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Tax Increases For The Rich, Outsourcing Jobs, Racism, Third Parties

By Theresa Fritz Camoriano

1.       Tax Increases For The Rich – The feature of Friday night’s presidential candidate debate that struck me most was John Kerry’s repeatedly telling us that he planned to increase taxes on people making over $200,000 per year to pay for all the goodies he was promising.  He said he didn’t think anyone else in the room, besides President Bush, Charlie Gibson, and himself, would be affected by this tax increase.  This was very offensive for several reasons.

          First, what made him assume that the other people in the room were not earning over $200,000 per year?  Can you tell the big earners just by looking at them?

          Second, I find it very distasteful for Kerry to promise to plunder someone else on my behalf.  This “fleecerosity” is morally wrong and should not be acceptable to Americans.  Unfortunately, most people do not seem to be bothered by the moral implications of this legalized theft, and further, they seem to believe you really can get something for nothing.  They ignore the fact that the person who is fleeced now has less money to invest, creating fewer jobs and opportunities for others.

          Third, this promotion of class warfare is very destructive to the fabric of our country.  We are all Americans, and we are all in this boat together.  We don’t make things better by attacking one another and shooting holes in the bottom of the boat.  Hatred of successful people and of success itself breeds failure, which does not benefit our country.

          Finally, all the big money and power grabs by government begin by promising that they will only affect a small minority of people, thus making them politically popular, but they invariably engulf the rest of us.  For example, when the income tax began, it was only going to affect a small minority of the very richest people. 

2.       Outsourcing Jobs – My parents are retired and live near Houston, Texas.  When my father needed extensive dental work, he got a price quote from a Houston dentist and found that the work was going to be very expensive.  Then he heard that many people were having dental work done in Mexico, because it was much less expensive there.  Dad decided to give it a try.  He asked around for references, contacted a Mexican dentist, and arranged an appointment.  Then, he and Mom drove down to the Mexican border, made a little vacation visiting one of Dad’s cousins who lives on the Texas side, and then crossed the border to a small town, where the streets were full of dentists’ offices and pharmacies, serving U.S. customers.  Dad had his teeth repaired by a Mexican dentist for one-third the price he would have paid in Houston.  He was very satisfied with the job and returned home happy.  From Dad’s point of view, he had just combined a small vacation with a bargain.  However, in the political language of today, Dad had just outsourced a job!  Does that make him an evil, unscrupulous person or just a frugal retiree? 

          Should Dad have been prevented by law from having his teeth repaired in Mexico, in order to protect the job of a Houston dentist?  What if that meant he could not afford to get the work done at all?  But why shouldn’t the Houston dentist have to compete with the Mexican dentist for Dad’s business, offering a better price or better service?  Shouldn’t Dad be free to get his teeth repaired anywhere he wants, and, if he has money left over, to invest it (creating jobs) or to use it to buy something else (also creating jobs)?  Dad certainly is better off being able to get the work done for one-third the price.  While the Houston dentist arguably is worse off, assuming Dad would have paid him three times as much for the work if he had been prohibited by law from using a Mexican dentist, that does not tell the whole story.  What about the jobs that are created when Dad spends the rest of the money he would have spent on dental work to buy other goods and services in Houston?  And what about the jobs that are created when the Mexican dentist comes to Houston for a vacation and a shopping trip?  Why should there be a law to protect the Houston dentist’s profit at the expense of everyone else? 

3. Racism - I understand that the Democrats are again playing the race card, trying to paint Republicans as racists who want to deprive Blacks of jobs, housing, education, the right to vote, and maybe even the right to live.  While the Democrats talk a good game, let’s look at their actual policies and their effect on Blacks.

Who wants to keep Blacks on the government education plantation, preventing them from having a choice in schools? The Democrats.

Who wants to regulate businesses and tax the people who create jobs, thereby restricting the employment opportunities for Blacks?  The Democrats.

Who opposes allowing workers to have control over their Social Security money, giving them an opportunity to amass money that they can pass on to their children or other loved ones and that cannot be taken away by the government?  The Democrats.

Who wants to keep Blacks dependent on the government through welfare programs, housing programs, and other programs that promote dependency rather than empowering them to take care of themselves and their families?  The Democrats.

Actions speak much louder than words, and the foregoing actions and policies are the actions and policies of racists, no matter what they say.  I hope more Blacks and people who care about the future of minorities in this country will wise up to that fact.

4.       Third Parties – I fully understand the frustration of people who do not want to vote for either of the major party candidates for President.  Both candidates are flawed and promote policies with which I strongly disagree.  However, there is no third party candidate who has a prayer of winning.  And, by the way, the third party candidates are also flawed, and I am sure I would not agree with all their policies, either.  If we are so disappointed with the choices we have, we ought to become more involved in trying to get better people elected to office at the lower levels, so they can rise through the ranks.  Joining the Club For Growth and contributing to the candidates they endorse would be a good first step.  However, if we fail to vote, or, if we register a protest vote and do not support one of the major party candidates, then we will have missed the opportunity to play some small part in tipping the balance toward the candidate we believe to be the lesser of the two evils.  Then, if the greater of two evils is elected, we will have no room to complain.

“The rain it raineth on the just

          And also on the unjust fella;

But chiefly on the just, because

          The unjust steals the just’s umbrella.” – Sir George Ferguson Bowen

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