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March 7, 2004
Democrats and Taxes
I have been travelling every week since January 9th, with only a day or two home before I had to fly off again. During this time, most of the news I got was from Fox Friends in the mornings while I dressed for work and the free USA Today rag that I get as a steady hotel guest.
I don't know why the Democrats keep coming up with condescending know-it-alls for their nominees. Back in the 2000 race, Al Gore lectured the country in his speeches. His tone of voice and choice of words always made me feel like he was reaching out to the slightly retarded voters of America (those who did not see things his way). He lectured us on how all children now need government sponsored preschool, and how rich people should never get a tax cut - and his definition of rich would include me. (ha! I drive a 1991 Mazda Protege with 285,000 miles on it).
What annoyed me even more about Al Gore was the fact that he was, and is, stinking rich. He has never had to truly work for a living. Why did he think I was rich?
And now, the Democrats have annointed John Kerry. He, like Al Gore, knows what is best for Americans. He apparently knows more than anyone, at least that is what his speaking demeanor seems to indicate.
At the same time, he claims to speak for the little people, those who are poor and lower middle class. Oh, and I guess he thinks he speaks for the middle class, but I don't think he has any idea where we are.
John Kerry has never known a poor moment in his life. I'll guarantee that he has never had to pawn the jewelry he inherited from his grandmother to pay the power bill. I'll bet you $100 that he has never pulled all the cushions off the sofa looking for enough change to go buy a burger. And I'm pretty sure he did not live on Kraft Macaroni and Cheese dinners in college.
Do you think John Kerry has ever *had* to have a garage sale to make ends meet? Do you suppose he ever had his power turned off because he didn't have enough to make the full payment?
John Kerry has no fricking clue what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck, without enough income to even have a credit card. He has absolutely no idea what it's like to have to sew your own clothes from cheap fabric at Walmart to save money for groceries and utilities. But damn, John Kerry sure claims to speak for those of us who have ever had a hard time! He knows what we need, don't you know!
He came from money and he married into money - twice. Yet, he, like Gore before him, tells us all that rich people don't pay enough in taxes, and then defines our income as being in the rich bracket. John and I earn our money. We didn't marry into it or inherit it or grow up in super-wealthy Eastern Blue Blood families. And now, he would like to just take our money, earned with our hard work and sacrifices, by taxing 'The Rich' more, by rolling back the Bush tax cuts.
What annoys me even more about John Kerry (aside from his idiotic ideas about National Defense) is that he thinks that a good chunk of the middle class is rich. The most common Democrat definition of 'The Rich' seems to be any family who makes over 2 times the median income. According to the most recent Census Bureau stats that I could find, the median income for all families in 2001 was $60,335. So anyone making over $120,670 is rich, rich, rich.
But is this really true? No way! The median income means that 1/2 of all families make under $60,335 and 1/2 make over $60,335. That includes people who work part time only. It includes people on welfare. It includes people on Social Security. It includes anyone who files income taxes.
John and I do not feel rich. We have a kid in college, we are trying to make improvements to our home and we both work very long and hard hours to earn our money.
What irks me the most, is that the Democrats make the assumption that what I earn belongs to them. That they know better than I do how to spend my money. If Kerry is elected and the Democrats have their way, my incentive to be productive will be decreased by the amount of money they steal from me.
Of course, I suspect the Democrats don't really like those of us who are super productive - we make the less motivated people who don't earn as much feel bad about themselves, and we probably earn quite a bit more than those who are not as productive. Naturally, then, we must be punished and taxed, to make it more fair.
harumph.
Posted by Beth at March 7, 2004 7:11 PM
Comments
The fact that we had 8 six-packs of empty deposit bottles in inventory when the deposit went from 5 cents to 10 cents was a bigger deal for us at the time than when, ten years later we inherited enough to fix our leaky roof but not the water damage the leak had caused.
The Clinton-era capital gains tax relief, the original "tax cut for the rich" is what enabled us to move from working poor homeowners to finally having money in the bank. I remember some Democrat politician on TV talking about how a flat rate tax cut would mean enough money for the average worker to buy a muffler for his car, but enough money for the people at the top to buy a new Lexus. Seemed reasonable to me. You couldn't cut my taxes enough for me to buy a Lexus at all, short of tax cuts improving the economy enough for my wages to go up, but I needed a new muffler at a time. They keep claiming the Republicans are out of touch but they sure aren't in touch with me.
Posted by: triticale at March 8, 2004 4:46 PM