I recently heard a thought-provoking quote from someone concerning economic and social policy. The quote goes like this: “From each according to his excess, to each according to his need.”

Who made this reasonable-sounding, seemingly “fair” statement? Was it Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama? His running mate Joe Biden? House Speaker Nancy Pelosi? Who said it? The answer is Karl Marx, the founder of modern-day socialism.

If you have been paying attention to the words of Obama and Biden lately, you could have very easily thought that they may have said these words. After all, their philosophy is the same as that of Karl Marx. A few weeks ago, Joe Biden told Katie Couric in an interview on CBS, that it was time to be patriotic and that those making $250K or more should pay more in taxes to help get this country out of the funk that it is in.

Recently, “Joe the Plumber” surfaced in the news. Joe confronted Obama at a campaign stop. Joe is hoping to buy a plumbing business and expressed concern about the crippling high taxes Obama would impose on him.

Obama told him that “we’re not trying to punish your success, but we want to give those behind you a chance at that success as well. I think it is good for everybody when we spread the wealth around.” (Karl Marx couldn’t have said it better himself.)

Obama has said many things that expose his Marxist philosophy. If you are supporting Obama for president, I would ask you some questions: How is the economic philosophy of Obama and Biden different than that of Karl Marx? How would anyone paying more in taxes “help get this country out of the funk it is in”?

If you are a blue-collar “working man” and you support higher taxes for the rich, tell me, how would it make your life better if somebody else paid more in taxes? Did it ever occur to you that the “rich” who would pay more in taxes might be buying the house you’re building? How would it help you if the government punished his wealth? Maybe he would decide he doesn’t need that second or third house. Then what would you work on? How are you helped by the tax increase?

Maybe the “rich” includes your boss. Under higher taxes, it is more difficult for your boss to maintain your wage and benefits package. How would the tax increase help you?

Maybe you want more socialism. If you do, vote for Obama. That is what he is promising to provide. I would remind you that wherever socialism has been tried, it has failed, and we would be foolish to think that it would succeed now.

The past several years, due to an expanding economy, the government has taken in an unprecedented amount of tax revenues. Along with that, the budget of the federal government is bigger than ever. If the philosophy of Marx and Obama worked, the U.S. would be in great shape right now.

After all, we are spending more than we ever have before. I would suggest that the problems this country has are not due to too little government revenue, but rather to too much government spending and regulation in what was once a capitalistic economy.

Those in government often try to fix problems and they intervene in the free market. This hinders the market from maintaining control and balance and results in bigger problems. Then they respond to the crisis — that they created — with more government. Karl Marx would be quite happy.



Tim Tice

Grantsville