To a Liberal, Taxation Is About “Fairness”

If you try engaging in a conversation about taxes with a liberal, you can expect for your conversation to last less than one minute.  This is because the only argument that liberals have about raising taxes is “fairness”.

I just can’t shake this idea that the purpose of taxation is to raise the revenue that is needed to fund the essential and constitutionally appropriate functions of government.  The looting left goes much further with this.  They view the power to tax – the power to seize property from an individual citizen at the point of a gun – as the power to reorder a free society to their ideas and desires.  This is why these social engineers will always start bleating about “fairness” When “progressives” (liberals afraid to call themselves “liberals”) start talking about “fairness”, what small chance you had for a rational discussion is gone, finished and out the window.

Two points:

#1: What is considered “fair” and who gets to define it? 

What would you consider fair?  Most liberals cannot tell you how much the evil rich earn compared to what they pay in taxes.  The answer, by the way, is that the top 1% of taxpayers earn about 20% of the income, yet they pay close to 40% in taxes.  Doesn’t matter.  To your friendly neighborhood “progressive”, that just isn’t enough.  And the fact that almost 51% of wage earners pay no federal income taxes at all?  Is this considered fair?  Should these people be getting a completely free ride?  A liberal will probably stutter and stammer and try to avoid answering the question.  So you give them a break.  “Progressives” also can’t give you specific number on how much the evil rich need to pay in order for our tax system to be fair.  They are just certain that it is more than they’re paying now.  And never forget — it is not for you to determine just how much money you can earn and keep.  That’s up to the government.  Remember that is was our Dear Ruler who said, “I do think at a certain point you’ve made enough money.”

During obAMATEUR’s press conference earlier in the week, we heard one of the most absurd and dangerous quotes I’ve ever heard from a president.  Here’s the quote:

I do not want, and I will not accept, a deal in which I am asked to do nothing, in fact I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need, while a parent out there who is struggling to send their kid to college suddenly finds that they’ve got a couple thousand dollars less in grants or student loans.

Asked to do nothing?  Oh .. I see.  So we’re all supposed to be sitting around just waiting for our orders from the Imperial Federal Government.  “What do you want me to do today, Dear Ruler?”  The fact is that the best thing any citizen can do is to strive to be a self-reliant and independent citizen who is NOT running to the federal government for help every day of their life.

But let’s discuss this “I’m able to keep hundreds of thousands of dollars in additional income that I don’t need.”    “ABLE TO KEEP?”  Are you kidding me?  That amazing statement belies a belief that everything obAMATEUR – or any other citizen earns for that matter – actually belongs to the government, and it is the political class and government bureaucrats who will decide just how much of those earnings each individual will be “ABLE TO KEEP”.  It is these looters’ belief that your wealth is to be determined by government, not by your own initiative, hard work and good decision-making.  Consider the “DON’T NEED” part of obAMATEUR’s statement.  WHO gets to decide how much of what you earn you “NEED”?  Can anyone make that choice except you?  Well, not in a free society.  But this is the obAMATEUR Society, where government knows how much you have earned, then decides what you “NEED” and then determines what you will be “ABLE TO KEEP”.

Karl Marx would be so proud of Barack Obama.  While obAMATEUR is not a true Marxist, he has Marxist beliefs and leanings.  (The drones will latch on to this one!!! …and ignore everything else.)

#2: Increasing taxes does not mean increasing revenue. 

And the converse is true as well; decreasing taxes does not necessarily mean a decrease in revenue.  The history books show countless examples of tax revenues increasing when tax rates decline (Kennedy did it).   Let’s just take the Bush tax cuts as an example.  These liberals love to scream aboutthe Bush tax cuts costing us billions of dollars!  The fact is that revenues actually increased after the Bush tax cuts went into effect in 2003.  The Heritage Foundation has the facts: “Tax revenues in 2006 were 18.4 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), which is actually above the 20-year, 40-year, and 60-year historical averages.  The inflation-adjusted 20 percent tax revenue increase between 2004 and 2006 represents the largest two-year revenue surge since 1965-1967.”  On a more macro scale, “Since 1952, the highest marginal income tax rate has dropped from 92 percent to 35 percent, and tax revenues have grown in inflation-adjusted terms while remaining constant as a percent of GDP.”  In other words, revenues are not about increasing tax rates … they are about economic growth: producing more and/or creating new tax payers.  Here are some more historical examples for your liberal drones to consider (if they have the courage).  Or even take capital gains taxes.  Historically, as capital gains tax rates dropped, revenues from the tax increased?  Conversely, in the 1980s when the rate was increased to 28%, revenues went down.

