The Unanswerable Question

Well, the question is unanswerable for liberals of all stripes. That is, "How much of the money I earn should I be allowed to keep?"

To answer it honestly as Jan Schakowsky did in this transcript of an interview over at PowerLine (The Question Liberals Will Never Answer) is both dangerous and revealing.

Host: So Jan Schakowsky, out of every dollar that I earn, how much do you think I deserve to keep?

Schakowsky: What is really your question here? Do you think you should not contribute to firefighters?

Host: No, no, it’s a very simple question. Out of every dollar I earn, how much do you, Jan Schakowsky, think I deserve to keep?

Schakowsky: No, it’s not a simple question. No, it is not a simple question. I’ll put it this way. You don’t deserve to keep all of it.

Host: Why?

Schakowsky: It’s not a question of deserving. What government is, is those things we decide to do together.”

“I think you need to pay your fair share for things we’ve decided are our national priorities,” Schakowsky added.

To paraphrase: Government and taxes are the price one pays for civilization (aka rule of law, property rights, etc.).

That said and I think we can all agree on it, where Schakowsky fails is when she adds "What government is, is those things we decide to do together.” Which begs the question who is the "we" that "decides" what "we" are doing "together". Sorry for the scare quotes but from someone with Schakowsky's track record (and her husband's fraud), there is no "we" just her and the liberal agenda. Those who don't like it, as far as she is concerned, do not matter.

And it is this idea that makes the question "How much of our money do we get to keep?" so necessary to ask. It reminds both the questioner and the questioned that taxes do not magically appear in government coffers. Taxes are (in)voluntarily taken from one's paycheck or bank accounts and given to the government to protect our interests.

But as my husband's book "Stealing You Blind: How Government Fat Cats Are Getting Rich Off of You", our government representatives are now only representing themselves. This must stop.