My hero, Thomas Sowell, nails it again today. And takes me to task a little bit.
Critics of Senator Barack Obama make a strategic mistake when they talk about his "past associations." That just gives his many defenders in the media an opportunity to counter-attack against "guilt by association."
We all have associations, whether at the office, in our neighborhood or in various recreational activities. Most of us neither know nor care what our associates believe or say about politics.
Associations are very different from alliances. Allies are not just people who happen to be where you are or who happen to be doing the same things you do. You choose allies deliberately for a reason. The kind of allies you choose says something about you.
Jeremiah Wright, Father Michael Pfleger, William Ayers and Antoin Rezko are not just people who happened to be at the same place at the same time as Barack Obama. They are people with whom he chose to ally himself for years, and with some of whom some serious money changed hands.
Some gave political support, and some gave financial support, to Obama's election campaigns, and Obama in turn contributed either his own money or the taxpayers' money to some of them. That is a familiar political alliance-- but an alliance is not just an "association" from being at the same place at the same time.
Obama could have allied himself with all sorts of other people. But, time and again, he allied himself with people who openly expressed their hatred of America. No amount of flags on his campaign platforms this election year can change that.
Unfortunately, all that most people know about Barack Obama is his own rhetoric and that of his critics. Moreover, some of his more irresponsible critics have made wild accusations-- that he is not an American citizen or that he is a Muslim, for example.
All that such false charges do is discredit Obama's critics in general. Fortunately, there is a documented, factual account of what Barack Obama has actually been doing over the years, as distinguished from what he has been saying during this election campaign, in a new best-selling book.
That book is titled "The Case Against Barack Obama" by David Freddoso. He starts off in the introduction by repudiating those critics of Obama who "have been content merely to slander him-- to claim falsely that he refuses to salute the U.S. flag or was sworn into office on a Koran, or that he was born in a foreign country."
This is a serious book with 35 pages of documentation in the back to support the things said in the main text. In other words, if you don't believe what the author says, he lets you know where you can go check it out.
Barack Obama's being the first serious black candidate for President of the United States is what most people consider remarkable but how he got there is at least equally surprising.
The story of Obama's political career is not a pretty story. He won his first political victory by being the only candidate on the ballot-- after hiring someone skilled at disqualifying the signers of opposing candidates' petitions, on whatever technicality he could come up with.
Despite his words today about "change" and "cleaning up the mess in Washington," Obama was not on the side of reformers who were trying to change the status quo of corrupt, machine politics in Chicago and clean up the mess there. Obama came out in favor of the Daley machine and against reform candidates.
Senator Obama is running on an image that is directly the opposite of what he has been doing for two decades. His escapes from his past have been as remarkable as the great escapes of Houdini.
Why much of the public and the media have been so mesmerized by the words and the image of Obama, and so little interested in learning about the factual reality, was perhaps best explained by an official of the Democratic Party: "People don't come to Obama for what he's done, they come because of what they hope he can be."
David Freddoso's book should be read by those people who want to know what the facts are. But neither this book nor anything else is likely to change the minds of Obama's true believers, who have made up their minds and don't want to be confused by the facts.
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Posted: November 14, 2008
1:00 am Eastern
By Greg Knapp
? 2008
A caller to my radio show said, "Obama is going to cut taxes for 95
percent of Americans and only raise it on people making more than
$250,000 a year. I don't make $250,000 year, so it won't hurt me. It will
help me and it will be more fair."
Right.Then a shaft of light will come down through the clouds
and shine on THE ONE. We will have jobs for the jobless, homes for the
homeless, the markets will rise, the oceans will fall, and we will begin
healing the planet.
Someone pass me a tissue.
It's time for a reality check. Obama's proposed tax increases and plans
for our economy will hurt everyone, regardless of income level. They will
stifle job creation, and they will most assuredly not be fair.
We tried raising taxes on the rich during a recession once and we ended
up with the Great Depression. Hey, maybe this time it will work!
Ralph Reiland of the Pittsburgh Tribune Review interviewed a couple of
plumbers who own their own companies. Both men stated the Obama tax
increases would lead them to lay off employees. The average wage of
their employees is $31,200 a year. Here is how the plumbers broke down
the damage of the Obama plan:
Seven required sick days a year instead of the three they give now ?
one office worker fired.
Obama's health care plan requiring 100 percent premiums paid by the
employer or they face a tax penalty ? three mechanics fired.
Increase in income taxes and Social Security taxes on their income as
small-business owners ? another mechanic fired.
