Ostroy Lunacy on Wealth Redistribution

It is very infrequent that the Left ever says anything that makes me drop my jaw. I might raise one or both eyebrows from time to time, but rarely drop my jaw. Eight years ago the Left was simply wrong, sometimes a bit arrogant and mostly hid how they really felt. They now are radical, in your face, obnoxious and make no bones about how they want to change this country (with the exception of those running for office and MSM elements that support them).

I did drop my jaw when I read this blog post by Andy Ostroy of the Ostroy Report. The title of the post is: Wasn't it "Spreading the Wealth" Eight Years Ago with the Bush Tax Cuts for America's Wealthiest 1%? The title was enough to nearly throw me into shock. The body of the post creates neither more or less shock. Ostroy:

- Calls the charge of socialism against Obama's "spread the wealth" statement hypocritical
- Claims the Bush tax cuts were wealth redistribution


Ostroy completely misses several points:

- He thinks that we claim that merely raising taxes is the socialist part.
No, it is the plan to raise taxes on one tax bracket and give lower taxes on other tax brackets (even those that do not pay income taxes)
- He forgets that the Bush tax cuts were for all tax brackets (except those that do not pay income tax)
- Most importantly, he forgets that the money belongs to the person that earned the money
To claim that keeping more of MY OWN MONEY is wealth redistribution transcends socialist thinking and leaps to the communist notion that every thing belongs to the state. If my money is 100% mine before taxation, then it is impossible to have any of my money redistributed to me. My money is mine before it is taken away. The money after taxes is not some gift of the state, it is what is left after the state has robbed me.

I am supportive of paying taxes. We have an imperfect, but great exceptional country. I don't mind contributing to keep things running, to defend us from our enemies, to protect our streets from criminals, to educate our children (not indoctrinate), and even to have a thin safety net for those most in need that have done all to help themselves and cannot. There is so much waste and corruption in government. There is plenty of room for spending cuts instead of raising taxes, but Obama is more interested in real wealth redistribution than budgetary concerns. It has been said that liberalism is a mental disorder, but only in the most crazed mind under the fullest moon would somebody claim that somebody being allowed to keep more of their own money would be considered wealth redistribution.