Hey Barack: What is One’s “Fair Share”?

I have heard Barack Obama’s latest campaign tactic and it set me to thinking. Obama is going to give up the hope and change tactic and run on the premise that rich people aren’t paying their “fair share” of taxes. That brings me to some interesting questions. How much is one’s “fair share”? How much is my “fair share”? Am I paying my “fair share”, and my “fair share” of what? Who determines what a person’s “fair share” is? Who is already paying their “fair share” and who is not?

Today I heard excerpts from an interview of T. Boone Pickens on MSNBC. He said that in the last 13 years, since turning 70 years of age, he has paid over $665 million in taxes to the federal government. One of the panelists snippingly asked Pickens how much money he has made in those 13 years. I consider that information none of her business, and a non-factor in answering the questions I posed at the beginning of this article. I would think that anyone who has paid that much money in a 13 year period has paid their “fair share” of taxes. I will get back to this in a bit.

Last year (2010), my wife and I paid just over $5,000 in income taxes. When I averaged out the taxes Pickens has paid over 13 years it comes out to $51.1 million per year, on average. So, have my wife and I paid our “fair share” compared to the massive amount paid by Pickens?  What about the 47% of Americans who pay no income taxes at all? How much is their “fair share”? What about those who not only don’t pay any income tax, but instead, receive the Earned Income Tax Credit? How much is their “fair share”? What about the illegal aliens who flood our emergency rooms, hospitals, and schools, yet pay not one dime in income taxes? How much is their “fair share”?

Do those who contribute nothing to the national defense deserve their “fair share” of protection from police or military forces? Do those who pay no income taxes deserve their “fair share” of use of the highways, bridges, and other infrastructure built with my tax money? Do those who pay no income taxes deserve their “fair share” of hospitals and schools that I help pay for but use very little? As a matter of fact, my children are grown, so I don’t use the schools at all; so how much of my “fair share” should go to provide schools for those paying nothing?

T. Boone Pickens makes hundreds of millions every year I am sure, but so what? I wonder how much of the resources provided by federal, state, and local governments Pickens uses. Does he receive food stamps? Uh, let me go out on a limb and say, probably not. Does he get WIC? Once again, probably not. Does he go to the emergency room every time he sneezes for free medicine? NOOOOOO, I don’t think so!!!!!!!

Does T. Boone Pickens get more protection from the local police than those who pay no taxes at all? Doubtful. Is Pickens safer from terrorists or is he provided protection that isn’t available to any other American citizen, and most illegal aliens? I would again say that this is doubtful. So, how do we determine the “fair share” of taxes between T. Boone Pickens and my wife and I?

I can say that my wife and I also do not have any government assistance. We don’t receive food stamps, earned income tax credit, WIC, subsidized housing, or any other government hand-out, nor does Pickens, I would think. So where is the discrepancy between the “fair share” paid by Pickens, the Russell household, and those who pay nothing? How does one put a scale to the governmental benefits the Pickens and Russell households don’t receive?

Now back to the MSNBC twit asking T. Boone Pickens how much money he has made over the last 13 years. Who cares how much he has made? Why does this talking head think it is her business how much money he has made? How much money has she made? I wonder if she would think her income is any of my business. How much money has she paid towards her “fair share” of government largesse?

Here we have the crux of the issue from the Marxists in the media and the Democrat Party. Here is a man who has paid hundreds of millions in taxes, has donated hundreds of millions more, of his own money, to Oklahoma State University and countless other public and private institutions. He is being pilloried by a sanctimonious nobody who probably has not spent one dime of her own money to help anyone in need.

We call this class warfare. Class warfare, to me, is just about the lowest form of “journalism” or politics there is. Obama uses this class warfare to pit us against each other while he schemes on ways to enslave all of us and take the money of the “rich” for himself and his friends. If you think any of these people care about your well-being, you might want to open your eyes and take a look around.

