I’ve had to chuckle a bit at all the talk of socialism over the past few days.<\/p>\n
I thought: Hey, aren’t we already a bit socialist anyway?<\/p>\n
Correct me if I’m wrong, but didn’t our federal government just basically take over our financial system, and under a Republican president no less?<\/p>\n
Don’t we already garnish a portion of the wages of working stiffs like you and me and funnel it toward a fund from which we provide health care (Medicare) and financial support (Social Security) for the elderly?<\/p>\n
Aren’t I personally part of a system that takes your money–yes, YOUR MONEY–and pools it to provide a vast fund for the health care of our nation’s veterans, you know, the ones who as President Lincoln said, “hath borne the battle” and therefore we have a moral obligation to support?<\/p>\n
Don’t we already “share” ownership of a lot of things in this country and pool and redistribute the money for various purposes?<\/p>\n
Don’t we all benefit from that at one time or another?<\/p>\n
Does raising the top marginal tax rate from 35 to 39.6 percent (which is what it was under President Clinton and what it would be if the Bush tax cuts are allowed to expire–tax cuts which Senator McCain initially opposed before he had to cuddle up to the far right wing of his party in order to get the nomination) make Senator Obama a socialist?<\/p>\n
Did the 90 percent top marginal tax rate which was in effect in the 1950s under war hero and Republican President Dwight D. Eisenhower make him a communist? For that matter, what about Teddy Roosevelt?<\/a> Haven’t I warned you all before about longing too much for “the good ol’ days?”<\/p>\n Isn’t there something called the Alaskan Permanent Fund?<\/a> Sarah? Sarah? SARAAAAH?<\/p>\n We\u2019re set up, unlike other states in the union, where it\u2019s collectively Alaskans own the resources. So we share in the wealth when the development of these resources occurs.<\/em><\/p>\n –Alaska Governor Sarah Palin in an interview with New Yorker<\/em> magazine several weeks BEFORE being nominated for Vice-President<\/p><\/blockquote>\n Collectively? Share in the wealth?<\/em> That’s what I thought.<\/p>\n Look, I’m not a big “fan” of progressive taxation (I’m more of a flat-earth, flat-tax man myself), but I do understand the arguments for it (for a conservative, pragmatic defense of it, click here<\/a>) and it has been around since, like, 1913, so isn’t the same system we’ve been living under for a long time?<\/p>\n Don’t you think real socialists over there in Europe and other genuinely un-American places like that laugh at us derisively for saying things like we have in the past week? You betcha they do.<\/p>\n So do you think we can chill out a bit on this whole socialist thing and get some much-needed perspective?<\/a> Yes we can.<\/p>\n