The False Choice
- Monday, July 19 2010 @ 11:03 AM CST
- Contributed by: filbert
- Views: 1,768
One of the most irritating of Obama's rhetorical traits is the straw man. The latest one: on the top-of-the-hour radio news, he was talking about extending unemployment benefits, and comparing that (unfavorably) to extending tax cuts "to the richest."
Well, first of all, let's talk about who all that money belongs to in the first place: taxpayers. Now, because of how the federal tax system is set up, most payers of federal taxes are "rich." Or at the very least, they are not the poor.
The poor do not pay federal income taxes.
Now, what Obama wants is to take money from the rich and give it to the unemployed. This is not charity. It is not a virtue to be "charitable" with other people's money. This is--pure and simple--Marxist-style redistribution of wealth. There is no virtue attached to this act. This is plain, blatant, naked political pandering.
If Obama was really serious about extending unemployment benefits, he would ask Congress to end a government program--close some government agency--decide between competing interests. You know, actually make the "hard choices" that all of those Washington politicians claim that they make all the time when all they're actually doing is deciding to take more money from the people who earned it, and give it to people who didn't.
Put your money where your mouth is, Obama. Propose to close some government agency, in order to fund the more-important government work of extending unemployment benefits.
Or, IS EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS ANYTHING ELSE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES right now? Because that is exactly, precisely what Obama is saying. If you're one of those current unemployed whose benefits have or are about to run out, how do you NOW feel about Obama's naked political pandering, instead of his actually making tough decisions on your behalf?
Well, first of all, let's talk about who all that money belongs to in the first place: taxpayers. Now, because of how the federal tax system is set up, most payers of federal taxes are "rich." Or at the very least, they are not the poor.
The poor do not pay federal income taxes.
Now, what Obama wants is to take money from the rich and give it to the unemployed. This is not charity. It is not a virtue to be "charitable" with other people's money. This is--pure and simple--Marxist-style redistribution of wealth. There is no virtue attached to this act. This is plain, blatant, naked political pandering.
If Obama was really serious about extending unemployment benefits, he would ask Congress to end a government program--close some government agency--decide between competing interests. You know, actually make the "hard choices" that all of those Washington politicians claim that they make all the time when all they're actually doing is deciding to take more money from the people who earned it, and give it to people who didn't.
Put your money where your mouth is, Obama. Propose to close some government agency, in order to fund the more-important government work of extending unemployment benefits.
Or, IS EXTENDING UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFITS NOT AS IMPORTANT AS ANYTHING ELSE THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT DOES right now? Because that is exactly, precisely what Obama is saying. If you're one of those current unemployed whose benefits have or are about to run out, how do you NOW feel about Obama's naked political pandering, instead of his actually making tough decisions on your behalf?