What is a Republican? Pt 2

Wow! Do I ever feel naive! I have been trying to figure out why anyone who is not financially wealthy would vote Republican. It seems so obvious all of a sudden. Despite Sarah Palen's Bridge to Nowhere; the party's lack of objections to giving big oil companies billions in federal subsidies, more subsidies to timber companies, paying agri-business not to grow crops; Republican congress people's willingness to spend federal dollars to create projects in their own districts, some people still believe that Republicans manage taxpayers' money better than Democrats. In other words, they think they will have to pay lower taxes with Repulicans in charge than they do when Democrats are in power. I wonder who they think is responsible for paying the national debt.

I admit that there is a lot of waste in government that benefits the few and is a burden to taxpayers in general. But is the best solution to that problem to pay as few taxes as possible?

I don't know how one determines what a fair share of taxes is. It does seem to me that people earning more than $250,000 annually should not be obligated to pay a lower percentage of taxes than anyone earning less than that. It does not seem fair that some businesses end up the year owing $0 in taxes. The rest of us tax payers are paying for the roads, water and sewage system maintenance on which these non-tax payers rely.

Of course, that's how many people feel about entitlement programs for the least financially blessed in this country. Why don't they just get jobs so I could pay fewer taxes? Ironically, many people with that attitude are also Bible thumpers. How they justify their unwillingness to care for the less fortunate I don't understand, since the Bible advocates it and they like to think of America as a "Christian" country.

Materialism is not a Christian value. Tithing is a practice approved by the Bible. Selfishness, hoarding, greed are not Biblical values. It does seem that these are alive and well in our "Christian" society.

Republicans say they want to take government out of the equation. Why? It has nothing to do with freedom and the founding fathers. Wanting to reduce the size of government is all about money. If consumers pay less in taxes they will have more to spend on the goods and services that make the rich even richer. And again, if you reduce taxes, who pays for the national debt?

You Republilcans can identify with the "Christian" right until the end of time. But it is Mammon you actually value more than anything else.