Jonah Goldberg, Democrats are hypocrites when it comes to paying taxes:
When moralizing conservatives get caught, say, cheating on their wives or challenging stall mates to robust Greco-Roman wrestling in airport bathrooms, liberals justifiably howl at the hypocrisy of it all (even though conservative moralizing has no teeth, while the IRS has agents with guns). When liberals fail to pay taxes -- the wellspring of a just society -- it's merely, to borrow an old phrase from Daschle, "sad and disappointing," but ultimately not that big a deal.
When he was still running the Democratic Party, Howard Dean made fighting hypocrisy his top priority. "Hypocrisy is a value that I think has been embraced by the Republican Party. We get lectured by people all day long about moral values by people who have their own moral shortcomings."
Well, I hear a lot of lecturing from Democrats about why I should be ashamed for not liking taxes more because "the children" need it.
John Eberhard, The Liberal Mind, Part 1:
“An extensive survey by the Pew Research Center found that three out of four Republicans believe that people can get ahead by working hard. Four out of five believe that everyone has the power to succeed. But Democrats have much less faith in the value of hard work. Only 14 percent believe that people can get ahead by working hard, according to the survey. And only 44 percent believe that everyone has the power to succeed. This is not a case of ‘rich’ Republicans believing one thing and ‘poor’ Democrats another. Even when you compare Republicans and Democrats of the same income, the gap still exists.”
“What this means is that many modern liberals believe differences in wealth are a result of dumb luck rather than hard work and a diligent attitude. It should therefore not be surprising that according to one scientific survey, liberals are two and a half times as likely to play the lottery or gamble in the hope of getting rich.”
This fact is incredible, and very revealing. 75% of Republicans believe you can get ahead by working hard, compared to 14% for Democrats. 86% of Democrats don’t believe that hard work allows you get ahead! The book also quotes many leading liberals in stating that the idea that you should work hard is “ridiculous,” a “seductive myth,” a “profoundly conservative, if not reactionary agenda,” and that the game is “rigged.”
[both links via CG]
Posted by Sarah at February 5, 2009 08:25 AM | TrackBackIt's important to note that politicians as a class benefit from higher taxes **even when they honestly erport their incomes and pay their own taxes**.
Why? Because the expansion of government, along with the taxes to support it, increases the importance of the political class, and hence (a)increases the power of incumbents, and (b)increases the moneymaking opportunities of politicians, in the form of for-pay speaking engagements, writing opportunities, consulting engagements, and after-office billing rates as lawyers/lobbyists.
Posted by: david foster at February 5, 2009 11:01 AMWhen you don't bother to pay your taxes anyway, a tax cut isn't really much of a perk, now is it? [...]And about "hope and change," best I can tell so far, it's I "hope" nobody checks my back taxes...and we'll "change" the tradition of putting patriotic people in cabinet positions.
One may wonder why 100% of Republicans don't "Republicans believe that people can get ahead by working hard." Perhaps this quarter consists of beneficiaries of old boy privilege and hereditary Republicans who inherited an affiliation without understanding what it stands for. The latter support RINOs; they see the magic letter "R" and reflexively vote for the one-horned.
I think the survey overlooks a key distinction between micro- and macro-level advancement. I fear that Republicans will abuse the survey to claim that Democrats have a poor work ethic. Lots of Democrats get ahead by working hard. They may believe in meritocracy on one level (their own lives), but not another level (society as a whole). And indeed our elites hardly inspire confidence. There are 300 million Americans. Are Obama and Biden - or McCain and Palin - really the best of the best?
Perhaps the Republicans and Democrats in the survey saw the same glass in different ways. Republicans, looking at their own lives, saw it as half full or even full, period. Democrats, looking up at their leaders, saw it as half empty or even totally empty.
If I believe that the world is 51% meritocratic, is it really meaningful if I tell the survey that I believe hard work will get me ahead?
Some beliefs are too complex to be described in binary terms.
Posted by: Amritas at February 5, 2009 12:36 PMOh my Obama, I actually agree with david foster about something! He is absolutely correct!
If I had to choose between power and money, I'd choose power. Money is a recent invention in the history of humyns. We progressives are the real conservatives; we want to drag humynity back to the good old days of rule by witch doctors and Attilas. This disgusting innovation of paper and metal is just a tool to help us achieve the dominance that we rightfully deserve. If some of us don't feel like paying taxes, whatever. What really matters is power - that you pay for.
As for that silly survey, merit is overrated. Manipulate the peOple with pretty wOrds and they will wOrship you. This is the lesson of emperOr Barack I. Democrats have learned it well, unlike the braindead for Dumbya. You don't have to actually do much to become president. Governing Alaska? Who cares?
Only Republicans are dumb enough to obsess over racist "qualifications." Fortunately, we can exploit their idiocy. They can work hard ... for us. They can fund Our prOgrams. They will make their enemies - us! - gOds. They are Atlas, and they will never shrug. It's not in their programming. They just work and work and work. Mindless drones.
We thinkers, we visiOnaries only need to LIE back and give the Orders. And you will obey. It's the patriOtic thing to do.
Posted by: kevin at February 5, 2009 12:51 PMAmen, Amritas!!! I HAAAAATE those surveys - there's absolutely no room for complexity or acknowledgment of mitigating or tempering factors; and then a response gets extrapolated to present the most disingenuous, divisive appearance. ("Are you SIMPLE?!?!" "Well, no, but the questions are...")
But they can be great fun if you throw caution to the wind, LOL... ;-)
Posted by: kannie at February 5, 2009 04:25 PM