And the Tax Cheats Shall Lead Them

By: Mr. Curmudgeon
mrcurmudgeon@inthepublicsquare.com

Like the debauched sovereigns of the past, Democrats rule by a secular manifestation of the divine right of kings. They believe they can do no wrong because, like France’s King Louis the XIV, they are “the state.” Their no-opting-out social programs diminish our freedoms while dangerously enlarging the power of an overbearing government. Ignoring the sovereignty of its people, placing no limit on its so-called caring, is nothing less than an expression of political narcissism masquerading as compassion. But they gain the undying love and admiration of a majority of Americans the old fashion way – they buy it with tax dollars. Unfortunately, many high-ranking Democrats find the excessive taxes they so readily force upon the rest of us as, well, excessive.

When George W. Bush and the Republican congress passed a measly tax cut in 2001 (reducing taxes over 10-years by $1.6 trillion dollars, while government revenues were projected to rise $28.6 trillion), then House Minority Leader Tom Daschle condemned it as “a bill that would allow 43 percent of the benefits to go to the top 1 percent [of taxpayers]. That just doesn't make sense, when we know the need is out there for working families at lower incomes.” Tom Daschle, Obama’s recent Health and Human Services Secretary-designee, withdrew his nomination after it was disclosed he evaded paying an estimated $146,000 in taxes.

Today, President Obama intends to transfer billions of our taxes to people who never paid taxes, and adds insult to injury by appointing a slue of tax cheats to his cabinet; most notably his new Secretary of the Treasury Tim Geithner. Geithner made the “honest mistake” of underpaying the nanny-state by $43,000. This financial wizard will determine how best to spend billions if not trillions of your tax dollars to mend our broken economy. 50 Senate Democrats and 8 squishy (is there any other kind?) Republicans voted to confirm Geithner.

Some Democrats feel they are exempt from paying the grotesquely high taxes they and many “reach-across-the-aisle” Republicans burden our nation’s taxpayers with. Recently, the powerful chairman of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, Charles Rangel, failed to disclose $75,000 in rental income to the Internal Revenue Service. The former Saturday Night Live comedian and Minnesota U.S. Senate wanabe, Al Franken, is reported to be $70,000 in debt to his party’s favorite uncle.

During the last election, liberal Democrats campaigned against the Republican “culture of corruption.” To say that Democrats are hypocrites is to miss the point; they’re just as aware of it as you. The founders of our nation designed our Constitution to restrain the power of government and the mob in recognition of man’s vast penchant for corruption. But Democrats -- and some “compassionate conservative” Republicans – have emasculated Constitutional restraints while masterfully absolving their corruption, in the eyes of many, by virtue of their boundless compassion; that is, buying the indulgence of political constituencies with federal dollars.

President Clinton committed felony perjury, hired private detectives to intimidate witnesses, even sold Presidential pardons – but all is forgiven because he felt our pain. Senator Ted Kennedy abandoned a young female campaign-worker, who later drowned in his car, while the soggy Senator slinked back to town and then telephoned his attorney to plan legal stratagems. No matter, he authored the “no child left behind” education bill. A little tax avoidance, by comparison, is as a minor blemish.

Of the embarrassing bad publicity brought on his party by the recent tax-dodging revelations, John Andrew, former Democratic National Committee Chairman, told The New York Times: 

The reason that these are all related is that it is the pro-growth Democrats who have spent decades trying to change the image of the Democratic Party as high-tax and unfriendly to business. So to look like we don’t pay our taxes…is a double whammy to the image.

Speaking of image, let’s get back to Tom Daschle. Of the $146,000 he owed in back taxes and interest, over $100,000 of it was for the four years his friend and business partner Leo Hindery provided Daschle with a car and driver; benefits considered income that Daschle never declared. The Obama administration is giving a face to the term “limousine liberal,” transforming it from a right-wing pejorative to an apt description of fact. And, like it or not, we are all being taken for a ride.