How did the French Revolution work out for the “poor” when all of the wealthy aristocrats got their wealth confiscated and their heads chopped off? How many Russian peasants got rich as a result of the 1917 revolution there? How many of those who bought Hitler’s class warfare lie wound up better off as a result of the Third Reich? How many Cuban peasants benefited from the Castro overthrow of Batista? Did these actions create pillars of wealth as the result of class warfare or did they create hell holes of poverty, suffering, and death?

Let me use this class warfare in another way, since the left likes this tactic so much. The Obama family has gone to Spain, on the taxpayer dime. The Obama family has gone to Martha’s Vineyard how many times, on the taxpayer dime? The Obama family has gone to Hawaii how many times, on the taxpayer dime? And aren’t they going again for a 17 day vacation? Barack and Michele went to a Broadway play, on Air Force One, at taxpayer expense. Barack and Michele travelled to Martha’s Vineyard on separate 747’s, 3 hours apart, at taxpayer expense. And to top that off, the family dog has his own Lear jet to take him to the same vacation spot a few hours later. All of this has occurred in the last 3 years.

The Obama family dog has his own Lear jet, paid for by taxpayers, and my wife and I can’t afford to drive a few hours for a weekend vacation. By the way, my cat would love her “fair share” of Lear jet travel that the first dog gets. In the 22 years my wife and I have been married we have taken 3 vacations. Has the Obama family had their “fair share” of vacations? If I tried to lists all of Obama’s vacations and golf outings in the last 3 years, this would run on for 40 pages. I think they have had their “fair share” of vacations. Shouldn’t they take a few less vacations and have some “vacation equality” to go along with their “income equality”? Shouldn’t the royal family share some of the sacrifices they always speak of We the People making?

Let’s take a look at Obamacare, the crown jewel of the administration so far. I suggest that we have some “fair share” in Obamacare. What about the 1800 exemptions given to unions and Democrat Party supporting companies. Are these unions and companies getting their “fair share” of exemptions or are they being given preferential treatment? Where is the “fair share” of exemptions for the rest of us?

In 2010, General Electric, the parent company of NBC and huge supporter of the Democrat Party, paid no corporate taxes on $5 billion in net profits. How much should GE’s “fair share” come to? Huge amounts of tax dollars were given to Wall Street by Obama and Congress in the TARP and “stimulus” bailouts. How much should their “fair share” come to? Nancy Pelosi has seen her net worth triple since she has been in congress. Her “fair share” is how much?

When you travel down the road of class warfare you find a dead end road littered with the corpses of millions who have travelled that road before you. You won’t find the corpses of the Obamas of the world, because they are the ones killing those whose corpses you see. Class warfare ends in tragedy for nations and the people who inhabit those nations. Despots throughout history have used class warfare to divide, then conquer, and then slaughter the people. These despots then take their “fair share” of the wealth and live opulent lives.

Obama and his cohorts in Congress and the media have the same fate in mind for us, We the People. Once Despot Obama’s class warfare tactic has succeeded he will turn into a real-life nightmare like those who have preceded him; Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Mao Tse Tung, Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Pol Pot, and others who have destroyed the very people they promised to help. Obama, the Democrat Party, the media, Hollywood leftists, and many in the Republican Party will divvy up the spoils while the rest of us live in abject poverty.

If you want this kind of life then support Obama and his Axis of Evil helpers. If not, search for the one who will deliver us from a fate seen by so many people before us. Dig deep into the character and actions of those Republicans who are “not as bad as Obama” and see where they will take you. New World Order globalism isn’t trademarked by the Democrat party. Republicans have a mighty big piece of the tyranny pie ready and waiting for those who don’t do due diligence before voting.

I submit this in the name of the Most Holy Trinity, in faith, with the responsibility given to me by Almighty God to honor His work and not let it die from neglect.

Bob Russell
Claremore, Oklahoma
December 8, 2011