Right to Opine

With all of the recent class warfare rhetoric coming from the Left, I’ve devised the perfect economic recovery proposal for the GOP this election cycle. Why would this work for the Republicans but not for the Democrats?

• It only rewards taxpayers. Rather than redistributing wealth from those who produce to those who don’t, it would acknowledge the contributions of those who actually shoulder the burden of the federal government.
• Democrats like buying votes, but only when it increases their power and makes more people dependent on them. This plan would foster hard work and decrease overall dependence on government handouts.
• It would significantly reduce the size and power of the federal government, upon both of which the Democrats rely.

Here’s how it works. Whoever is the eventual Republican candidate should announce as part of his platform:

When I am elected, I am going to institute Taxpayer Appreciation Day, a recurring event to be celebrated on the 16th of every month. On TAD, the Internal Revenue Service shall issue a non-taxable check in the amount of $1 million to one randomly selected taxpayer per Congressional district in recognition of his contributions to this great nation. Eligibility will be determined in accordance with the following criteria:

1. He must have a positive net tax burden for the most recent tax year. This calculation shall not include Social Security and Medicare withdrawals. [If you want to include those, quit pretending that those entitlements aren’t part of the annual federal budget.]
2. Neither he nor anyone claimed as a dependent on his last tax return may have received any federal assistance in the current or previous tax year. This includes, but is not limited to:
   • food programs (e.g., SNAP, WIC, and free/reduced school breakfast or lunch)
   • federally subsidized housing (e.g., HUD housing or FHA loans)
   • tuition assistance (e.g., Pell grants and federally-backed student loans)
   • farm or other subsidies
   • medical assistance (Medicare/Medicaid)
   • retirement (Social Security or retirement pay from federal civil service)
3. Exceptions to #2 are granted to those with military service utilizing benefits such as the G.I. Bill, VA loans and medical care, service-related disability, military retirement pay, etc. This will include the commonly recognized branches of service as well as the Border Patrol, U.S. Marshal Service, Coast Guard, and personnel in government service who are/were employed in positions which either require the carry of a firearm or are otherwise life-endangering (e.g., FBI/BATFE/CIA field agents, but not office workers) for at least 50% of the employment period or the current or prior tax year.
4. He must be registered to vote.
5. He must not be a previous TAD award recipient.

Federal policies will be modified as follows:

1. All federal outlay to states for unemployment assistance, farm subsidies, funding for non-interstate roadways, etc., will be eliminated immediately.
2. Federal taxes will be simplified to a 20% rate for all sources of income, personal and corporate.
3. Personal and corporate tax deductions will be eliminated with the following exceptions. (Corporations will only be eligible for the charitable deduction.)
   • Charitable donations to organizations which expend at least 25% of their funds providing demonstrable societal benefits such as food, clothing, housing, and medical care. (No upper limit on charitable donation deductions.)
   • Medical payments for insurance premiums, annual medical/visual checkups, and non-elective procedures and prescribed medications. (No upper limit on medical deductions.)
   • Mortgage or rental payments for a single dwelling occupied as a primary residence by the taxpayer up to $12,000.
   • Food allowance of $2000 per dependent.
   • Clothing allowance of $500 per dependent.
4. The award amount and tax deductions will be indexed annually to the average rate of inflation.
5. Federal agencies and organizations not specifically authorized by the Constitution or specifically created by the Congress shall be disbanded. This will include, but is not limited to, every “czar” installed by any previous administration regardless of party affiliation.
6. All regulations created by federal agencies and organizations, which regulations were not specifically voted upon by both the House of Representatives and Senate, and signed into law by the President, shall be declared null and void.
7. DHS will grant a universal waiver for Obamacare.

The Taxpayer Appreciation Day program will cost $5.22 billion annually. This will be more than offset by the reduction in expenses due to closed federal agencies, fewer people using federal assistance (in order to attain TAD eligibility), and the increase in economic productivity as American businesses are relieved of crushing regulations.

No real surprises here. Yet another hit piece to brand Christian Conservatives as knuckle-dragging bigots. There’s nothing quite like sprinkling your piece with phrases such as,

So long as a candidate makes bland, predictable affirmations of religious faith, he or she has adequately punched the religion card.

to make your bias crystal clear. And the author’s portrayal of many Christians’ view of Mormonism betrays his ignorance of Christianity. Mormonism is a cult, and Mormons are not Christians. You can decry that statement as “utterly distasteful” but that won’t change its inherent truth.

As our nation’s debt crisis has become a central focus of our popular media, the rhetoric of class envy has been escalated to a near fever pitch. Of course this has always been the primary tactic of the political left, beginning most popularly with Marx and continuing rather visibly today in his ideological descendants. The easiest and most consistently reliable way for leftists to maintain and increase their power is to first engender envy of the wealthy, then to convince the general populace that it is not only morally acceptable, but morally right to take wealth from others by sheer might of the popular vote.

Their task really isn’t all that hard. Envy is one of the most common and basic human reactions when we are confronted with someone who has more than we. We’re warned against one variant of envy in the tenth commandment [Exodus 20:17]: “Thou shalt not covet.” (Yet another reason the left dislikes traditional Judeo-Christian values, but I digress.) But envy itself isn’t necessarily bad—like so many of life’s challenges, it depends upon what you make of it.

en-vy, n. painful or resentful awareness of an advantage enjoyed by another joined with a desire to possess the same advantage (Merriam-Webster)

The critical point in the definition of envy comes in the first three words.

One reaction to seeing others’ success—be it wealth, popularity, physical fitness—is to resent that success. This response yields a desire to level the playing field by diminishing the value of the other. After all, they can’t possibly deserve what they have when I don’t have the same. This is classical leftism at work: the success or failure of the individual is portrayed as largely beyond his own control. It’s a pretty easy sell because it doesn’t require anything of the individual.

The other, healthier, reaction is to be pained by the others’ advantage—not in a manner destructive to self or others, but rather in a way that makes you ask yourself, “What are they doing that I’m not? How should I change myself in order to achieve the same successes?” This path requires the individual to take responsibility for his own success or failure, to stop blaming others for consequences of poor personal decisions, and to take positive action to improve himself rather than tearing down another.

One thing is certain—when you see someone who has something you want but don’t have, you will envy them in some way. The only question is which direction your response will lead you. Will you tear others down or build yourself up? That choice is yours alone.