With liberty and taxes for all

"They'll turn us all into beggars 'cause they're easier to please."

"That's a line from a 1980s rock song, but it's a pretty concise summary of the Obama administration's political approach: Vote for us because we'll take other people's money from them and use it to buy you stuff. 

Whether it's Sandra Fluke's contraceptives, Obama's "spread the wealth" response to Joe The Plumber, his 1998 plan to make welfare recipients a majority coalition or the free phone in the viral "Obamaphone" video, that's the gist of it. And it obviously works.

This was the essence of Mitt Romney's worries about the 47% of Americans receiving government benefits. But things aren't as bad as he fears. Happily, Americans are more sensible than that. 

According to a national poll last week, 79% of Americans think that all Americans should pay income tax, regardless of their incomes. That includes 85% of Republicans and 83% of independents. Even Democrats agree, by an overwhelming majority: 71%. Politicians should take note: these are huge margins."     [USA TODAY]