To Be Right!

Freedom has changed.  What was once the inspiration that compelled men to lead their families to a distant land in order to begin a new life unencumbered by smothering totalitarianism, it has become some vague notion given only scant lip service when politically expedient.  Freedom must be redefined to its original splendor.  It must be pushed back up to the status that was once celebrated by all Americans, to the exalted position that our founding fathers knew it deserved.  To re-establish freedom as a beacon of happiness should be the priority of every American.  But we face an uphill battle.  Those who do not understand the nature of freedom have assaulted its delicate façade.  Although freedom and man’s desire for freedom will never be stripped from the soul, it has been pitted and tarnished and must now be resurfaced and polished, so that we can once again enjoy the fruits of our god-given status.

It is hard to imagine a people willingly voting themselves into subjugation, but that is exactly what the people of Venezuela did.  Since Hugo Chavez was voted into office his government has seized control of the largest telephone company in Venezuela, followed by the largest electricity and cement companies.  In February of 2007 his own congress, passed a law that allowed Chavez to “rule by decree.”  Most recently, Chavez is seizing his nation’s largest gold mine.  Of course, the seizure of private companies is cloaked in a language that sounds well-meaning and reasonable.  The Mining Minister of Venezuela commented, “Due to the financial crisis that has extended throughout the world, it’s necessary to recover our gold to increase out international reserves.”

In seven short years that country has slipped into a totalitarian state.  It illustrates how a population absent an understanding of freedom can enslave itself.  

This is the same path that has been cleared for the United States.  Liberal leaders across the country, emboldened by the popularity of Barack Obama, have been doing something that they had heretofore not done: say what they actually think.  Congressman Moran from Virginia recently said, “…we have been guided by a Republican who believes in this simplistic notion that people who have wealth are entitled to keep it and they have an antipathy towards the means of redistributing wealth.”  Senator Biden recently implied that raising taxes was our patriotic duty.  President elect Obama told a tradesman that, “we want to spread the wealth around.”  The liberals in this country are telling us what they want to do, very clearly and concisely.  

Many Americans are frightened that we will lose freedom to these anti-capitalist sentiments.  But there are those who do not see this as an encroachment on freedom, rather as something that they deserve.  This is folly.  The government was never intended to provide material wealth to anyone.  It cannot without sacrificing freedom.  Ronald Reagan said it best when he said, “A government can’t control the economy without controlling people.”   Reagan was right.  Whenever one man becomes the arbiter of how to spend another man’s wealth, one man then becomes subjugated to another and freedom is lost.

But the temptation of gaining wealth without the requisite work is strong.  Peggy Joseph is an American woman who has fallen victim to this temptation.  At an Obama rally she exclaimed, “…I never thought this day would come…I won’t have to worry about making a car payment, I won’t have to worry about making my mortgage…”  If the government is going to provide these things, can it not also take them away?  As soon as government begins providing, it begins controlling.

In the context of freedom, liberal promises are frightening indeed.  The liberal list of promises is quite long.  Government will provide your healthcare; pay for your college education; ensure your mortgage payment; control who you contract with and what the terms of that contract are; confiscate earned wealth and give it to those it deems worthy; and as believed by Peggy Joseph, the government will make your car payments.  If these things come to bear and the government does provide all of these things, two things must be true.  First, the government will also have the power to take these things away.  Second, in order to fund these material handouts, the government will be required to confiscate wealth from those who produce it.  After all, the government produces nothing, it only consumes.  To protect ourselves from this tyranny, we must not fall victim to the temptation.  And we must change the way we think of the role of government, specifically regarding taxation.

For too long, the democrats on Capital Hill and liberals across the country have been allowed to frame taxation in their own terms, which are designed to obfuscate the true nature of taxation.  Liberals talk about “providing tax cuts” and “giving billions in tax breaks to the rich, while that poor get nothing.”  Except, how can government “give” something that was never theirs to begin with.  A tax cut is not the government giving money away.  More accurately, it is allowing people to keep more of what they have earned.  

Individuals and businesses produce; the government consumes our work.  Not the other way around.

To believe that it is the government’s role to provide material wealth is to subject oneself to tyranny.  That is not what the United States is.  That is not what made the United States the greatest country in the world.  We are exceptional in spite of government, not because of it.  When the 60 some-odd million Americans who recently voted to be given material wealth by the government come to understand that in doing so they have sacrificed their own freedom, only then will we reinvigorate our blessed United States.  When freedom is fully realized it can unleash the maximum human potential to achieve and nothing can stand in the way.  But first, we must all come to understand the true meaning of freedom and how it can bring about happiness.  Only freedom can bring the safety and security that Americans demand.  Let’s join together and embrace freedom.  Let’s turn our backs on those who will tempt us with materialism, only to seize power in doing so.  Let’s all remember what it really means to be free.  

Many people seem to think that by taxing the rich, it will help the lower income families.  I disagree.

Except it is just absurd and any critical thought exposes this for what it is: the proven failed policies of the socialist.

The rich already pay the lion’s share of the taxes. Here’s a breakdown:

The Top 1% of income earners pay 40% of all income taxes collected!

