April 15 is Apparently Idiot’s Day

I think Paul Begala is helping me to have more empathy. When I read his words I think that perhaps I get a taste of how liberals feel about Rush Limbaugh. That is, in Paul Begala I see someone who is full of hate and for personal gain is willing to say anything as long as the ends justify the means. At least that’s what I see in his latest piece in which he claims that it’s patriotic to pay taxes.

Paul starts off his piece with glaring misstatement–”April 15 is the one day a year when our country asks something of us — or at least the vast majority of us.” He then make it plain that what he’s talking about is paying taxes. However, the vast majority do not pay taxes. A small majority pays taxes, but we are edging closer to the point when a majority will not pay taxes.

Paul then moves into using the standard operating catch-phrases issued by the Democrat Party. The first is that all Americans should pay their “fair share” of taxes. Is Paul saying it’s fair that the 10% of the country that makes more than $92,400 a year — pay 72.4% of the nation’s income taxes? Is it fair that in 2005 the bottom 60% of wage-earners paid only 14.3% of payroll tax receipts while bringing in 25.8% of the nation’s income?

Of course “Freedom isn’t free” as Paul says, but taxes aren’t the only way non-military personnel can support the country. Would you accuse the Founding Fathers of being unpatriotic? They didn’t have an income or payroll tax back then. Government was small. Nobody expected the government to provide health care, fight poverty, or fund cancer research. They expected the government to protect the country, provide laws for an orderly society, and then get out of the way so people could get on with life. Health care and poverty were considered to be individual and local concerns, to be taken care of by individuals, families, churches, and charitable individuals. It clearly wasn’t perfect and the standard of living we enjoy today is far greater than our ancestors, but at least they were free. Today there are so many laws and regulations I don’t know whether I’m a crook or a saint.

Paul claims these tea parties are being led by “overpaid media millionaires” but what proof does he have of that? Can he point to evidence that even just one of these tea parties is being organized by a millionaire rather than ordinary middle-class citizens?

Paul claims that “George W. Bush and the Republicans cut taxes on the idle rich and put the screws to the working stiffs.” Actually, the Bush tax cuts cut taxes for everyone, the wealthy as well as the “working stiffs”. The recession that was compounded by 9/11 blew by in record time leading to a few years of great prosperity and incredibly low unemployment. I give Bush full credit for ruining it, and I don’t blame Obama for the mess he inherited, but the reason people are protesting is because Obama’s doing much of the same stuff Bush did, only he’s doing more of it. Bush bailed out Wall Street and banks, and Obama is doing more of it. Bush increased spending by record amounts–records that are rapidly being replaced by new records set by the Obama administration.

It’s true that Obama won, and that convervatives still have representation, albeit ineffective and powerless representation, which I will grant is conservatives’ own darn fault. But is it only Republicans and conservatives protesting at these tea parties? What about those at the protests who voted for Obama, but now find that he’s not doing what he promised to do during the campaign? What happened to the Obama who pledge to stand up for the little guy instead of greedy Wall Street? What happened to the Obama who pledged fiscal responsibility? What happened to the Obama who pledge to create the most transparent government ever? Don’t those Obama voters have a right to protest about their lack of representation?

Paul, it’s not conservatives who are putting themselves ahead of country. We want to serve this country. But when we see our politicians bailing out their big business friends (AIG – now which politicians received the most campaign donations from AIG employees?), refusing to take responsibility for their actions that have harmed this country and destroyed millions of jobs (i.e. Barney Frank + Freddie Mac + Fannie Mae), and acting like a teenager with a credit card (trillions in new debt spending), can you blame us for trying to act like responsible parents with an irresponsible and spoiled teenager by trying to cut off the money supply and teach some responsibility and restraint?