Joe the Plumber He's Our Man If He Can't Do It No One Can

It was a stroke of genius for McCain to both tap into Barack Obama's self-exposure of his wealth redistribution plan and to put a face on the difference in policy by referencing Joe the Plumber in the debate last night. McCain was distinctly uncomfortable reaching across the aisle to slap Obama's face instead of shake his hand, but he did it. Yes, I wish he were a more gifted speaker and was able to nail Obama, but he did sow the seeds that now can be used to shoehorn them into the discourse of the MSM. While there were other items McCain brought attention to, the exposure of how Obama views the wealth of hard working Americans is the best chance at a game changer out there.

Joe the Plumber exudes the notion of hard work when you look at his hard, stocky build. He made clear that he hopes to work hard enough to get to the point he may be in the higher tax bracket that Obama wants to raise taxes on. While there is a small percent out there that have acquired wealth by being lucky or unscrupulous, most who achieve do so by having clear goals in their life and work (physically and/or intellectually) to gain their wealth. While taxation is necessary, the view that it is unfair to be able to keep the wealth after working so hard to achieve so it can be given to those who have not achieved is nothing less than socialism.

I have heard all the arguments of how the wealthy use a government funded infrastructure to build their wealth so it is only fair to take more from them. First, every able bodied person has the same opportunity as the next person to achieve. We have free education through high school. From there anybody can put themselves through college if they are committed enough. I put myself through college twice. I paid as much as I could and borrowed the rest. I paid off my loans. Name the obstacle and in most cases you can find many who have overcome the obstacle to achieve. How many millionaires are out there who:

- Have less than a 6th grade education
- Came to this country with nothing
- Grew up in the worst neighborhoods in the USA
- Faced the worst and ugliest prejudice
- Have physical handicaps such as blindness, deafness, lack one or more limbs, etc.
- Were abused physically, mentally or sexually by one or more relatives or family associates
- Made a mess of their teenage years with drugs, alchohol and unplanned pregnancy

All of these obstacles and more have been overcome by many. To then view the resulting wealth as something to take and give to others in the irresponsible ways that tend to keep the recipients enslaved to poverty is ridiculous.

Keep in mind, though, that there is already a built in mechanism to take more money from the wealthy than from those who have less. It is called "percentage". I pesonally think that anybody paying a double digit percentage of tax is nothing short of theft. Taking the lowest of double digit percentage of 10% watch how simple math causes every body to pay their fair share - especially the wealthy:

Income ------------Tax
$10 -------------------$1
$1000 ----------------$100
$25,000 --------------$2500
$75,000 --------------$7500
$250,000 -------------$25,000
$3,500,000 -----------$350,000
$1,000,000,000 ------$100,000,000

To say that because somebody makes $250,000 they should pay twice as much of a percentage ($50,000) is theft. Sadly, the percentages are much higher for achievers. While I am nowhere close to Obama's increase level, I am sickened every month to look at the amount of tax I am paying. I am sickened as I look at the year to date Federal, State and FICA taxes that I have paid this year. I am sickened as this year is coming to a close at the thought of having to work until late April for the government until we finally reach Tax Freedom Day and the money I make will be mine. While my wife and I do not make the cutoff yet, we hope to one day. In addition to my job, we are working hard to build a business she started a couple of years ago. The door to success has just now after all that effort begun to crack. It may take 2-3 more years before we are close, but the thought of reaching the point where we are told we are making too much money is disgusting.

Joe the Plumber interviewed with Family Security Matters. You can read his interview in full at this link. He is very articulate; unlike the sterotypical plumber one might think. We read about his working as a plumber 10-12 hours a day for the last 15 years and is only now in a position to think about expanding. He sums it up pretty well by describing higher taxes on achievers as "punishment":

Most people, you ask them “do you believe in the American Dream?” Nine times out of ten they’ll sit there and go, “Yeah, of course!” That’s where he messed up, because as soon as I asked him that, his answer shows that he doesn’t believe in the American Dream. You know, like the question you asked before – he pretty much contradicted himself. “I don’t want to punish you but – “ Well, you’re going to anyways.

Spread the wealth / Share the wealth is nothing but the wealth redistribution ideas right out of Karl Marx. Socialism is nothing but taking money from achievers at the point of a gun and giving it to non-achievers. There are those that have needs that they simply cannot handle on their own. I think a very thin safety net may be in order where the charitable giving of the many in this country with big hearts is not enough. To take money out of the hands of the wealthy, then put the money in the one hand of an underachiever and a vote in the other hand is a recipe for the unthankful, never ending sense of entitlement we see in this country. It leads people to sit on their door step in the face of a hurricane waiting for the government to come and pick them up and carry them to safety instead of using the two feet God gave them.


Update: It is official. We now know more about Joe the Plumber than we know about Obama's:

- Years at Columbia University
- Selection criteria to be asked to serve as Chairman of the CAC Board with only experience as a community organizer under his belt
- Years on the CAC Board with Bill Ayers
- 1981 trip to Pakistan

The media seems hot and heavy as a dog in heat to point out Joe the Plumber's tax liens, but seems unable to rouse themselves from sleep to discuss that the treasurer of Obama's campaign has tax liens and his companies also have them.

It is official that the media has totally abandoned any shame in being completely in the tank for Barack Obama. It will be months to years after this election that their shameful performance will catch up with them, but it will.