The top 5% pay 60% of all taxes.

The top 10% pay 70% of all taxes.

The top 25% of income earners pay 85% of all taxes.

The bottom 50% of income earners pay 3% of income taxes.

We’re already ridiculously lopsided. The rich are already getting soaked. Soaking them more will just cost jobs, lower wages and send jobs overseas.

Now let’s put it into perspective: When Obama says he’s going to give 95% of people a tax cut it is not possible. How can you give a tax cut to the 40% of people (at the bottom of earners) who don’t pay income tax? Barack calls it a “tax credit” when you give someone money who doesn’t pay income taxes. I call it welfare, or socialism.

I think that raising taxes on businesses is the wrong thing to do in a faltering economy.If a company has been laying off people at regular intervals for the last 5 years WITH tax cuts, what do you think is going to happen when their taxes go up? The cost of each employee is going to go up and they will have to either pay lower wages, charge more for their services, or lay off more people. Either way consumers and workers get screwed.

However, I challenge all you Obidenites to look at your pay stubs. Go ahead, I’ll wait…

How much are you already paying in taxes? A LOT, I bet. Now add in state tax, sales tax, car tax, property tax, telephone tax, restaurant tax, and on and on and on.

Taxes are already our BIGGEST expense. If you need more money to spend it is foolish to blame the corporations who are paying you! You should blame government - they are taking the most money from you - government is your biggest expense.

Taxing more makes no sense.

I outsource lots of my work.  I have a guy in India who does my Web work for dirt cheap.  There is no way a domestic company could match his prices.  A global economy is where it’s at.  We have to embrace it.  We embrace it by making the US as attractive as possible to do business in.  How to do that?  Lower taxes.  If you tax capital, investment, dividends, and income - companies will simply move out of this country to a more hospitable tax environment.  They will leave.

A $3000 credit to hire an employee isn’t nearly enough to offset the added employment cost - especially in the face of increased taxes.  This will only benefit those companies already planning expansion.  If that’s the case, why do taxpayers have to subsidize them?  They are going to hire anyway.

The housing crisis was caused by the government.  In short, the Community Reinvestment Act compelled banks to provide high risk loans.  These loans were bought up by Fannie Mae under the administration of the Senate (Barney Frank and Chris Dodd).  The plan was designed to give low income people houses except it backfired - they couldn’t afford them!  Banks sold the bad notes to Fannie Mae, who sold them to investment banks looking toe sell them again to make a profit.  Too much bad paper - the market collapsed.  This was started by the government trying to social engineer poor people into houses they couldn’t afford.

Anyway - While taxes are a big complaint about Obama for me, I have a fundamental issue with Obama.  I believe in low taxes, small government and maximum freedom.  I want the government out of my life.  My grandfather came here as an immigrant and made something for himself without going on the dole.  My Dad worked his butt off for my sisters and me.  He got no help from Nanci Pelosi, or Harry Reid or Barack Obama or any government handouts, that for sure.  If given the freedom to achieve, Americans have a great ability to fend for themselves.  We are the greatest country on earth in every regard - economically, militarily, in research, in development - by any metric.  We got this way because of LACK of government intervention, not because of it.

I am afraid of slipping further into a socialist model.  It has been tried over and over again and fails every single time.  That’s not what made America great.

After the grand scene on the Hill last Friday, I thought it made a lot of sense to tell our elected leaders to keep hammering the point home.  This issue alone could bring Republicans unexpected results this November.  Here’s a copy of the letter sent to Congressman Tom Davis of Virginia:

Dear Sir:

I am writing to ask for your help regarding the current national situation with energy.  With all respect, I implore you to keep driving the point that we need a responsible energy bill sent to the President and we need it fast.

The scene on the Hill last Friday was a grand spectacle and it was very well received.  At a family gathering this past weekend, there was widespread agreement that Republicans must continue to hammer this home…

It may well be the key to our success this Fall.

After discussions with the nine (9) voting age members of my family in Virginia, and many of my friends, I have found commonality in opinion:

1) Republicans should find every high rock they can, stand atop and scream, “We need to drill in ANWR, the shale deposits, and off shore!”  This has such wide support - it would be great if you would join the call for this - in a way in which people can actually hear you!

2) Let’s build as many nuclear power plants as possible.  Nobody I talk to is afraid of them at all.  There are plenty of places in our great commonwealth to build one - how about we lead the charge?  You’ll have widespread support, I’m sure.

3) Stay out of our personal lives and let us run our own businesses.  Virtually everyone I talked with this weekend mocked Obama for his stupid “inflate the tires” comment.  The underlying theme is that we don’t want our elected leaders condescending to us and telling us how we should live, vis a vis inflating tires and buying a certain type of light bulb.

In short, we want the government to get out of our way!  Let us drill where the oil is. Get out of the way of nuclear development.  Get rid of the taxes that further drive up energy costs.  Set the American people free to pursue low cost energy and they will do it.  It starts with removing the shackles of oppressive government regulation and legislation.  You are in a position to do just that.  Please help.