That doesn't even include how the disincentive to grow your business will
affect how many new jobs are never created. How many people will
decide it's not worth it to take enormous risks and put in all the effort
required to start and run a business when you're going to be taxed this
heavily when you finally succeed?
Raising taxes on capital gains and dividends will immediately devalue our
stock markets even more than we've already seen and hurt people's 401
(k)s even more. About 50 million Americans currently own stocks. Most of
them are not making $250,000 a year. Thanks, Obama.
Obama is very concerned about fairness. His supporters agree that "the
rich" are not paying their fair share. Charlie Gibson of ABC News
reminded Obama in a debate that every time we cut the capital gains tax
rate we see an increase in tax revenues. Gibson then asked Obama,
"Knowing this, why would you want to increase capital gains taxes?"
Obama's response? Fairness. It seems Obama's plan is that we all end up
equally poor. I guess that's fair.
The truth is "the rich" are already paying more than their fair share.
According to the Treasury Department, in 2005 the richest 5 percent in
America earned 36 percent of all the income and paid 60 percent of all
the income taxes. The way I see it, "the rich" are already paying almost
twice their fair share.
But 95 percent of Americans are going to get a tax cut, right? That's a bit
hard to do when only 40 percent of Americans currently pay income
taxes. A lot of Obama's tax cuts are really refundable tax credits. That
means if you don't pay income taxes, you still get a check in the mail.
That also means that our government will be taking money from one
group of people at the point of a gun and giving it to another group of
people. If you don't think it's at the point of a gun, don't pay your taxes
and see how long it takes for the guys with the guns to show up at your
door. What do you call that? Charity? Welfare? Oh, I know. Theft!
Sorry, it's legalized theft.
Hey, we've always had a progressive tax code and it has always
redistributed the wealth. But we have never had a president who
articulated that the purpose of our tax code is to redistribute the wealth.
That is certainly not what our Constitution says.
It's interesting to see how Obama supporters react when their income is
treated the way Obama wants to treat the income of the top 5 percent of
America.
In Indianapolis, hundreds of people who were hired to canvass for Obama
were not paid on time. Police had to be called in to handle the crowd
demanding their money. One campaign worker yelled, "I want my money
today! It's my money. I want it right now!" I bet that gentleman would
just love to have the government take more of his money to give to
others who didn't get the "opportunity" to work for Obama like he did.
This argument about taxes has taken quite a few turns. Joe Biden said the
rich should pay more taxes to be patriotic. Obama said the Republicans
have found new virtue in being selfish. There even seems to be some
misunderstanding on compassion.
It is not compassionate and generous to give away other people's money,
yet that is what Obama and the Democrats want to do and what they
want credit for.
The American people are the most generous on the planet. They
voluntarily give away billions every year. That's true compassion.
I want to make everyone's taxes low. I'm for a flat tax or a national sales
tax. It would be fairer and more compassionate. Low taxes allow the
economy to grow, more jobs to be created and for more wealth to be
created for all.
That also means that our government will be taking money from one
group of people at the point of a gun and giving it to another group of
people. If you don't think it's at the point of a gun, don't pay your taxes
and see how long it takes for the guys with the guns to show up at your
door. What do you call that? Charity? Welfare? Oh, I know. Theft!
Someone reads their Rand
Obama's health care plan requiring 100 percent premiums paid by the
employer or they face a tax penalty ? three mechanics fired.
That's a pretty ridiculous claim. A lot of the better companies here might give 80 or 90% your premiums but fully paid is uncommon . Besides for what you are paying, its a small price to pay.
H told a staunch Democratic Christian she was for the flat tax. He said, "That's not fair!" and then he brought G-d into the equation. H reminded him that G-d instituted a flat tax with the tithe, ten percent of everyone. A small amount from the poor, a large amount from the rich, and each person has the same proportion of funds to use after tax.
awip2062 wrote:H told a staunch Democratic Christian she was for the flat tax. He said, "That's not fair!" and then he brought G-d into the equation. H reminded him that G-d instituted a flat tax with the tithe, ten percent of everyone. A small amount from the poor, a large amount from the rich, and each person has the same proportion of funds to use after tax.
awip2062 wrote:H told a staunch Democratic Christian she was for the flat tax. He said, "That's not fair!" and then he brought G-d into the equation. H reminded him that G-d instituted a flat tax with the tithe, ten percent of everyone. A small amount from the poor, a large amount from the rich, and each person has the same proportion of funds to use after tax.
