividers, as they claim to be, I can think of nothing that would unite the people of this country more quickly than an announcement that everyone was going to have to help pay for all the spending the government is up to. That is, if they were serious.

And if frogs had wings, they wouldn't bump their butts every time they hopped.

Dereliction of Duty

On Monday, May 31st, the United States will celebrate Memorial Day. As a country, we have a tradition of holding our military in high esteem. We have experienced an unprecedented amount of freedom and we realize that it is because of our military that we are able to do so. Monday, cemeteries will be decorated, veteran's groups will have ceremonies, and flags will fly at half-staff.

Memorial Day is also a national holiday. Most Americans will be off work to enjoy time with their families, barbeque, and watch baseball and car races. It is good to take a respite from work to refresh the body and the mind and, hopefully, remember the sacrifices our men and women in uniform have made for us.

But not everyone will be on vacation. Our first responders will continue to be on the job. I and many of my fellow health care workers will spend the day in the hospital. Even some store clerks, gas station attendants, etc. will be on the job Monday. Most importantly, our active duty military men and women overseas will be at work. Meanwhile, President Obama will be taking a vacation.

Now, I'm not normally one to begrudge our Presidents their vacations. I realize that even the President, especially the President, deserves and needs a vacation. Frankly, I'd rather the President be on vacation rather than out stirring up mischief most of the time. But in taking a vacation on Memorial Day, the President is abdicating his duty.

The President of the United States of America is not only our chief executive, he is also Commander-in-Chief of our military. As Commander-in-Chief, it is his responsibility to order our troops into harm's way. In fact, he has done so by continuing the actions in Iraq and escalating the military presence in Afghanistan. This is an awesome responsibility and the military deserves to know that their Commander-in-Chief supports them and is cognizant of their sacrifice.

That is why it is inexcusable that, when a wreath is laid on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier in Arlington National cemetery - that monument recognizing the ultimate sacrifice given by generations of soldiers - that it will be Vice-President Biden laying the wreath. .

Oh, sure. I have no doubt that the "Office of the President" will issue a statement commending our military for their sacrifice and lecturing us to do the same. Maybe the President will have even read it before it is issued, but there is a significance in tradition and ceremony - in the military more than in almost any other institution in the country.

There have been other Presidents who have not attended the wreath laying ceremony at Arlington. In 2002, George W. Bush laid a wreath in the American cemetery in Normandy, France. President Reagan only made four of the Memorial Day ceremonies in his 8 years as President - for one of those, he'd just been shot and for two of the others he was at summits, one in Moscow and the other with leaders of democracies in Williamsburg, VA. The fourth, he was on vacation. George H.W. Bush took Memorial Day for vacation every year. So yes, I fault them for vacationing during this time, as well.

As a President and leader of a party which is seen by a significant segment of the American population as, at best, ambivalent about the military and, at worst, anti-military, it is especially important that Obama take steps to demonstrate that he does, in fact, support the military.

The President can pretty much set his own schedule. Why not take a three day weekend next weekend? Why not last weekend? Heck, take three days in the middle of the week. But the President needs to be at Arlington on Memorial Day.