So why raise it at all, especially given the fact that 100 million people in this country own stock and would be affected?  Oh wait!! Somebody did ask this question.  It was Charlie Gibson, who asked that question to Barack Obama in 2008.  Barack Obama’s response: “Well, Charlie, what I’ve said is that I would look at raising the capital gains tax for purposes of FAIRNESS.”

You can’t argue with logic like that.

Guilty No Matter What

That is our new legal principle, at least at the University of North Dakota:

In a stark demonstration of the failure of campus judicial procedures, the University of North Dakota (UND) has found a student guilty of sexual assault despite the fact that local police refused to charge him with a crime and instead charged his accuser for lying about the incident. Former student Caleb Warner has been banned by UND from stepping foot on any state public campus for three years. Meanwhile, his accuser has been wanted by the Grand Forks Sheriff’s Department for more than a year on the charge of making a false report to law enforcement…

It seems that Uncle Sam – carrying out the liberal mandate – has decided that all colleges receiving federal funds must use a “preponderance of evidence” rather than the “beyond a reasonable doubt” standard for judging such cases.  In this case it does seem that an accusation is “preponderance of evidence” because if there was something beyond the accuser’s statement it is highly unlike that the regular law enforcement agencies would have charged the accuser with lying, even if they lacked sufficient evidence to convict the accused.  Beyond the outrage of what amounts to a kangaroo court convicting the accused there lies the double outrage in the college’s refusal to reopen the case in light of the charge of lying leveled against the accuser.

In the end, this is the result of all that liberal nonsense about political correctness, “hate crimes” and “zero tolerance”.  In their zeal to enforce liberal ideas, the very concepts of truth and justice have been jettisoned.  It will take extreme legal and political pressure to get the college to reverse course…and even if they are in this case, you can bet your bottom dollar that they’ll still go forward trying to enforce the liberal view.

How to fix this?  Simple:  prohibit the federal government from setting rules in colleges.  Go ahead and spend federal money if you like, but don’t go dictating how it is to be spent.  In other words, if money is to be spent it had better just be in the form of bloc grants (best calculated on a per-student basis) which is then dispensed to the colleges to use as they wish…scholarships, new facilities, slush funds for the faculty, what have you.  Better to have the money mis-allocated by some schools than to have all schools come under the thumb of liberal fascism.   Most places would use it properly and those which did would swiftly earn the better reputation and thus draw in more students…and thus more funding.  But get Uncle Sam out of it…all he can do is screw it up, as we see here in this case.

Obama: The People Want Tax Increases

From The Hill:

President Obama on Friday kept up the pressure on Republicans to agree to revenue increases in a deal to raise the debt ceiling, claiming 80 percent of the public supports Democrats’ demand for tax increases.

“The American people are sold,” Obama said. “The problem is members of Congress are dug in ideologically.”…

Ok, Mr. President, then have Harry Reid pass a debt deal through the Senate which includes tax increases…get those 53 Democrat Senators on record as doing the will of the people.  After all, if the people are “sold” on it, then the Democrat majority in the Senate should be happy to oblige the people…there can’t be the slightest worry that a Democrat up for re-election in 2012 will vote against because, as you say, the people are “sold” on it.

Time to put up or shut up, Mr. President…don’t ask us GOPers to be the tax collectors for Big Government.  Do it yourself – if you can.

UPDATE:  From Gallup

Might want to re-think that “sold” bit there, Mr. President.

UPDATE II:  We’re all raaaaacists for not raising the debt ceiling.

A Small Judicial Victory for Common Sense

A triumph of common sense over political correctness – from CNA:

An Illinois judge’s July 12 order will allow Catholic Charities to continue its foster care work in three dioceses, despite an attempt by state officials and the governor to end the partnership.

“This is a great win for the 2,000 children under the care of Catholic Charities, protecting these kids from the grave disruption that the state’s reckless decision to terminate would have caused,” said Peter Breen, Executive Director and Legal Counsel at the Thomas More Society.

Breen said that Catholic Charities, with the legal assistance of his organization, “will continue this fight” to continue “the high-quality foster and adoption care that the Catholic Church has provided for over a century to Illinois children.”…

As you might have guessed it, liberalism is at the bottom of this – Illinois passed a law last December entitled Illinois Religious Freedom Protection and Civil Union Act which, its sponsors said, would allow for civil unions but would not in any way, shape or form interfere with those faith-based groups which were doing charitable work in Illinois.  It was specifically asked, in legislative debate, if this bill would prohibit faith-based institutions from dealing with foster care and adoption – and the answer was “no”.  It was this assertion which may have allowed enough Illinois legislators to swallow “civil unions” – as long as people of faith are protected, who can have an argument against anyone – gay or straight – having a civil union?  Presto, the law was done.  But that was without anyone reckoning on the ultimate desire of leftwing activists…whether or not gay people shall be married, civil-union’d or shot to the Moon is irrelevant…what is relevant is whether or not faith can be attacked…especially the Catholic Church part of it.

