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Jan. 19, 2023 Editor, The News-Gazette: America is now a tale of tails wagging the dog.
It is the tale of a tiny minority who can’t spend what they already have, seeking ever more, supporting a few hundred ambitious politicians groveling for the money of that tiny minority, in order to stay in office to do virtually nothing for the average American.
On day one, Ben Cline voted to lower taxes on the rich, to help you, his website says, though your taxes remain the same. Now, Republicans say Medicare and Social Security need trimming. They advocate not raising the debt ceiling to pay for spending they voted for, including the military.
This is not an argument for the bogeyman of socialism or that entrepreneurs should work for minimum wage; this is an argument that there’s no need for poverty in America. If you pay only Social Security tax, you pay more in federal taxes than do many corporations and many of the wealthy, like the former president. Capitalism produces an abundance of wealth, but that wealth is not shared by the multitude who generate it.
Benjamin Franklin was right about taxes: far from claiming special privileges, property ought to accept special responsibilities. “Private Property … is a creature of society, and is subject to the calls of that society, whenever its necessities shall require it, even to the last farthing.” If you get rich here, you shouldn’t resist supporting the place where your wealth is generated and protected.
If you started a country, what would you do with the wealth generated by the population: hire tax lawyers to make the rich richer? Or ensure that no one went hungry, lived in a hovel, lacked health insurance, lacked an education?
When politicians start shrieking about socialism, remember, they have been sent by wealthy tails who expect help dodging taxes, and those politicians have governmentprovided health care, retirement and expect cushy jobs supplied by the tails that wagged them. JOE PETITE Rockbridge County
