Levelling
Sen. Joseph Biden, September 18, 2008:
“We want to take money and put it back in the pocket of middle class people. Anyone making over $250,000….Is going to pay more. You got it. It’s time to be patriotic, Kate. It’s time to jump in, it’s time to be part of the deal, it’s time to help get America out of the rut.”
The evils that freedom sometimes brings with it are immediate; they are apparent to all, and all are more or less affected by them. The evils that extreme equality may produce are slowly disclosed; they creep gradually into the social frame; they are seen only at intervals; and at the moment at which they become most violent, habit already causes them to be no longer felt.
The advantages that freedom brings are shown only by the lapse of time, and it is always easy to mistake the cause in which they originate. The advantages of equality are immediate, and they may always be traced from their source.
Political liberty bestows exalted pleasures from time to time upon a certain number of citizens. Equality every day confers a number of small enjoyments on every man. The charms of equality are every instant felt and are within the reach of all; the noblest hearts are not insensible to them, and the most vulgar souls exult in them. The passion that equality creates must therefore be at once strong and general. Men cannot enjoy political liberty unpurchased by some sacrifices, and they never obtain it without great exertions. But the pleasures of equality are self-proffered; each of the petty incidents of life seems to occasion them, and in order to taste them, nothing is required but to live.
As we all know (or have been told), you’re not rich until you make your first $5 million.
Biden should’ve gotten into a better cash flow racket before joining the Senate, as most of his colleagues on both sides of the aisle did.
“It’s time to be patriotic”
This is completely bogus. There is nothing patriotic about paying taxes – never mind higher taxes – to fund a budget with so much questionable spending. (Members of both parties are complicit in this, we should note.)
My wife and I collectively have a lot less than a six figure annual income.
I don’t cheat on taxes,and I don’t pay my local taxes late-I send in the whole amount as soon as I get the bill.
I am not inclied to pay one more cent ,particularly at the harping of a political hack like Biden.
It would be patriotic if that mentally diseased bag of crap Patrick Kennedy ever paid HIS taxes.But no,the Kennedys have their money in Fiji.While they suck us dry.Patrick should think about getting elected to the Fijian congress.
Biden needs to keep running his mouth-he is saving McCain’s campaign money-he is a negative ad personified.
Obama must be sying”WTF?”
Who advised him to pick Biden?Not someone who wanted him to win,that’s for sure.
Biden was being patriotic when he let MBNA rewrite the baknruptcy laws after it funneled $3 million to his sun.
The people deserve 4 years of Curious George and MBNA Joe.
Biden was just being patriotic letting MBNA rewrite the bankruptcy law after it bribed his son with $3 million.
The people deserve Curious George and MBNA Joe. After 4 years of them we’ll get 16 years of Palin and Jindal.
Forget Biden. It’s Obama’s spending “patriotism” that worries me.
Obama sponsored the Global Poverty Act that would have cost U.S. taxpayers an estimated $845 BILLION to help reduce poverty in foreign countries.
That’s about 33% more than the cost of the entire Iraq War about which Obama complains.
Obama also is calling for the U.S. to provide $50 BILLION to United Nations’ Millenium Development Goals program to reduce global poverty. Because we all know how well the UN spend money…
Yeah, I trust him with the economy. NOT!
I agree, there’s nothing patriotic about paying taxes.
But putting money in Lehman Brothers and buying insurance from AIG…we knew our dollars were safe in the hands of these proud Americans, right?
“It’s time to be patriotic”. Sure is. Let’s all stop paying for this vile, power mad monster that in no way resembles a constitutional republic. Time to go on strike. Be patriotic. Reassert your rights and freedoms. Do not comply with the “soft” police state.
Both my wife and I work and pay quite a bit of taxes now. I pay for the streets that those who do not pay taxes use. This doesn’t make me patriotic? I pay for police and fire to protect those who do not pay. This doesn’t make me patriotic? I pay for rubbish removal, parks, bike paths and many other services. This doesn’t make me patriotic? Now when I draw the line on wealth distribution, I’m being told I’m not patriotic! I was poor once and I don’t think it to be a desirable condition. (Frankly, I was a single father of two adolescence girls. At one time I had to walk to and from work because I had no car). Having said that, I would rather be poor in the US than any other place in the world. Where else do you see “poor” people with designer clothes, cell-phones, mp3 players and large screen televisions while others pay for their essentials of life?
PS. When I was poor we didn’t have any of the above mentioned items. Also, I received NO help from any governmental or private agency.