Because the Catholic Church will not place a child in a gay or cohabitating home (so, you see, it isn’t about gays for the Church…it is about the Church’s adherence to Christian sexual morality), someone in the Illinois government – clearly with an anti-Christian axe to grind – decided to terminate Illinois’ contracts with Catholic Charities regarding adoption (any gay person with a gripe would be a person just being a jerk – plenty of adoption agencies in Illinois will adopt out to a gay couple…and even Catholic Charities would refer a gay person to such agencies should a gay person happen to wander in to a Catholic adoption agency).  Didn’t matter that Illinois doesn’t have the facilities to take on the thousands of kids under Catholic Charities’ care; doesn’t matter that the Illinois government has proven routinely incompetent in dealing with such social issues, didn’t matter that kids lives would be disrupted…all that mattered was bashing the Church, bashing Christianity, bashing morality.

Fortunately, a judge has seen right through this and put, at least temporarily, a stop to it.  Hopefully now some wiser heads will prevail and some sort of accommodation can be worked out so as to ensure that the kids are taken care of.  But this this what is so wrong about our society – liberal ideology has so infected is that even something as common-place as a Church caring for orphans has become politicized, and the realm of lawsuits.  There is a sickness in liberalism – some sort of disease of the spirit which generates such mean spirited actions.  This should never have happened – in any decent society, it wouldn’t have happened.  A small victory for common sense – but common sense should not have had to take the field of battle; it should have been automatic that no sane person would ever dream of challenging the care of orphans.

Obamunism! Consumer Confidence Hits Two Year Low

From Rasmussen:

The Rasmussen Consumer Index, which measures the economic confidence of consumers on a daily basis, fell three points on Thursday to 67.8. That’s the lowest level in nearly two years, since July 24, 2009.  Consumer confidence is down four points from a week ago, down eleven points from a month ago and down ten points from three months ago…

There are a few polls out there purporting to show Obama and his Democrats as the winners in the budget debate…that the GOP will be blamed if there is a shut down or default.  These polls fly in the face of two facts:

1.  Its not like the Democrats are innocent bystanders with nothing to do with the issue.

2.  Poll after poll shows people just miserable about the state of the nation.

Given these two facts, I find it highly unlikely that a majority of Americans – or even a plurality – will heap blame primarily upon the GOP for whatever goes wrong.  To this day, probably not one in 20 Americans could correctly identify the Speaker of the House in a line up.  No, my friends, if things blow up, they blow up in Obama’s face…he’s the President, he’s the man who said that everything was going to get better with him in office, he’s the man who said he’d bring us all together.

Well, people can see that isn’t working and that is why Obama’s poll numbers are tanking…and if don’t get a budget deal, people aren’t going to suddenly say, “hey, that poor Obama!  Done in by the GOP so let’s re-elect Obama”.  That just isn’t going to happen.  The only way Obama and his Democrats can gain a 2012 advantage is if things get better – and so much better that people can clearly perceive that things are improving.  Can that happen?  Certainly – not too likely, but it can happen…but if it doesn’t happen then people will not give Obama four more years just because they’re mad at the House GOP leadership, even supposing they lay primary blame on them for the failure to get a budget deal.

Gunwalker: It Always Was About Gun Control

From Katie Pavlich at Townhall:

Democrat Representatives Maloney, Cummings and McCarthy, all members of the Minority on the House Oversight Committee chaired by Republican Congressman Issa, plan to hold a press conference tomorrow to announce new gun control anti-gun trafficking legislation in light of Operation Fast and Furious. The “Stop Gun Trafficking and Strengthen Law Enforcement Act,” is designed to “keep high powered firearms out of the hands of dangerous criminals, including Mexican drug cartels.”

It was back on June 17th, as the Gunwalker scandal really started to gain some traction, that I opined that the ultimate purpose might have been to justify a new round of gun control legislation.  The fact that the Democrats are advancing this new bit of gun-grabbing indicates that I was correct – the patent absurdity of enacting a law with “strengthen law enforcement” in the title is just an example of Democrat chutzpah.  My guess is that the attempt to do it right now is based upon a worry that they need something to deflect attention away from the scandal, or a conviction on their part that the scandal won’t catch on in the public mind.

