Outer limits of class warfare

Recent data reveal some startling facts that in turn raise serious concerns for the nation's future fiscal course.

Counter to liberal assertions, last year's tax cuts account for just 20 percent of this year's decline in federal revenues and actually made America's tax code more progressive. Interesting in their counterintuitive nature, their real significance is even greater.

The only recourse is to reverse course by understanding that the equation of increasing spending and decreasing those who pay for it is not sustainable. ... The bills that are being so freely assigned to others are going to begin coming home soon to the rest of the nation as well.

The Crisis of Democracy

The Honorable James DeMint (R-SC)
United States House of Representatives
THURSDAY, APRIL 5, 2001
"There has been a shift in the relationship between individuals and government, he argues, such that fewer and fewer are paying taxes at the same time that more and more are receiving increasingly generous benefits. If it becomes the case that most voters do not bear a financial burden for this largess, then there will be little to restrain--and significant political incentives to encourage--the continued growth of government. And at that point, DeMint warns, we have reached a major crisis in our democracy."

Milton Friedman as quoted by Northwest Florida Daily News, 10-16-2000:

"If we're to have an income tax, it's a good thing for everyone to pay at least a nominal amount," he said. "If non-taxpayers become a majority in society, what would restrain them from voting for ever higher taxes on others?"

Walter Williams, World Net Daily, 10-25-2000

If you're among those who pay little or no federal income taxes, what do you care about tax cuts? Moreover, if you think tax cuts pose a threat to government handout programs, you might be openly hostile and support Al Gore's silly "risky scheme" talk. So many Americans paying little or no federal taxes makes for a natural spending constituency. It's like me in the restaurant: What do I care about extravagance if you're footing the bill?

We are already seeing proof of the truth of this article in California.

There, where the liberals rule supreme and unchallenged, the state enacted enormous spending programs based on the revenue from the dotcom boom. As long as the tax revenue was rolling in, the state couldn't spend it fast enough, although they certainly tried.

Now, those residents aren't cashing in their stock options anymore, and revenue has plummeted. An unprecedented fiscal crisis has developed, and the Democrats are trying to figure out how to raise taxes on people who aren't making the kind of money they were a few years ago.

The real significance of this very significant commentary lies in the fact it was promulgated by a Deputy Assistant Treasury Secretary.

Presumably, when Mr. Young speaks in this matter, he speaks for the administration. O'Neill had to have approved it. And Bush had to be on board in every detail. This was nothing less than a policy statement by the Bush administration.

Using commentaries to promote policy aren't altogether rare. But, usually, they are used as a means of expressing and recording a foreign policy decision and run toward the non-controversial State Department boilerplate.

This one is a totally different critter. It is a partisan shot across the bow of the liberal pirates.

Strong stuff...

This one is a totally different critter. It is a partisan shot across the bow of the liberal pirates. Strong stuff...

Agree 100%. Sir Tyler does too:

The Scottish Jurist and Historian Sir Alex Fraser Tyler published a collection of lectures in 1801. He advanced a theory of democracy based on historical observation:
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can exist only until voters discover that they can vote themselves largeses from the public treasury. From that time on, the majority always votes for the candidate promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the result that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship.
"The average age of the world's great civilizations has been 200 years. These nations have progressed through this sequence: From bondage to spiritual faith; from spiritual faith to great courage; from courage to liberty; from liberty to abundance; from abundance to selfishness; from selfishness to complacency; from complacency to apathy; from apathy to dependency; from dependency back again to bondage."

Source (which is worthwhile reading): http://www.ndonline.com/tribwebpage/news/jul2000/728200051046.html

Written over 200 years ago and the guy hits us right between the eyeballs. Amazing, isn't it?

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