The quote at the end of this article just killed me:
“That’s a conundrum, isn’t it?†asked Jodine White, 62, of Rocklin, Calif. “I don’t know what to say. Maybe I don’t want smaller government. I guess I want smaller government and my Social Security.†She added, “I didn’t look at it from the perspective of losing things I need. I think I’ve changed my mind.â€
Oi Vey! Maybe letting everyone vote is not such a good idea?
We know a gal who recently told my wife that she was “so relieved” when Obamacare passed. She had been afraid that when she gets a little older and can’t work anymore she wouldn’t be able to afford health insurance.
She owns two expensive homes in two different states, and a third she uses for a vacation home. Selfish bxxxh, expecting me to pay for her health care. Sell a couple of your damn houses!
QUOTE:
“Maybe letting everyone vote is not such a good idea?”
We should go back to the idea that you’re not allowed to vote unless you own property. Sure it’d disenfranchise a lot of people, but most of them don’t need to be able to vote when they HAVE NOTHING AT STAKE!!
ugh…
Who said the quote about democracy enduring until the people/representitives figure out they can legislate themselves more money?
Rome may be gone, but the Caesars can still buy off the populace with bread and circuses.
Let’s look at the other side of the coin. I am retired from two careers, and in both of them, I risked my life to defend my Nation or the community. USAF and Deputy Sheriff.
I get public pensions from both of them, and while working in both of them, paid into the retirement system known as Social Security. After 45 years of paying into Social Security, I retired.
Social Security retirement earned me Medicare (and so did the dollars I paid into it), and my USAF service earned me medical care (for life) under Tricare (the current system, there have been several). I am double-covered (have 100% paid coverage) under Government auspices.
Notice I used the word “earned”.
There is a lot of value to we conservatives in the word “earned”. Once “earned”, doesn’t something become a right? A right, as in CONTRACTUAL RIGHT? I have a CONTRACT with the Government to be provided my pension, at the terms in force as I EARNED it, and I have a right to be provided my Social Security, according to those terms under which I earned it, and a right to be provided my medical care.
Concomitantly, I DON’T believe that anyone simply given these government benefits without benefit of having earned them by dint of their labor or service should get them.
All money earned should be taxed, by a flat tax, with no exceptions, and only those who PAY such taxes should be CONSIDERED for the RIGHT TO VOTE. I pay taxes on my pensions now, and expect to for the rest of my life.
In the famous flick, “Starship Troopers”, military service was all about earning the RIGHT to be a Citizen. I LIKE that idea: that just because you are born, and breathe, you are not necessarily a Citizen.
About the Flat Tax, today Michael Medved had Amity Schlaes as a guest, and among the topics discussed was the concept of the income tax being a “progressive tax” except that pollsters have questioned people about what that means, and the belief is that everyone pays the same percentage.
Dunno how that could ever be actually implemented, but if we could separate Congress from the tax code, simplification might occur. Another thing mentioned by Shlaes today was that the way the Congress works is that onerous taxes are imposed, and some group of affected tax payers hires a lobbyist who gets relief from the tax for the group, but only after payment of a campaign contribution.
It’s all about money.
Social Security is a Ponzi scheme. I have been paying into the damn thing for 38 years, but I never expect to receive anything back. The country is broke, and it was the politicians promising pie in the sky things like SS and Medicare for votes. In the end, the goverment is going to welch on all those promises.
WinMag, the Gov’t only welches on those it does not fear.
Right now, this Gov’t fears conservatives, but it is unlikely ever to fear any group less organized (and less well-armed).
I would not be surprised to see the Boomers and the Gen-Xers finally cotton to the idea that they have to generate some fear of themselves. Right now, they generate none at all.