My uncle forwarded an email to a bunch of folks, and I really had to respond. He's my mom's oldest brother, and like the rest of my family he grew up in Kansas, but now lives in Montana along with most of his children. I now live in Michigan, and my siblings are on either coast, which means we are all in blue states these days.
I'm posting this in case others would like some ideas on rebutting cries of 'Socialism!' from ill-informed and misguided relatives. And I think I can say with confidence that we all have a few.
Join me over the flip for what he sent me, and what I sent back.
This is the "humorous" story he sent to all of us, with the subject line "Spread the Wealth Around":
On my way to lunch the other day I passed a homeless guy with a sign that read: "Vote Obama, I need the money."
I laughed ...
Once in the restaurant my server had on an "Obama 08" tie.
Again I laughed ... just imagine the coincidence.
When the bill came I decided not to tip the server and explained to him that I was exploring the Obama redistribution of wealth concept. He stood there in disbelief while I told him that I was going to redistribute his tip to someone who I deemed more in need - the homeless guy outside. The server angrily stormed from my sight.
I went outside, gave the homeless guy $5 and told him to thank the server inside as I decided he could use the money more. The homeless guy was grateful.
At the end of my rather unscientific redistribution experiment I realized the homeless guy was grateful for the money he did not earn, but the waiter was pretty angry that I gave away the money he did earn even though the actual recipient deserved money more.
I guess redistribution of wealth is an easier thing to swallow in concept than in practical application.
A few minutes on Google helped me to craft a response.
Hilarious! Here's another example of how the socialists are ruining our country.
The Tax Foundation does reports on Federal Taxes Paid vs. Spending Received by State, and you can check them out here:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/...
Here's the latest one about redistribution of wealth among the states between 1981 and 2005:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/...
Guess what?
For every dollar paid by Montanans to the Feds in 2005, they got back $1.47. But in Michigan, for every buck we turned over, we only got back 92 cents that year. And that's the best deal Michigan got for over a quarter of a century! Back in 1999, Montana was rolling in federal welfare (right out of my pocket) to the tune of $1.70 back per greenback paid. Heck, Montana was the number 2 state in the union at hoovering up other people's money. Beats working!
Check out the report - there's a lot of interesting stuff in there about who pays (Real Americans), and who gets all those great goverment bennies. I've attached the PDFs for Michigan and Montana for easy comparison.
I'm really glad that Montana is going to finally get off Michigan's teat. I'm looking forward to getting your check so I can get my wealth back.
P.S. Before anybody argues that the Tax Foundation is a bunch of Marxist stooges, check out the endorsements on their 'About Us' page:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/...
John Snow - Bush's Treasury Secretary
Dick Armey - Former Republican Majority Leader of the US House
Milton Friedman - godfather of the 'I've Got Mine, Screw You' theory of wealth
Just in case you are still not convinced, their Chairman of the Board is Wayne Gable of the Koch Foundations:
http://www.taxfoundation.org/...
Dr. Gable's political leanings? Hard to say, but he does give some big donations:
$1000 to Bob Dole in 1995
$1000 to George W Bush in 2001
$1000 to George W Bush in 2003
He also supports Sam Brownback and Pat Roberts. (Info via http://www.opensecrets.org .) When did all those guys turn into pinkos?
I know my research isn't exactly earth-shattering, and that most people here already know that Red states have a tendency to be recipients rather than donors when it comes to federal money.
But when folks like my uncle buy into things like this without ever stopping to think for a moment, it drives me crazy. Will this reply change his mind? Probably not, but I enjoyed writing it.