March 1, 2011

Other Peoples' Money

For centuries people have forsaken their country of birth and risked their very lives to come to America. Imagine the courage it took to leave their homes with nothing but what they could carry, and travel to a country where they could not even speak the language. Millions did so just for the promise of the opportunity to succeed or fail based on their own efforts.

The liberal-elite say these same people are now responsible for providing incomes and medical care to everyone, including those who have made little or no effort to support themselves. They say personal responsibility is a thing of the past, we must lift everyone up. That even to suggest that the chronically unemployed should work as hard as others do to achieve their level of success is unfair.

The 2010 Federal Budget was $3.55 trillion for a population of 308 million. Our Government spent $11,542 for each man, woman, and child in America. For a family of four, that is $46,169. But the liberals don't think that is enough.

I recently listened as one of them explained why taxpayers should fund NPR, a liberal media conglomerate. Her rationale was that it only costs an insignificant $500 million a year. Wow! $500 million could pay 10,000 citizens $50,000 each.

We drastically need to reduce these income redistribution programs that are touted by liberals as being our collective duty to support the "disadvantaged". Arthur C. Brooks published "Who Really Cares: The Surprising Truth About Compassionate Conservatism ", and includes these findings: "Although liberal families' incomes average 6 percent higher than those of conservative families, conservative-headed households give, on average, 30 percent more to charity than the average liberal-headed household." It seems liberal's charitable giving is less of a priority when it's their own money.

I say we add a special box on tax return forms for liberals to use to redistribute their wealth to support all those programs they so dearly love to spend other people's money on. And they can let the rest of us decide for ourselves what to do with more of what we earn!

Rex A. Hoover
Sumerduck