Liberals are gun-grabbers, plain and simple.  They hate the fact that average Americans possess fire arms.  It flies right in the face of their ultimate desire to dictate every detail of our lives – from what sort of house we live in, to how we get around, to how the kids are raised, to whether or not we can worship God.  An armed population just gets in the way of all this – so, they seek by any means necessary to take away our weapons.  Do not be surprised that they cooked up a plan to provide guns to the cartels and then point to those weapons in cartel hands as a justification for gun control – this, to them, is just a clever tactic.  That people had to die because of it is no matter – certainly no matter to a party which has ruthlessly defended the murder of tens of millions via abortion.

Eternal vigilance will be the price of keeping ourselves armed – they’ll never give up.  The years will stretch on and issue after issue will come up, but our liberals will always, at some point or another, come back to an effort to disarm us.  Never let up for a minute in defense of gun rights – the slightest, momentary slip could cost us everything.

Congressman to Obama: Quit Talking

Well, strictly speaking, he actually said Obama should “quit lying” – but it is a bit of same/same.

My view is that we should just ignore the President – pass a bill out of the House (and, actually, second and third looks at the McConnell plan are making it appear better), send it to the Senate and just leave it in their lap.  Let the Democrats argue amongst themselves – and when the blow it (because, as liberals, they can do no other), let them carry their disaster in to 2012.

Our bill should do the following:

1.  Have a mechanism to raise the debt ceiling incrementally – with the onus of each rise squarely on the President.

2.  Guarantee that available funds will be used for debt payment, Social Security/Medicare, Defense in that order, all other agencies getting whatever is left over.

3.  Cuts spending $1.5o for each $1.00 of debt ceiling increase.

4.  Imposes a 1% “wealth tax” on all wealth in excess of $5 million.

Pass it, throw it over to them, and then just sit back and watch.

 

Government Shut Down in Minnesota Enters Crisis Phase

Seems that the liquor licenses are expiring – from Powerline:

Mark Dayton’s shutdown of Minnesota’s state government is now in its third week, and so far I’ve seen no sign of it. I mean that literally: if I hadn’t read about the shutdown in the newspapers, I would have no reason to be aware of it…

…This morning, however, the Strib pulled out the heavy artillery with the revelation that bars across the state of Minnesota are beginning to lose their ability to sell beer, wine and liquor:

Hundreds of bars, restaurants and stores across Minnesota are running out of beer and alcohol and others may soon run out of cigarettes — a subtle and largely unforeseen consequence of a state government shutdown.

The logical thing to do here is to make liquor licenses last longer – or make them automatically renewed during a period of government shut down.  Of course, we can also debate whether or not the State should even be regulating the sale of things as common to humanity, for thousands upon thousands of years, as beer and wine (an argument can be made about hard liquor as it is a relatively new development…no more than 500 or so years; such newfangled things even we conservatives can wish to see regulated until we’re really sure how it works out).  Beer and wine are really just a sort of food – as common on the human lunch and dinner table as bread and milk.  And you can perfectly well keep it out of the hands of the kids without licensing the sale of it.  Away with this Puritan legacy of regulated beer…

Of lesser importance than beer (and I really mean this) is the effect this government shut down is having on attitudes in Minnesota.  The government is shut down and yet people are managing to live – this is a body blow Big Government.  The world didn’t end – it will take liberalism a long time to recover from this.  Meanwhile, with liberalism in disarray, we have an excellent opportunity to turn beer and wine back over to the complete control of the people by eliminating all government responsibility for its production, distribution and sale.  High time that the adults of America got to decide how much beer to drink, and when.

UPDATE:  The Democrat governor caves in and agrees to the GOP budget.  Let that sink in a little bit – in a blue State, with the entirety of the Ruling Class and the MSM on his side, the Democrat had to surrender when the GOP stood firm.  This can be repeated nationally.

Poll: “Generic” Republican Beats Obama by 5

From Rasmussen:

…The latest Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey of Likely U.S. Voters finds that the generic Republican picks 48% of the vote, while the president gets 43% support.  Three percent (3%) favor some other candidate, and seven percent (7%) are undecided…

It seems to me that as we have gotten deeper in to the budget and debt battle and have stood ever more firmly, we have been gaining an advantage over Obama and his Democrats. This is in keeping with the November results and with the general tenor of the American people – everyone is sick to death with business as usual.  This slowly discovered GOP backbone is giving people something to be hopeful about.

Stand up; stand firm – no fear and no worries.  We’ll win this fight if we just stick to our guns.

UPDATEGallup has the generic Republican up by 8, and Obama only getting 39%!