Flame — HabitableZone

Flame » in reply to Re: Taxes (my usual rants)

Re: Robin Hood
Tom Brosz — (archived)

<Tom:
"That you think I'm wrong that the forced redistribution of wealth is currently the main function of the Federal Government?"

I think this is a falsehood, yes, but not a malicious one.



Not false. True. Add up the numbers yourself. Like I said, "entitlements" (don't you just love that word?) alone tally up to 56 percent of the budget, which proves my statement true. Again, this doesn't count wealth redistribution that falls under discretionary spending.

Now, you are correct in your Robin Hood assertion IN AS MUCH AS it is true that money is taxed and spent on goods and services that are available, not exactly equally, to ALL PARTIES. But, as I said and as you do not address in your post, EVERYONE who works pays taxes... EVERYONE who buys something pays taxes, so in that fact, your analogy is false (steal exclusively from the rich and give exclusively to the poor)

You make it more complicated than it has to be. Redistribution of wealth by force has an exact meaning, and the concept doesn't need to be parsed within an inch of its life. It is a simple fact that the wealthy pay most of the taxes in spite of the fact that they receive no more government service than anyone else, and in fact probably less. It is a simple fact that most of our government is dedicated to transferring wealth from the productive to the needy, or wherever it's most likely to help keep the government in power. If you think this is just swell, fine. I don't.

I don't expect to convince you, and I'm not getting all worked up about it one way or the other. The Robin Hood Principle is the heart of the Democratic Party and liberalism. Even the Republican Party accepts it as a basic paradigm now, with the only remaining arguments being one of degree. I have had smoke blown at me to justify it by many others besides you, often to the point where the coast gets fogged in. I can't blame them...admitting that forced wealth redistribution is an illegitimate concept would gut the Democratic Party, liberalism, and our current concept of government like a fish.

For fun, just try and think of a major Democratic policy position that does NOT involve wealth redistribution.

Log in or register to post.

The whole thread (69 posts)