Ann wrote:
quote: I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”
Hallelujah!
"Hallelujah?" A presidential candidate is promising to take my hard-earned money out of my wallet and give it to someone who hasn't earned it and you break into religious cheer? Sorry, but that doesn't rate any kind of approval in my book.
Some people talk about the "uneven distribution of wealth" as if it were a new phenomenon, or that government can somehow wave a magic wand and make everyone happy with equal amounts of money. It doesn't work that way, not in the US or in Russia or in China or Sweden or Iraq or anywhere else.
I recognize that there are people who need help feeding and housing and clothing themselves either through no real fault of their own or because life has simply overwhelmed them. And my wife and I have personally assisted people who have been trapped in bad circumstances on several occasions. If one takes the position that those with more resources ought to assist those with fewer resources, I have no quarrel with that statement. In fact, I live my agreement with it.
I do quarrel, however, with any position which holds that I
must help with fewer resources without the choice of who I might assist. Some of the "less fortunate" only need a helping hand for a short time. I have been in that position before, and I know what it's like to have to depend on outside assistance to feed my children.
But some of the "less fortunate" are where they are because they don't want to work, they don't want to improve themselves, they don't want to sacrifice today to make a better life for themselves and for their families tomorrow. I'd rather not give those folks a dime.
Senator Obama's economic plan, if I understand it correctly, will take money out of my pocket and out of the accounts of my employer. It will hinder my employer's ability to give me raises in the future and my ability to plan for my retirement. It will reduce the ability of small businesses to expand and produce more jobs, and will give money to people who do not deserve it and are not willing to work for it.
Have we not learned that enforced socialism never works? We have the example of the former Soviet Union, which collapsed economically and politically when they were unable to produce enough food and shelter and clothing for their citizens. We have the example of China, which is wrenching itself apart economically trying to maintain a centrally planned society while competing in a global economy which shifts daily. And we see OPEC trying to keep prices up and production controlled to maintain their wildly lavish lifestyles.
(Wait, the Middle Eastern OPEC countries don't have lavish lifestyles for all of their citizens. Where's the outrage on the boards for the inequity in those nations? Why is the US the target for those critics when we are far from the worst "offenders?")
I do not plan to vote for Senator Obama for President in November. And my vote has nothing to do with his age, his skin color, or the gender and attractiveness quotient of his running mate. I am voting for my family's future security, and Barak Obama doesn't have my family's best interests in mind in his economic plan.
