[Rockin Robbins]

The base problem here is the exact opposite of the problem that led to the founding of this country. Then the saying was "no taxation without representation." In the early US only taxpayers could vote. You had to have personal or real property taxed by the Federal Government in order to cast that vote. You owned part of the shop, you got a voice in how to run it.

Now we have something much more dangerous than taxation without representation. We have representation without taxation. 50% of the public pay no federal income taxes at all. The top 1% of wage earners, that approximately 1.6 million people who earn more than approximately $360,000 pay more dollars into the federal till than the bottom 95% of wage earners! Yes, you read that correctly. It's been true since 2006.

Now, does the majority, which pays little or no taxes, want more services, which they will pay nothing for? Do they have any problem with tax increases, which do not affect them? Do they have any incentive to vote in a way that a responsible citizen who owns a piece of the action should vote? Or are they inclined just to loot and plunder those evil rich people, that top 1%?

Doesn't matter. The problem is self correcting. That top 1%, a lousy 1.6 million people have plenty of assets. They employ 75% of the working people in the USA. Unlike us, they participate in the economy voluntarily. You see, they need not make an income at all. They can well afford to close the doors, fire their workers, buy a boat and take off for five years while we either just die or regain our senses.

Can you see the danger of putting all of our fates in the hands of less than 1% of the people? Can you see the awesome power they posess, even as they are not using it yet to defend themselves?

If you want to see this insanity corrected, there is a tool available that will fix it. It's called the Fair Tax, a national sales tax which would take the place of the federal income tax, social security deductions and FICA taxes. Through the use of a prebate, it would guarantee that the truly poor don't pay a penny in taxes. And EVERYBODY, except the truly needy who could not afford to pay, would be a taxpayer.

If they vote to raise taxes, they vote to raise taxes on themselves! Isn't that fair? If they vote to fund a national health care program, they do it in full realization that the buck stops with them. I bet they'd be darned sure to get their money's worth.

Folks, nothing is worth more than what you pay for it and the majority of Americans are freeloading off the feds and voting to seize more money from the achievers who are responsible for what little prosperity they enjoy. But it's fashionable to hate these achievers, and refer to them as the "more fortunate" who need to pay more and more.

How much more than 50% of the federal budget would be fair for them to pay? Should the top 1% be made to pay MORE than the bottom 95% of wage earners? How much more? And how do you propose to keep this profound injustice from destroying this land we love?

Democracy has been reduced to two cats and a mouse voting over what's for dinner. I think we know the ending to that scene.

THAT's the underlying problem, more important and more dangerous than terrorists, national health care, green industry, global warming, pollution and CIA interrogation practices combined. By the time we realize it's there, this will destroy all we have.